Canadians are familiar with American imports. Twenty percent of all U.S. exports are shipped north of the border, to America’s largest trading partner. Automobiles, textiles and agricultural products are the most common goods. But lately, a new and uncommon import has been added to the list: spot directors.
While this recent flood of U.S.-based directors has neither prompted heated debates in Canada’s House of Commons nor the passing of regulatory trade legisla-
tion-as have the onslaught of some other U.S. exports, despite the introduction of NAFTA a few years ago-these directors are undoubtedly making a pronounced impression on the Canadian commercial production scene.
Dozens of U.S. directors head north each year to work on Canadian spots, often through a Canadian partner company. Director Gary Johns of Hollywood-based Farmland Studios, for example, receives Canadian work through Imported Artists (IA), Toronto. Robin Willis of Santa Monica’s Crash Films also directs through IA. Ray Dillman of bicoastal Gartner and Steve Eshelman of Crossroads Films (bicoastal, Chicago, Atlanta) work on Canadian projects out of Toronto’s Avion Films. Steve Chase of bicoastal Reactor Films directs Canadian spots out of Jolly Roger, a Toronto-based production company he launched in 1994. Bicoastal Nitro Films’ Tom DeCerchio works on Canadian projects through Toronto’s Radke Films, an alliance DeCerchio formed four years ago while at bicoastal HSI Productions.
Spot Trek
For the aforementioned directors, the incentive for trekking up to Canada is simple and straightforward: Canadian creatives produce outstanding storyboards.
Director Chase says "creative is the only reason" he accepts Canadian projects: "If the creative is good, I do it. If it’s not good, I stay here and do work here." Considering the number of spots Chase has shot for Canadian clients in the past year, he has obviously had no difficulty landing great boards. Last year he shot a series of spots-"Raised By Beavers," "Glass," "Hanging Man," "24 Canadians," "Monkeys," "Blue Streaks," "Rocket Ship" and "Long Weekend"-for Molson Canadian beer out of MacLaren McCann, Toronto. Chase, who moved from Canada to the U.S. eight years ago to pursue a directing career after working as an art director for 11 years in various Toronto ad agencies, last year also shot Molson Export’s "Judith" out of MacLaren McCann.
Johns, whose most recent Canadian spot is "Street Car" for Labatt’s via Ammirati Puris Lintas, Toronto, echoes Chase’s sentiments, stating simply, "I just go whenever the job is good."
And, according to the directors SHOOT spoke with, more often than not the quality of Canadian storyboards is in fact, excellent.
"I think that there’s a lot of very fresh creative being done out of Canada," says DeCerchio, whose recent Canadian work includes "Traffic Jam" for Labatt’s out of Ammirati Puris Lintas, Toronto, and "Shopping Cart" and "TV Dinner" for Campbell’s Soup out of BBDO Toronto.
"I think the creative is exceptional," enthuses Willis. "The quality of the people is terrific on the agency side. They want your opinion on things, it’s much more open and the quality of the script is very high caliber."
Willis says when he travels to Canada to shoot, "It’s like one of those pinch-me jobs, like "wow, I get to do this and they pay me, too.’ "
During the past year, Willis’ "pinch-me" jobs have included "Guinea Pig," a spot for Reebok via Roche Macaulay & Partners, Toronto; The Ontario Lottery Corporation’s "Clerks" via Cossette Communications, Toronto; and a series of spots-"It’s Flat Out Here," "Blue Chair Trick," "To Italy," "U.S.A. Signs," "Overseas Italy/Jamaica" and "Overseas UK/Germany"-for Bell Canada via Leo Burnett Co., Toronto.
Willis is not the only director who beams over the quality of Canadian storyboards. In late 1997, Eshelman shot "Actor" for mutual fund company AGF Funds out of Young & Rubicam, Toronto. "The AGF spot to me was so witty that I would be hard pressed to say I would see a script that was that witty in the States," Eshelman says. "It has a shrewd sense of parody and use of words and presentation. You don’t see those spots that often."
In addition to the AGF spot, Eshelman also shot "Road Trip" for Petro-Canada via Cossette Communications. And even though he says Canadian winters "can be insufferably cold," Eshelman will travel to Toronto this month to shoot "Hot Tub," a spot for Imodium A-D out of MacLaren McCann.
Eshelman’s American colleagues have observed not only that Canadian storyboards are superb but that the creative teams who produce the ideas work differently from their U.S. counterparts, an aspect many directors say makes a stint in Canada enjoyable.
"Here in the States, the agency is very, very involved every step of the way. Sometimes it works out for the good. A lot of times it just makes it hard to get where you want to go," says Chase. "In Canada, what happens is they hire you, you have the meetings, discuss what you’re going to do, you go do it and they pretty much leave you alone unless you’re straying big time from what you said and what they thought."
Spot-Banging?
Some skeptics may roll their eyes at these gushing reviews and argue that American directors jump at the chance to shoot Canadian spots for more than just the creative challenge. There’s the chance to earn a few extra dollars, and obviously good concepts can help build or enhance even the most established director’s reel.
"I would hate to have anyone think that I’ve gone up to Canada to do some spot-banging for the reel," says Willis.
Eshelman takes the middle ground, maintaining, "I think you’re always building your reel, but I would go anywhere to do something the quality of the AGF spot. I would go to Malaysia." And as for the issue of money, Eshelman calls it irrelevant, since "with a director, the rate’s the rate."
Meanwhile, Dillman embraces what Canadian fare has done for his career. He acknowledges that he hooked up in 1995 with Avion Films’ executive producer Michael Schwartz in order to build an impressive reel to show American creatives, since he’d had difficulties as a fledgling director landing quality storyboards in the U.S. (He had previously worked at Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, as a creative director and art director.)
"I spent about three years building a reel there [in Canada], which allowed me to go somewhere like Gartner," says Dillman, whose recent Canadian work includes "On The Porch" and "Baby Seat" for Saturn via Cossette Communications and "We The Children" for Kellogg’s via Leo Burnett Co., Toronto. Dillman also traveled to Toronto this month to work on a spot for Bell Canada via Cossette.
Good Vibes
Although there is a constant northward flow of U.S. directors, most say they have not encountered hostility from Canadian directors who feel Americans are threatening their livelihood.
"I’ve never been made to feel anything other than welcomed," says DeCerchio. "I don’t sense any kind of hostility. I think there is enough work for everybody."
"The closest thing I’ve ever come to hostility," says Dillman, "is coming through [Canadian] immigration and occasionally an immigration officer will say, "So what are you workin’ on there, eh?’ And I’ll say I’m working on a commercial for Bell [Canada]. "Can I ask you a personal question?’ they’ll say, and I’ll say sure. They’ll say, "Can’t they find a Canadian to do this?’ "
Agency creatives maintain that a director’s nationality is irrelevant; it is all about who can do the best job.
"We never go out specifically to look for U.S. directors. I mean that’s just ridiculous," says Roche Macaulay art director Bob Goulart, who worked with Willis on projects while at Ammirati Puris Lintas, Toronto. "[Willis] had a very unique sensibility that we hadn’t seen in directors before; it just so happened he was American."
Elspeth Lynn, an associate creative director at Ammirati Puris Lintas, who worked with DeCerchio on Labatt’s "Traffic Jam," says, "We had obviously started looking at Canadian directors, and then we just happened to get a bunch of reels from Radke, and when we saw [DeCerchio’s] reel-for us it had a bigness. It’s almost like when people say you should hire a woman for the job because she’s a woman. Well, you just hire the best person."
As for directing spots that have a strong sense of Canadian identity and national pride, Johns says he has no difficulty adapting to a different cultural sensibility: "I’m there to try to help them communicate a message in as good a fashion as possible, and if it takes becoming sensitive to Canadian concerns, that’s fine and I have no problem with that."
Willis, who hails originally from Oregon, maintains, "There are some built-in similarities between the Northwest and Canada, so my sense of humor and timing is actually very compatible with Canadian humor. I don’t really consciously make a decision to think Canadian."
DeCerchio, who was raised in Michigan near the Canadian border, fancies himself an honorary Canuck. "I’ve had Canadian crews say, "You are the most Canadian American we’ve ever worked with.’ That’s a code word for saying I’m fairly polite."
Not only are Canadian crews accepting of their southern neighbors but they are also well-trained and versatile, another element of shooting in Canada that pleases American directors.
"As far as the crews go, they are really fantastic, really fast, really zippy. There’s a New York kind of similarity," says Willis.
Although Dillman considers Canada’s A-list "as good as anywhere," he does find that "the A-list is very short, that it drops off fairly severely once the talent gets busy."
Eshelman has found that Canadian crews have gone through a bit of a transformation in recent years. "I remember when I first started going to Canada, the Canadian producers would say, "Now, you’re from California and you’re used to Hollywood standards; we’re not going to be that fast.’ And that isn’t said anymore. I just think that rabid American producers have driven crews so hard that they turned them into a bunch of mercenary dogs like we are," he jokes.
Is there anything American spotmakers do not like about shooting in Canada? The weather.
"Look, I live in California. I actually don’t mind going up there for a week because I know I’m getting out of it," says Eshelman.
"The weather can kick your butt," Willis says. "You gotta just be humble with the weather."^
