Award-winning comedy director Tom Schiller has signed with bicoastal Coppos Films for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. Best known for his hidden-camera spoofs and other parodies, Schiller moves over to Coppos after five years at New York-based Five Union Square Productions, his first commercial roost. (Five Union Square has added several directors and is in the process of changing its name. See separate story below.) Schiller continues to be repped in Canada by Circle Productions, Vancouver, B.C., and Toronto.
Schiller’s final assignment at Five Union Square was an Hispanic-market Coke campaign out of Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. The two Spanish-language spots continue the cola-maker’s current campaign in which people spar over the absence of Coke. In "The Visitor," a man makes a long journey home to visit his relatives. When his grandmother offers him a drink and he learns that they don’t have any Coke, he storms out of the house and drives away. In "Serenade," a man accompanied by a mariachi band serenades a woman who’s up on a balcony. But when she finds out he didn’t bring any Coke, she tells him to get lost.
"Tom is not only talented and funny, but he’s a team player," said Coppos VP/executive producer Mike Appel. "He goes to every casting session because he’s afraid the casting director will overlook a certain nuance he’s after. He has a great ability to work with actors."
Schiller’s recent work also includes a multi-spot campaign for The Tennessean newspaper out of Lewis Communications, Brentwood, Tenn., which was featured in SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery (6/16, p. 15). In the campaign, the director took a lead on-camera role as a newspaper thief. Wearing thick glasses rigged with hidden cameras, Schiller accosted real people in public settings as they read The Tennessean. Schiller then attempted to read over their shoulders, or borrow, clip or pilfer their papers. "Most of the people just let it go," the director recalled. "But one guy, after a while, finally said, ‘Here’s thirty-five cents. Go buy your own.’ "
Last year the director helmed "Computer," "Airport" and "Start Dammit Start" for Chevy via Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich. The third ad, which blends original footage and scenes from classic horror movies, was a SHOOT Top Spot (10/15/99, p. 16).
The winner of three Emmy Awards as a writer for Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Schiller first made his mark on the advertising arena with a campaign he directed for Marriott’s Courtyard hotels. Created by Lowe & Partners/ SMS, New York, the ads—"Missed Cue," "Reporter" and "Jockey"—suggest that you should "Never underestimate the importance of a good night’s sleep." The campaign won numerous awards in ’98, including: a Gold and Silver Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival for "Missed Cue" and "Reporter," respectively; two Gold Clio Awards, the first honoring all three spots in the national campaign category, the second for "Missed Cue" in the travel/tourism category; and a Bronze Pencil in the under $50,000 budget category at the One Show awards for "Missed Cue."
"I’m very grateful to Five Union Square," Schiller said. "They helped me cut my teeth in the commercial business, and I got my Gold Lion for Courtyard through them. But it was time for a change. I felt Coppos had a stronger bicoastal presence, and they’re top notch, the Rolls Royce of production companies."
Schiller has also directed campaigns for SavingUMoney. com via Palmer Jarvis DDB, Vancouver; adidas via Leagas Delaney, San Francisco; Ameristar casinos via Goldberg Moser O’Neill, San Francisco; and some client-direct promos for HBO. The latter campaign consists of "Sequels you won’t see on HBO," or film trailer parodies including "Return of the Titanic" and "Speed 9."
Schiller made his feature-directing debut in ’84 with Nothing Lasts Forever, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd; however, the director said he prefers the short format—the shorter the spot and the quicker the joke, the better. At this juncture in his career, he noted, he is focused on "making shorter commercials that make more money for the client." His favorite campaign of late consists of "Bird" and "Baby," a pair of 15-second spots for ESPN and NASCAR via Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York. In the latter ad, a NASCAR pit crew snatches a crying infant from the grandstand and performs what is surely the fastest diaper change in history, then tosses the baby back to its mother. The tag: "It’s about men. It’s about cars."
Schiller rounds out a Coppos directorial roster that also includes the directing team of Coppos/Lee (a.k.a. Coppos Films principal/director Mark Coppos and director Virginia Lee); and directors Brian Aldrich, Scott Gillen and Leslie Libman.
Coppos’ national director of sales/East Coast managing director Joanne Ferraro and New York-based junior rep Victoria Venantini handle East Coast sales; Los Angeles-based Vicky Miller covers the West Coast and Texas; and Jill Reehl and Noelle Whitfield of Chicago-based Get Reehl handle Massachusetts and the Midwest—with the exception of Detroit, which is Ron Hoffman’s territory.
