BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-As expected, Shadowrock Productions has launched a satellite shop to serve as a home for up-and-coming commercial filmmakers. The new venture, Film Neutron, is based on Shadowrock’s Beverly Hills premises and has signed its first director, Jay P. Morgan, who has a long-standing reputation as a top still photographer.
Plans for the satellite were made public four months ago when Herb Schwartz was named Shadowrock president (SHOOT, 10/2/98, p. 1). Schwartz anticipates that Film Neutron will add a second director within a month, with more signings to follow.
Film Neutron will initially employ Shadowrock’s production team with Schwartz and Kathryn Bishop acting as executive producers, but it will gain its own staff as it grows. "We are looking for directors with a unique talent and a lot of promise, and we have formed a new company to cater to them," Schwartz said. "Film Neutron will provide emerging talent with the individualized attention and supportive environment they need to build successful careers."
Morgan has already completed his first commercial for Film Neutron, "Interrogation Room," promoting Game.com Pocket Pro’s popular video game "Resident Evil 2" for New York agency Posnick & Kolker. In the spot, a corpse pays a visit to a police station. At press time, Morgan was wrapping a second assignment, also from Posnick & Kolker.
Going Live
Preparing to move into live action for the past few years, Morgan was characterized by Schwartz as a perfect fit for the Film Neutron mold. An Idaho native, he formed Jay P. Morgan Studios, Los Angeles, shortly after graduating from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, in 1987. His print career got off to a fast start, in part because of an award-winning promotional campaign he conceived and executed on his own behalf. He produced a series of wall calendars featuring wildly imaginative and outrageously funny photo dioramas depicting ordinary life situations gone preposterously awry-a woman clings to her shower spout to avoid the Bengal tiger in her bathtub, a flaming executive hurtles out of an office window, a flattened car lies on a city curb as a group of kids speed away on an out-of-control steamroller-all of which were realistically assembled on sets in his studio. The calendars immediately established Morgan’s signature style and helped him win assignments for clients such as Procter & Gamble, Sprint, Anheuser-Busch, Lever Bros., Microsoft, Mattel and Mazda. He has also had significant success in shooting movie posters and eccentric photos of celebrities.
The Slanted Lens
Recently, Morgan has applied his talent to a unique photo-cartoon series, The Slanted Lens, which runs in The Denver Post and more than a dozen other newspapers nationwide. And last year, in his most significant foray into live action, Morgan wrote and directed a series of short films under the same collective title. Those films aired on television in Europe; Columbia Pictures Television recently purchased U.S. distribution rights. In addition, two of the shorts won Gold and Silver awards at the recent WorldFest Flagstaff competition in Arizona.
The Slanted Lens short films, which are included on Morgan’s commercial reel, are part of what interested Schwartz in bringing the director to Film Neutron. "I looked at his reel and laughed, and I knew instantly that I wanted to do business with him," Schwartz said. "His work has a wonderfully humorous tone to it. He’s very talented, and he is also a fantastic person. He has the talent and the character that I was looking for."
Morgan’s joining Film Neutron represents his first full-fledged production company affiliation. Years ago, he had an informal, short-lived association with now defunct Star Turn Pictures.
Morgan views the opportunity at his new roost as being creatively beneficial. "Most of my pictures look like frozen moments, and I’ve always missed the ability to add the element of time," Morgan explained. He added that, from his perspective, the commercial format offers an abundance of time. "Having 30 seconds to tell a story is a long time for me. I’m used to having to say it all in a single image," he said.
Jay P. Morgan is now repped by a sales team that handles Film Neutron as well as Shadowrock: Independent reps Sherry Howell, Los Angeles, on the West Coast, New York-based Diane and Jolie Miller on the East Coast and Chicago-based Danica Joseph in the Midwest. Joseph has just come on board and, according to Schwartz, has agreed to make Shadowrock and Film Neutron the only production houses on her roster.
Shadowrock’s directorial lineup continues to consist of Chris Blum, Howard Deutch, Oscar Bassinson and Jeff Jones.
