John Lindley, a cinematographer whose long list of feature credits includes Pleasantville and Youve Got Mail, has signed with Perretti Productions, New York, to direct commercials. Lindley will continue to DP for other directors on both features and spots through The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica.
Lindley said he would seek out visually driven work and would also DP the spots he directs. His interest in directing commercials stems, he said, from a desire to push creative boundaries more than feature films sometime afford. When I first started shooting, features were the visual achievement that everybody hoped for. They were the highest visual form of cinema, he explained, noting that features have become more conservative because so much is at stake financially. Now commercials have become the place where people are willing to try stuff out visually. Lindley also observed that not all the features he shoots require the heightened attention to visuals that is demanded of spots with strong aesthetics.
Jim Perretti, company president, said Lindleys solid track record as a feature DP as well as his experience in multiple genres made him an attractive prospect for spotwork. Theres always room for somebody with a strong point of view and a talent of his caliber that comes out of Hollywood, Perretti said. He added that Lindley was adept at both the conceptual and technical sides of filmmaking. Though Lindley does not have any ad assignments currently lined up, Perretti said the company is seeking out A-list spots that involve cinematic, visual storytelling. Lindley becomes the second director on the Perretti Productions roster; the other being Perretti himself.
Lindley has directed two spots thus far. Journey, a BMW spot through TROON, Santa Monica, launched the Z3 roadster. TROON did both creative and production duties on the spot, which has crisp, dynamic visuals and ran in movie theaters nationwide in fall 1996. The second spot, Own Reason, was for Invesco, a mutual fund, through Noren Productions, Seattle, for Karsh & Hagan Communications, Denver. As a commercial DP, Lindley has lensed spots for such directors as Bruce Hurwit and Mark Story of Crossroads Films, bicoastal with additional offices in Chicago and Atlanta, and Mark Tiedemann, now with Celsius Films, New York.
Lindleys widely praised work on Pleasantville involved a collage of black-and-white and color photography that was central to the films storyline. Computer manipulation was used to enable a blend of color and black-and-white imagery within the same frame, and Lindley said he would like to use the techniques from Pleasantville in commercial work, if the opportunity arises. Lindley added that still photography is a central inspiration for his work, citing practitioners such as Michael Kenna, Duane Michals, Henri Cartier-Bresson and pretty much every Magnum photographer.
Lindley currently has an opening in his schedule that he said will enable him to explore commercial directing. He had been prepping to DP 13 Days, a film starring Kevin Costner and directed by Phil Alden Robinson (who also directed Field of Dreams, an earlier collaboration among Costner, Robinson, and Lindley), but that project fell apart when Robinson left the project last month because of creative differences. Though Lindley has no features slated at the moment, he said he tends to stick with the same directors on new projects. In addition to Robinson, Lindley has shot more than one feature for directors Nora Ephron (Youve Got Mail; Michael), Joseph Ruben (Money Train; Sleeping with the Enemy) and Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride; I Love Trouble). Perretti said he wasnt worried that Lindleys feature schedule would preempt spotwork, because the cinematographer is very picky about his projects and is committed to directing commercials.
Lindleys film career began in 1968 when, as a high school senior, he worked as a PA on director Frank Perrys Doc, a Western that lensed in Spain and starred Faye Dunaway and Stacy Keach (Lindleys mother was a literary agent who sold movie rights and helped him get the job). Following graduation in 73 from NYU with a B.A. in film, Lindley worked until 74 as a PA on the PBS program American Short Story, which was shot by Paul Goldsmith, who also lensed When We Were Kings. Later, Lindley worked as an assistant cameraman and a gaffer. He was given cinematography duties on Nurse, a CBS series shot in New York in the early 80s. From then on, Lindley shot for both television and features.
