Less than a week after resigning from bicoastal RSA USA, director Marcus Nispel agreed this past Memorial Day weekend to join Los Angeles-based Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ).
Nispel’s departure from RSA USA was prompted by a controversial print ad that the company ran in the 5/12 issue of SHOOT. The actors’ strike-related ad, which targeted the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), showed a photo of a black woman’s breasts accompanied by the caption, "In South Africa, this is what SAG means." The ad went on to relate that, "To service clients, Marcus Nispel has set up a temporary RSA office in South Africa, where production is cost-effective and they’ve never heard of SAG."
The ad was denounced as being racist, sexist and anti-union by assorted groups, including SAG, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People, the AFL-CIO and the Writers Guild of America West.
Directors Ridley and Tony Scott, founders of RSA, also condemned the ad, saying they had no advance knowledge of it and apologized for "the actions of our employees." The company announced that as a result of the "offensive" ad, it had ended its business relationships with RSA USA managing director Linda Ross and independent representation firm Creative Management Partners (CMP), bicoastal and Chicago. RSA also accepted Nispel’s resignation (SHOOT, 6/2).
As reported in last week’s SHOOT, both Nispel and CMP principal Tim Case issued statements of apology for the ad. MJZ has since forwarded to SHOOT a similar statement from Nispel, which reiterated that the ad "was not written by me," but added the revision, "nor did I agree with what it said." The statement went on to read: "I resigned from RSA because I did not like the way the whole situation was handled. I regret that I did not make a greater effort to stop the ad and deeply apologize to all those offended by it."
At press time, this statement was slated to appear in the body copy of a trade ad that Nispel planned to run in SHOOT, The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. An apology from CMP principal Tim Case is also slated to run as a separate ad in the trade publications.
Nispel was unavailable for comment at press time. MJZ principal/executive producer David Zander said the director was in the midst of several projects. Zander added that it was being determined which of these jobs would be produced through RSA and which would be handled by MJZ.
Zander declined to comment on the RSA ad controversy, and referred SHOOT to an MJZ press release in which he describes Nispel as being "a director who has already developed an extraordinary vision and I am so glad that we’re now able to work together. We are tremendously excited to be able to offer the environment and support of MJZ so he can continue to produce the excellent work that the industry has come to know him for. Marcus is an idea-driven director who draws inspiration from the central idea of the spot and then develops the appropriate interpretation. His creative scope of work reflects his great ability to do this."
Nispel is a highly regarded director with more than 600 commercials and music videos in his filmography. His noteworthy directorial credits include work for such clients as Mercedes, Motorola, Kodak, Audi, Fidelity, Bell South, AT&T, Panasonic, Dr. Pepper, Visa Gold, Marlboro, UPS, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Sprint, Canon, FTD.com, Schick, L’ Oreal, Tropicana, U.S. Postal Service and Converse.
In the music video realm, Nispel has directed numerous clips for artists including Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Elton John, En Vogue, B-52s, Bush, No Doubt, Puff Daddy, Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, The Fugees, Spice Girls, Cher and Bryan Adams.
Nispel’s work has received assorted industry accolades, including Clio Awards, Grand Prix honors from the Broadcast Design Association (BDA) Awards, the Music Video Production Association, and the New York, Houston and Chicago Film Festivals. Additionally, a Nispel-helmed Motorola :60 entitled "Wings" for McCann-Erickson, New York, garnered recognition from the ’99 Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show at the Museum of Modern Art, which honored the spot in the cinematography and production design categories.
Nispel’s career started in his native Germany, where he studied design and worked for such agencies as Young & Rubicam, Frankfurt, for which he served as an art director while still in school. He came to New York at age 20 on a Fulbright Scholarship and worked as an illustrator.
He proceeded to land a job at graphics and visual effects firm R/Greenberg Associates (a division which has since closed), where he gained a taste for film work. In ’88, he opened his own, now defunct shop, Portfolio Artists Network. In ’94, Nispel merged his firm into RSA USA’s music video arm, Black Dog Films, and signed a commercial and feature representation deal with RSA USA (SHOOT, 10/7/ 94). In ’98, Nispel was on board to direct the $120 million Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer End of Days, but departed prior to production on what would have been his feature directorial debut.
At MJZ, Nispel will again be repped throughout the U.S. by CMP.
