Tim Matheson–whose directorial career spans varied TV series (Burn Notice, Criminal Minds, the recent pilots for USA’s Covert Affairs and Fox’s The Good Guys) and an ongoing Unilever campaign tailor-made for airing during Mad Men as part of a season-long sponsorship–has joined the roster of Santa Monica-based Aero Film for exclusive representation in commercials.
The Unilever work sprung out of that advertiser’s self-described “reverse upfronts” approach in which brand managers work with media companies to develop ideas on how to best showcase brands across platforms–all well ahead of the annual upfront ad sales market. Unilever, media agency Mindshare and creative/production shop Generate came up with a campaign that weaves six leading Unilever brands–Dove, Breyers, Hellmann’s, Klondike, Suave, and Vaseline–into a storyline centered on fictional circa 1960s’ ad agency Smith Winter Mitchell and its founding creative partners, copywriter Phil Smith and art director Tad Winter. Messrs. Winter and Smith are tasked with developing ad campaigns for each of these brands. We see them in various states of brainstorming, inspired and not-so-inspired creative moments, even in the throes of what turns out to be a mock creative pitch.
The latter was for Klondike in which Smith and Winter look into the camera and take us via storyboard frames through their idea for an engaging, somewhat grandiose commercial. They’re delivering their presentation to a client who is yet unseen. Eventually the camera reveals the “client” to be an office janitor who is seated before them at a conference table and chomping on a Klondike ice cream bar. The janitor says he’d do just about anything for a Klondike and then leaves to continue his cleaning.
The 1960s’ ad mavens at Smith Winter Mitchell are cut from Mad Men entrepreneurial and stylistic cloth, dovetailing nicely with the hit AMC series and thus making the messages a bit more TiVo- and zap-proof. The Unilever spots are not only running during the current fourth season of Mad Men but also online, including on a dedicated YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/smithwinter). Mindshare gravitated towards Matheson to direct the campaign which takes us into the inner workings of this agency from the so-called Golden Age of Advertising era. “We created a period ad agency, but with contemporary Unilever products,” related Matheson.
Lance O’Connor, executive producer at Aero, saw the initial Unilever vignettes on Mad Men and was impressed enough to seek out who directed them. “I saw great direction, location, period, character and dialogue,” assessed O’Connor. His search led to Matheson who turned out to be a long-time friend of fellow Aero partner/exec producer Skip Short. Matheson in turn found Aero and for that matter commercialmaking appealing. The director had contemplated directing spots several times but his acting, producing and directing endeavors for TV had detoured him from exploring ad prospects. Since he found the Unilever experience creatively gratifying and enjoyable, Matheson decided to more proactively go after select commercial work by signing with Aero.
Matheson’s career spans not only directing but also producing and acting. Among Matheson’s other TV show credits as a director are the primetime shows Psych, White Collar, Cold Case, Without A Trace, even an episode of West Wing, a series for which he received two Emmy nominations as an actor. His TV directorial debut was an episode of the acclaimed ensemble drama series St. Elsewhere, which then led to him helming the telefilms Breach of Contract (starring Peter Coyote and Courtney Thome-Smith), and Buried Alive II (in which Matheson starred). Matheson’s exec produced Breach of Contract and served as a producer on multiple episodes of the TV series Cold Case.
Matheson made his first industry splash as an actor, perhaps initially best known for his portrayal of the smooth talking Eric “Otter” Stratton in the box office comedy hit Animal House. His other feature film roles included playing one of the three vigilante cops in Magnum Force, which starred Clint Eastwood as San Francisco police detective Harry Callahan, a.k.a. “Dirty Harry.”
At Aero, Matheson comes aboard a directors’ roster that also includes Klaus Obermeyer, Ken Arlidge, James Mangold, Jason Farrand, Sam O’Hare and Gary McKendry.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More