SunSpots, the commercial production house headed by director David Dryer and president Linda Dryer, has launched Tantrum, a comedy division that will represent director Craig Worsham. SunSpots has repped Worsham in the U.S. spot arena for the past year (SHOOT, 7/23/99, p. 8). Tantrum is located on the SunSpots premises, in Hollywood.
"Craig has a very unique style and sense of comedic timing that warrants a separate identity," said Linda Dryer. "We want Tantrum to have its own identity as a production house that specializes in comedy."
Additionally, director/cameraman Bruce Logan, who was previously repped by The Directors Network, Studio City, Calif., has signed with SunSpots for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S.
Linda Dryer serves as president at Tantrum, working alongside Carlton Ashley, who is executive producer of both SunSpots and the new division. A longtime friend of the Dryers, Ashley joined the production house earlier this year, after SunSpots’ former executive producer, David Coulter, exited the company to launch Santa Monica-based Tropix Films, a satellite of Atlas Pictures, Santa Monica (SHOOT, 6/23, p. 7).
Prior to coming aboard SunSpots, Ashley was senior manager of physical production at The Secret Lab, the Burbank, Calif.-based in-house digital production studio of Walt Disney Feature Animation. From 1994 through ’99, Ashley was an executive producer at Studio City-based Image G, a motion control and effects house. While there, he worked on features such as The Green Mile and Stuart Little, as well as on more than 200 commercial shoots.
Worsham said that the eventual goal is to build Tantrum’s roster with additional comedy helmers, but not at this juncture. Tantrum will be repped by the SunSpots sales contingent, which comprises Sandra Riley of San Francisco-based Free Lunch on the West Coast, New York-based John Naitove of Naitove & Company on the East Coast, and Chicago-based Jack Lewis in the Midwest—with the exception of Detroit, which is handled by Pat Costa of Illumini Productions.
Known for his offbeat, character-driven comedy, Worsham has helmed his first assignment under the Tantrum banner: a campaign for Carl’s Jr. via Jordan Associates, Oklahoma City. The ads feature the fast-food chain’s "Happy Star" character in various scenarios in his apartment.
Worsham continues to be represented in much of Canada by Trailer Park Films, Toronto, and in Western Canada by Apple Box Productions, which maintains offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton. Earlier this year, he helmed a five-spot campaign for the Enmax power company via Calgary-based Highwood Communications and Apple Box. Worsham’s other recent credits include a Trailer Park-produced campaign for KFC, out of Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto; and several spots for Dell Computers via Ammirati Puris Lintas (now Lowe Lintas & Partners), New York, and produced by SunSpots. "Small Business," a Worsham-directed Telus Communications spot via Palmer Jarvis DDB, Vancouver, and Apple Box, was short-listed at this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival.
LOGAN
A commercial director/cameraman for more than a decade, Logan is currently wrapping his last assignment through The Directors Network: a Shell campaign via Houston agency Global Communication Works, in association with Chernoff/ Silver and Associates, Columbia, S.C., and produced by Convergence, Orlando, Fla. . Logan has also directed spots for Epcot Center, Kenmore appliances, Hitachi and Daewoo. He helmed a spot for OurBeginning.com via Disney Ideas, Orlando. The ad, which premiered during the 2000 Super Bowl and features several prospective brides fighting over such wedding necessities as invitations, was produced in-house at Disney Ideas.
In addition to his spot credits, Logan has amassed a substantial pedigree for feature special effects and cinematography, and he recently expanded his repertoire to include Bunraku puppetry, a traditional Japanese art form. The Bunraku technique, in which several puppeteers manipulate the various movements of a single puppet, was used on a "virtual set" for several episodes of Winnie the Pooh, which Logan helmed for the Disney Channel. The episodes begin airing in January.
A native of the U.K., Logan began making animated films in his youth, and landed his first job after secondary school at Stewart-Hardy Films, London, an animation and film studio. While there, he was hired to work in the special photographic effects unit on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Completing work on the picture two and a half years later, in ’68, Logan relocated to the U.S. and began working as a cinematographer. He has shot more than a dozen films, including Tron, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and, most recently, the Fox telefilm Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Logan also served as second unit director for Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Logan also continued to work in visual effects on features such as Star Wars, Airplane!, and, more recently, Batman Forever. Earlier in his career, he also DP’d several music clips, including Prince’s "When Doves Cry" and Rod Stewart’s "Some Guys."
In the late ’80s, Logan signed with The Directors Network as a commercial cameraman, but shortly thereafter began directing spots. About six years ago, he shot a Mazda campaign, which David Dryer directed, and over the years the pair continued to collaborate. This fall, Logan shot "Chasm," a Dryer-helmed campaign for Norfolk Southern, out of J. Walter Thompson, Atlanta.
SunSpots additionally represents actor/director/producer Jonathan Frakes as a commercial helmer. The company maintains a non-exclusive affiliation with director Kevin Dole.
