Bicoastal/international hungry man has signed music video director Marc Klasfeld for exclusive commercial representation.
Klasfeld comes to hungry man from an extensive clips background. In ’96 he opened New York-based Rock Hard Films and began directing videos, mostly for hip-hop artists. Characterizing his directing style as "extreme," Klasfeld’s work combined evocative imagery with visual storytelling.
In "Bump," a video he recently directed for Kottonmouth King, Klasfeld brought together an odd mix of people from the hip-hop, punk rock, and East L.A. gangster culture to film an impromptu performance in a suburban neighborhood. He also helmed Juvenile’s "HA," a clip that takes the viewer into the heart of the Magnolia Housing Projects, a ghetto in New Orleans. "He’s a talented director who has the ability to make whatever he attempts as a filmmaker work, and that’s what we look for," related hungry man partner/director Hank Perlman.
Klasfeld was first introduced to hungry man last fall by Stacy Wall, creative director at Wieden & Kennedy (W&K), New York. Klasfeld was set to direct a project for W&K, and Wall, who had collaborated with hungry man in the past, recommended that he talk to the company about producing the job through hungry man. Although the project fell through, Klasfeld and hungry man were already in preliminary discussions for representation. Then W&K contacted Klasfeld again to direct a promo for the 2000 ESPY Awards, ESPN’s sports awards show. "At that point [Klasfeld’s signing with hungry man and directing the promo] all just fell together," said Perlman.
In "ESPYs," Klasfeld combined the sports world with the cheesy lounge scene of Las Vegas, where the ceremony is being held on Feb.14. The resultant promo features a has-been lounge singer belting out a Rat Pack-ish tune while showgirls dance around him, brandishing sports equipment. "Whether I’m directing a music video or a commercial, it’s really the same thing to me—you want somebody to feel something from your work, and you don’t want them to flip the channel," said Klasfeld.
Based in New York, Klasfeld will continue to direct music videos through Rock Hard Films while pursuing commercial work through hungry man. He joins a roster that includes partners/ directors Perlman and Bryan Buckley, directors John O’Hagan, David Shane, Lara Shapiro, Mark Foster, Paul Norling (who also is an editor with FilmCore, Santa Monica), Young Kim, David Levin and Bennett Miller. Hungry man is repped by Chris Messiter, Barrie Isaacson and Ann McKallagat on the East Coast, Kitty Monaghan and Kelly Halpine in the Midwest, and by Raquel Muñoz-Flores on the West Coast.
