It’s a management shakeup at bicoastal commercial production company RSA USA, which announced that president Bruce Martin has departed the shop after six years, and that executive producer Linda Ross has been named managing director of RSA USA and its sister music video house Black Dog Films.
RSA USA is also creating two new positions of creative director/East Coast and creative director/West Coast, which Ross expects to fill over the next couple of months. Also in discussion, according to Ross, is the potential formation of an RSA satellite company that Martin may be involved in. Ross declined to elaborate on what directors might be included or on Martin’s role, saying that she doesn’t yet know the details.
Ross described the parting with Martin as "amicable," and added, "He was here a long time. It’s one of those things where someone moves on and wants to do other things … [which] could most likely be with the Scotts [company founders/directors Ridley and Tony Scott]." Reached by SHOOT, Martin declined to comment on his future plans other than to say, "It’s all good."
According to Ross, the moves are part of RSA’s plan to grow and rebrand the company. She related that the changes were prompted by the current market forces impacting the commercial industry. "I think it’s a tough time in the business," said Ross. "There’s a lot of directors and the work is at a premium. We’ve been talking here for a long time about how, from the small jobs to the big jobs, you have everybody in on the bid mix. Because there’s not enough work to go around, everybody’s clamoring over jobs you wouldn’t have bid on years ago for A-plus directors."
As Ross sees it, the pendulum is swinging back towards very big companies. While she puts RSA within the industry’s top four big shops-which she cites as being bicoastal/international @radical.media, bicoastal/international Propaganda Films and bicoastal HSI Productions-Ross contends RSA is small in comparison to them.
"I think in a market like this, it’s a hard place to be in the middle," said Ross. "When you’re a mid-level company, you have the same overhead. We’d like to keep that competitive edge and see all the work we can; I think you need to be bigger to do that. And I also think you need to attach the management so it doesn’t become a factory."
RSA’s roster has just gotten a little bigger with the addition of co-directing team Speck & Gordon. Directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon, ’94 graduates of NYU Film School, join RSA after a year at bicoastal/international @radical.media, and recently received an Academy Award nomination for their short film, Culture. The filmmaking duo has scripted, and is attached to direct, a feature for FOX 2000 Pictures titled The Next Wave, which Speck described as "Amadeus in a hair salon."
Ross was introduced to Speck & Gordon by longtime RSA freelance line producer Krista Montagna, who is engaged to Gordon. "Their work is comedy based so, in this [spot] market, their work is very viable," said Ross. "I think they can do just about anything. These days, being able to work with an agency on developing their concepts or rewriting a board is crucial."
The pair, which hopes to branch out into spots with effects, has directed two spots for auctionuniverse.com via The Romann Group, New York. Joking that RSA lured them with its well-stocked kitchen, they more seriously explained that they were attracted by its strong feature presence, vis–vis Scott Free, Ridley and Tony’s feature production company. "It seems that, synergistically, being here gives us the best of both [commercial and feature] worlds," said Speck.
"It’s a great time for us to be here because they’re going through a transition," continued Speck. "They’re kind of cleaning shop, and we’re excited to be the new clean members." Added Gordon, "It’s just a great family feeling here."
RSA’s U.S.-based directorial roster also includes Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Jake Scott, Luke Scott, Jordan Scott (Ridley’s daughter, who recently launched a directing career), Marcus Nispel, Thom Higgins, David Dobkin, Peter Bloomfield, Tom Dey, Hugh Johnson, Marek Kanievska, Alan Van Rijn and Spencer Susser. The latter continues his day job as an editor at L.A.-based Rock Paper Scissors; he began directing six months ago and has several music videos to his credit.
Additionally, RSA provides stateside representation to Canada-based director Javier Aguilera and London-based directors Chris Cunningham, Lawrence Dunmore, Chris Hartwill, Nick Livsey, Tom Merillion, Adrian Moat, Mark Nunneley, Jack Price and Dawn Shadforth.
"We’d really like to rebrand the brand," said Ross, "in terms of young, up-and-coming talent as well as the best established talent who are doing cutting-edge work." She related that they plan to add New York-based directors to work out of what was formerly the RSA sales office in New York; Creative Management Partners now handles East Coast sales for the company.
Some observers point to RSA’s shuffling of its sales rep lineup in late ’97 as the first phase of its revamping (see SHOOT, 12/5/97, p.7). The company is currently repped by Creative Management Partners on the East Coast and in the Midwest, and by in-house rep Dana Garman on the West Coast.
