Jeff Armstrong, former executive producer of bicoastal/international Satellite, has formed Drive Media, a Venice-based production house that will focus on commercialmaking and emerging ad forms. The new venture opens with three directors on board: Frederic Forestier, Red Grainge and Tony Pantages. Armstrong has also secured national sales representation for Drive Media via Creative Management Partners, bicoastal and Chicago.
Forestier, who helmed the feature The Peacekeeper, caught Armstrongs attention on the strength of two short films, Game Girl and Paranoia. Armstrong noted that the shorts demonstrate Forestiers prowess in storytelling, marked by strong visual sensibilities and subtle nuances. "His talent should translate well into commercials," related Armstrong who added that in some respects, the Drive Media approach "is not dissimilar to part of the Satellite model, where we were able to take some talented filmmakers and develop them into commercial directors." SHOOT was unable to reach Forestier, who at press time was in Paris. Forestier divides his time between Paris and Los Angeles.
Armstrong also plans on bringing established spot helmers into the Drive Media fold. But the shops first three signings are of directorial talent he hopes to develop and help establish in the U.S. ad market. Grainge, for example, has been freelance helming for the past year-plus via his Venice-based Ambush Films. His credits include "Tollbooth," a spot for the National Basketball Associations Charlotte Hornets out of The Martin Agency, Charlotte, N.C. The humorous premise simply shows an automobile pull up to a tollbooth, the kind that requires the driver to toss a token into the basket to activate the lifting of the gate so that the car can pass. In this spot scenario, however, the driver-whom we never see-keeps throwing tokens but continually misses the basket. We then get a glimpse of the cars license plate: "Shaq," which means the Los Angeles Lakers must be in town. Shaq is Shaquille ONeal, the Lakers center who is notorious for his poor free throw shooting.
Grainge also directed via Ambush a :30 entitled "Crabcake" for real estate brokerage firm Right Home. Conceived by West Hollywood boutique agency Anti Inc., the commercial opens on a husband and wife giving a tour of their home to prospective buyers, a younger couple. Its your typical real estate 101 ritual, which takes an offbeat detour when they stumble upon a stark naked 82-year-old man. The elderly gent, who is the home-selling husbands father, explains his unclad state: "Dropped a crabcake in my shorts." A voiceover interjects with the pitch: "Youve got enough things to worry about when youre trying to sell a home. We can take care of most of them." "Crabcake" recently made SHOOTs "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery (SHOOT, 4/21).
Grainge, who in his prior professional life worked extensively as an agency art director, still occasionally will freelance on the agency side. But his prime focus is to develop his directing career. He cited Armstrong’s track record in building directors’ careers. "Being able to work with Jeff is a great opportunity," assessed Grainge, citing the high quality of the work and the directors Armstrong was involved with at Satellite.
Meanwhile, Pantages first became known in the music video arena. As a Los Angeles-based freelancer in ’92, he helmed the Sarah McLachlan video "Hold On." But when his apartment burned down during the Los Angeles riots that same year, Pantages relocated to Vancouver, B.C. He later signed with Red Motel Pictures, Calgary, directing some 40 music clips from ’94-’97. Pantages then checked out of Red Motel and became a founding partner in Vancouver-based Soulhammerpictures where he continued to direct videos and started to diversify into other disciplines, including trailers and a TV campaign for the ’98 Vancouver Film Festival out of BBDO, Vancouver. The "Zealots" promos for the film fest went on to garner numerous industry awards in Canada, including recognition from the Lotus and Bessie competitions. This led to his garnering an ad assignment for Playland, an amusement park in Vancouver. For Playland and agency Palmer Jarvis, Vancouver, Pantages turned out "Hungry Boy," which became a popular spot in Canada. At Soulhammerpictures, he also broadened into the documentary field, helming Burn This Film, for the Burning Man Festival.
While he continues to be sought after for music videos, Pantages said that his priority is commercials. He now maintains Soulhammerpictures as solely a longform division. "I feel fortunate that my reel made its way into Jeff’s hands," related Pantages. "He called me, and I flew down to L.A. to meet him. I like the way he [Armstrong] communicates and the quality of the work he’s been associated with. This is a great chance to move meaningfully into commercials in the U.S."
Pantages plans to divide his time between Vancouver and Los Angeles, helming spots for the American and Canadian markets. He noted that Drive could also facilitate his work for agencies in Canada via its office space at Circle Productions, Vancouver and Toronto. Drive Media has financial backing from Circle’s two principals, executive producer Chris Bowell and director Rob Turner.
Armstrong noted that Circle is exploring the prospect of representing Drive Media directors for Canadian spots, and conversely his shop could line up some U.S. assignments for Circle’s coterie of directors. He is also looking to form other reciprocal relationships and/or strategic alliances with production companies in Europe, Asia and South Africa. "It’s about offering clients different options, and having international footholds in production," he assessed.
Beyond extending Drive Media’s geographical reach, Armstrong intends to form alliances that will also broaden the company into new media. He envisions relationships that will help Drive Media break into areas such as the Internet, wireless, broadband or whatever other technologies ultimately take hold in the advertising industry. He also sees opportunities for advertiser messages to be imbedded within the context of program content, which Drive Media could help to develop.
Armstrong served as Satellite’s executive producer of commercials from ’96-’99. Prior to Satellite, he freelance produced for some 11 years, working in spots, music videos and longform.
