SHOOT‘s fourth annual New Directors Showcase–marked by an evening screening, panel discussion and reception this week (5/25) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater in New York–offers a total of 25 helmers (including four two-person teams) from diverse backgrounds.
Prominent in the mix, though, are ad agency creatives who have acted on their directorial aspirations, including:
- Adam Goldstein, who exited his senior creative director/copywriter’s post at BBDO New York to make the jump to full-time directing earlier this year, joining bicoastal/international RSA Films. He earned inclusion in the SHOOT Showcase based on his Levitra “Brunch” spec spot and the New York Homeless Coalition’s “Scaffold.”
- John Immesoete, who spent 15 years on the agency side of the business before joining the directorial roster of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., in late 2004. His last agency post was as a group creative director at DDB Chicago.
- Shyam Madiraju, who started as an art director in India. His most recent agency role was as creative director/partner at Ogilvy & Mather, Los Angeles, where he ran the worldwide business of Cisco Systems. Madiraju directs via V3, Culver City, Calif., at bicoastal Anonymous Content.
- Also two of the Showcase directorial teams have an agency pedigree. Martin Dix, half of the helming duo Peter Martin (with recent AFI graduate Peter Livolsi), has been a longtime advertising creative. (Peter Martin is not yet affiliated with a production company.) Additionally Jeff Odiorne, one of the Ordiorne Brothers, a team that directs via Phasmatrope Studios, Philadelphia, first established himself in the agency arena. Odiorne was a partner/creative director at the former Odiorne Wilde Narraway + Partners, San Francisco.
- And Corbett Scott, who joined A Band Apart in December ’05, began his career with North Carolina ad agency Price/McNabb. He then moved on to serve as a copywriter at Earle Palmer Brown, Richmond, Va., before freelancing at such Southern California shops as TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, and Team One, El Segundo. Helping him make the transition from agency creative to spot director was Group101Spots, a program that enables helmers to showcase their talents through the production of spec spots.
GROUP EFFORT
Indeed Group101 played a role in the development of several SHOOT Showcase directors. For example, director Brent Jones, who recently joined Aero Film, Santa Monica, made the Showcase on the strength of two spec ads he did at Group101: NHL’s “Sorry” and Callaway’s “Best Ever.” Jones has paid his industry dues, having worked for some 15 years on commercial, feature and music video sets as an electrician, gaffer and key grip before making the jump to directing, first with a film, The Company Man, which hit the festival circuit, and then via his Group101 endeavors.
The directorial team of Zack & J.C. (Zack Resnicoff and J.C. Khoury) also scored big during its tour of Group101 duty with a Mountain Dew spec spot, “Foley,” which has elicited interest from assorted production houses. At press time, Zack & J.C. were making the rounds at different shops.
Other spec fare outside the province of Group101 surfaced at the SHOOT Showcase, including Brian Lazzaro with Lexus’ “Romeo” and Jody Lauren Miller with “Sports Montage” for David’s Sunflower Seeds. Lazzaro is affiliated with bicoastal HSI; Miller is seeking a spot roost.
Miller also earned Showcase inclusion on the basis of “Siphoning,” a Web film that’s part of Aquafina’s 2006 New Year’s Resolutions series, out of Tribal DDB, Dallas. Similarly a :90 centerpiece to Jaguar’s “Gorgeous” campaign for Euro RSCG Fuel, New York–directed by Michal Comte, who has since joined Los Angeles-based Form–enjoyed significant Internet exposure (www.PreferGorgeous.com) in addition to running in cinemas and on TV. Comte earned a Showcase slot based on his Jag fare.
Varied short films garnered SHOOT recognition, including Lift Off and A Persistent Vision, both from the directorial team Terry Timely, a.k.a. Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey, of Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. Meanwhile the music video discipline served as a springboard to the Showcase for director Jon Watts of bicoastal Smuggler. Watts helmed Fatboy Slim’s “Wonderful Night” clip.
Beyond crossing over from shorts and clips into spots, there’s director Jeff Tremaine, whose claim to fame is helming the highly successful TV series and movie Jackass. In fact, he just wrapped the feature sequel Jackass 2. Tremaine garnered Showcase notice, though, for his Bubblicious commercial “Flying Bubble” out of J. Walter Thompson, Tokyo. The Jackass-inspired ad was produced by Beverly Hills-based Saville Productions, which reps Tremaine for commercials.
As in years past, entries from SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery also figured into the equation. Prime examples this year included Zack & J.C.’s “Foley” for Mountain Dew, Tremaine’s “Flying Bubble” ad for Bubblicious, and director Lena Beug’s “Admiral Winky” for AIDS Vancouver. Beug is with Reginald Pike, Toronto, and Reginaldo in the U.S.
Animation, 3-D and mixed media fare also made their Showcase mark, embodied in the work of such directors as Ruairi Robinson of Furlined, Santa Monica, and BlinkInk, London, and Andreas Hasle of Roses Are Blue, Los Angeles. Hasle’s “Human Ball” for MSF was produced via Belgium’s Caviar.
Indeed directors outside the U.S. were represented in the Showcase lineup, with such notables as Jeana Thoren of Velocity Films, Johannesburg and Cape Town, and Adam Smith of RSA Films, London.
Among other Showcase helmers were Andrew Zuckerman of bicoastal/international @radical.media, and Marc Colucci of Picture Park, Boston.
For a a full rundown of the 2006 New Directors Showcase helmers including our series of individual mini-profiles. The SHOOT New Directors 2006 web reel can be seen here.
