BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-Director Steven Ramser-who’s worked under his own Unscented banner (in association with bicoastal production support services firm Johnson Burnett Productions) for the past several months after departing Los Angeles-based Morton Jankel Zander-has now formally made Unscented a satellite of bicoastal/international The End.
Per the deal, Ramser will gain production and sales support from The End in the U.S., as well as most of the world-except for the U.K., Italy, Spain and Argentina, where he has ongoing relationships in place. (In the U.K., for example, he’s handled via the London office of bicoastal/international The Artists Company.)
Ramser has already wrapped his first Unscented job with The End: a Ricoh copiers assignment via Gigante Vaz Partners, New York. SHOOT connected via phone with Ramser, who at press time was in Cape Town, South Africa, helming an Italian spot for Piaggio motor scooters. Piaggio is a division of Fiat.
More Than A Prodn. House
Ramser envisions Unscented as becoming ultimately more than just a production house offering his directorial services. He expressed interest in developing editorial and other capabilities through Unscented, reasoning that backing from The End would allow him comfortably to explore some select expansion possibilities.
"The best part of being a director is to collaborate with creative people-crews, agency people, scouts, editors, sound designers, musicians," related Ramser. "To surround yourself with-and to nurture and learn from-imaginative, creative people is wonderful. It’s energizing, infectious and exciting. I’d like Unscented to be that kind of environment." Ramser said this could entail the company bringing on a resident editor and/or sound designer as well as other directors. "I’d just like [Unscented] to be a gathering place for people to do what they do best-and if it makes sense for us to share experience and work together on a project, that’s fine. But there would be no obligation for a director to work with a particular editor or vice versa."
Asked how large Unscented could become without becoming unwieldy, Ramser responded, "We would let it evolve naturally. The ultimate test is creative integrity. If the size begins to affect the creative integrity, or we sense that it would, then we’d hold off. But we’re not in a hurry. We’re trying to enjoy the process."
Ramser explained that his desire to create Unscented led to his decision to exit MJZ after two years there. "I realized I wanted to do something different, to be more than just a director at a production company or to be just production company-oriented." Ramser then linked with Johnson Burnett because of his high regard for its partner/co-founder, Biff Johnson, whom the director described as "a very open, nurturing, honorable man. That gave me the opportunity to run Unscented up the flagpole and the time to look for a place to collaborate with that made sense."
Ramser’s search ended when he met Luke Thornton and Liz Silver, exec. producers/partners in The End. Ramser said he was attracted to The End by the instant rapport he struck with Thornton and Silver, as well as the fact that they have maintained similar positive, progressive satellite relationships with two directors he respects, Erick Ifergan and Kevin Kerslake. Unscented becomes The End’s third satellite; the other two are Ifergan’s West Hollywood-based Serial Dreamer and Kerslake’s Gigantic, which is located on The End’s new Beverly Hills premises. (The End also has a New York office and a London operation, which is under the aegis of Julia Reed, managing director of worldwide commercial development.)
Unscented Home
Like Serial Dreamer, Unscented will have its own Southern California quarters separate from The End. Luke Thornton will exec. produce for Unscented, and Meredyth Frattolillo continues as Ramser’s producer. She began working with the director when Unscented had production support from Johnson Burnett.
Thornton described Ramser as "a versatile filmmaker with a strong command of storytelling and narrative structure mixed with a feel for dialogue and a sophisticated visual sense-that’s a combination that makes him stand out from the crowd." Thornton said he’s followed Ramser’s work and has been a fan of the director ever since seeing his 1997 Levi’s spot, "Riveted," out of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London. Some regard the well-known ad as paying contemporary homage to the feature film The Defiant Ones, in which escaped convicts Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis are handcuffed to one another and must work together to elude their pursuers. Thornton recalled that "Riveted" showed him and many others Ramser’s ability "to command and tell a story."
Other Ramser credits include spots for Lee Jeans, George Killian’s Irish Red, Airwalk sneakers, Powerade and U.S. Robotics. Conceived by The Leap Partnership, Chicago, the U.S. Robotics spot also caught Thornton’s eye. It features wheelchair-bound physics visionary Steven Hawking and was cited by Thornton as the best example he’s ever seen of advertising that serves "to humanize technology."
Ramser is repped in the U.S. by The End’s sales team: Rebecca Reber in San Francisco and L.A.-based Brooke Covington, who cover the West Coast via their Reber Covington; Deborah Marlowe in Chicago; Ron Hoffman, who handles Detroit; and New York-based Astrow Ziegler on the East Coast. (Reber Covington additionally reps The End in Texas and Minneapolis.)
