Director Peter Care-who spent the past eight years at bicoastal/international Satellite-has signed with Bob Industries, the bicoastal spot shop headed by executive producers T.K. Knowles, Chuck Ryant and John O’Grady.
At press time, Care was involved in postproduction on his feature film directorial debut, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, an independent drama out of Jodie Foster’s Los Angeles-based production company, Egg Pictures. The cast includes Jena Malone, Kieran Culkin, Vincent D’Onofrio and Emile Hirsch, with Foster appearing in a supporting role. The movie also features animation sequences by Todd McFarlane, the comic book creator best known for the character Spawn.
Care estimated that he would again be available for commercials around October, perhaps a little sooner. Prior to embarking on the theatrical feature this past January, he had wrapped a flurry of spots via Satellite, including: a Best Western campaign consisting of the spots "Grand Canyon," "Waterfall" and "Tulsa" for BBDO West, San Francisco and Los Angeles; the initial Sprint package featuring the character that goes around helping people out on behalf of Sprint PCS, via Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco; Saturn’s "Virtual Ride," also via Publicis & Hal Riney; and a Polaroid campaign promoting its Joycam and i-Zone cameras (i.e.-"Punk," "Hot Dog," "Scooter") for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Knowles and Ryant were prime reasons for Care gravitating towards Bob as his new roost. They worked together years ago on a L’Oreal job when Ryant was executive producer and Knowles served as a production department staffer at McCann-Erickson, New York. That job was produced by bicoastal, now defunct 1/33 Productions. Later Knowles became the first sales rep at Satellite as the house began its diversification into commercials. Care came aboard Satellite just as it was making that transition. Later Ryant became New York-based head of sales for bicoastal/ international Propaganda Films, Satellite’s sister shop.
"We understand each other really well," said Care in discussing his relationship with Knowles. "We’ve been good friends for many years-as I have with Jonathan [Dayton] and Valerie [Faris] at Bob [the directing team of Dayton & Faris]. It was a chance to be at a company with people I like a great deal-and to be at a smaller company which represents a nice change of pace for me."
Care said that he leaves Satellite on good terms, noting that he wishes the company well. He explained that there were so many changes at Satellite that in some respects it felt almost "surreal" for him to be there. Care alluded to changes in ownership and management as well as the number of people who left Satellite over the past year. In fact, Care noted that up until recently there was but one person left at Satellite dating back to when he originally joined the company-director Mark Romanek who just moved over to bicoastal Anonymous. Care described his tenure at Satellite as gratifying, particularly the chance to hand over the baton to such directors as Spike Jonze and Josh Taft. "There are some great people still there, but I just felt the need to make a change," related Care.
In the U.S, Care first established himself in the music video discipline. Known for edgy, off-the-wall clips, he turned out such notable work as REM’s "Man On The Moon" and Bruce Springsteen’s "Secret Garden," both produced by Satellite. Though he hasn’t helmed a clip in about four years, Care said he’d be open to the right project. Clearly, his focus in recent years has been in the spot arena as evidenced by recognition from various competitions, perhaps most notably the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show.
Care was honored in the dialogue or monologue category at the ’99 AICP Show for Southwestern Bell’s "Crunchy" for GSD&M, Austin, Texas. The spot depicts a hapless grocery-shopping husband who phones his wife repeatedly when he’s stumped about what to buy. Finally, he’s prompted to call her yet again when confronted at the checkout stand with the question, "Paper or plastic?" And in the ’98 AICP Show, the Care-directed, humorous Saturn commercial, "Donuts," for Hal Riney & Partners (now Publicis & Hal Riney), San Francisco, earned recognition in two categories, including talent/performance.
Care first landed on the industry map as a documentary filmmaker in the U.K. With many musician friends in London, he got the opportunity to segue into music videos. He moved to the U.S. in ’86, reasoning that his clips work would enable him to dovetail into commercials. That transition came to pass as he linked first with Limelight Commercials’ now defunct U.S. operation, then bicoastal The A+R Group, followed by the since closed Berkofsky Barrett and then briefly its successor com-pany, 1/33, prior to his joining Satellite.
Since opening a year and a half ago, Bob has kept its core directorial roster intact: Dayton & Faris, Jason Smith, Mark Kohr and Lisa Rubisch. Care is the first directorial signing for Bob since its launch. Dayton/Faris, Smith and Rubisch came over to Bob with executive producers Ryant and Knowles from bicoastal Reactor Films. Kohr joined Bob after exiting Satellite.
"In today’s marketplace, production houses either have to be intelligently small or insanely large," observed Knowles. "We never intend to become a big company-no more than five or six directors. Peter is the ideal addition; he fits in because of his creativity and personality. He’s someone who’s always been at the top of our wish list."
Ryant and Knowles continue to also handle representation for Bob on the East and West Coasts, respectively. Independent rep Chris Breneman of Stacey & Annie & Chris, Chicago, covers the Midwest.
