Kenan Moran, a comedy director with a hankering for the offbeat, has signed with Compass Films, New York, for exclusive commercial representation. He was formerly affiliated with Half Baked Productions, New York. Prior to that, he was repped by now defunct Slavin/Schaffer Films for a brief stretch in ’97.
One of Moran’s better known spots is "Bunny and Penguin," a commercial he did for Crunch Fitness that features two characters dressed up in bunny and penguin costumes who assault each other in front of various big-city backdrops. The spot was produced by Half Baked for DDB Needham New York. Moran said that he would like to continue to work in the wackier and subtler varieties of the comedy genre. "It doesn’t have to be ‘big joke,’ it can be something that has a humorous bent to it," he said, explaining that he was interested in directing more quirky humor. "That’s maybe something I wouldn’t mind exploring a little bit deeper, something that isn’t construed as directly hilarious."
The last ad fare Moran directed before signing with Compass was a series of eight spots for Comcast Digital Cable via Red Tettemer, Philadelphia. One of those, "Choices," featured ordinary people who deadpan lines from beloved films-including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Graduate, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Thelma and Louise-while immersed in the mostly ridiculous routines of everyday life. In one scene, a man dressed in a clown outfit inside of an ice cream truck yells the infamous Joe Pesci lines from Goodfellas at a young boy: "What am I, a clown to you?" he queries, then squeezes a horn. "I’m here for your amusement?" Moran helmed the spots in February.
Moran said that he signed with Compass because of the potential he sensed at the company and the energy exhibited by executive producers Kathrin Lausch and Lise Ostbirk, and sales rep Lisa Austin. "They obviously studied what I had done and they were very aware of what’s out there," he said. "They were really looking for something, and they definitely convinced me they found it in me."
Lausch said that Compass was looking to get into the comedy arena and thought that Moran’s reel was strong in that suit. "Comedy is definitely influencing advertising heavily," Lausch said. "If you go to Cannes, everything is pretty much comedy that wins. We wanted to find somebody that can get us into these fields." Ostbirk also emphasized that they saw Moran as rounding out the roster of international directors at the company. "Laughing is the international language," Ostbirk said. "Kenan’s work is so obviously humorous that it has such international appeal. Moran joins a Compass directorial lineup that also includes: Nico Beyer, a German helmsman who directs in the U.S.; Jan Gleie, from Denmark; Dan Nathan, from the UK; and Don Hannah, a Yank.
Moran began his career working as a janitor at Jim Henson Productions, New York. "They’d make me go and sweep the sidewalk dressed as Kermit," Moran joked. "It was tough, but at least it was anonymous." After demonstrating his efficiency changing a lightbulb, Moran was transformed from frog to production assistant. After two years at the Muppet factory, the up-and-coming director worked in MTV’s on-air promotion department from ’90-’96. During that time, Moran directed in-house spots for programs such as The Jon Stewart Show as well as fake commercials which ran during MTV’s Zoo TV programming. Moran also won a Cable ACE award for an in-house PSA for MTV that advocated an end to racial and cultural stereotypes of Native Americans. Moran has done other public interest spots, including "Cops," also for MTV. That spot was a salvo against the Cops television program mentality. When two officers approach the door of a homeowner and request to search the house, the homeowner simply refuses. The spot’s tagline is "Know your rights. JUST SAY ‘NO.’ "
