SHOOT’s 10th annual New Directors Showcase–celebrated with an evening screening, panel discussion and reception on Thursday (5/17) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater in New York–offers a total of 34 up-and-coming helmers filling 32 slots (31 individual directors and a three-person team).
The field of talent is wide ranging from freelance directors, many of whom are seeking production company affiliations, to a noted agency creative who’s transitioned to full-time director and just landed his first production house roost, to a filmmaker who saw her short subject documentary earn an Academy Award nomination this year.
The latter is Robin Fryday who co-directed with the late Gail Dolgin the Oscar-nominated The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement. The short marked the documentary directorial debut for Fryday who went on to join Nonfiction Unlimited for representation in spots and branded content.
An accomplished still photographer and photojournalist, Fryday was prompted to become a documentarian by the 2008 potential presidential nomination for Sen. Barack Obama and the prospects of his becoming the first African-American President of the United States. This moved Fryday to explore the impact of these unfolding events on aging Civil Rights activists in the South. “I didn’t want to find the leaders who were already well known, but rather the unsung heroes who risked their lives and livelihoods, who sacrificed so much for their civil rights and the civil rights of others,” related Fryday.
A research trip to Alabama confirmed her belief that the stories of those who fought for the right to vote in the 1960s needed to be captured and preserved. That Birmingham visit led her to 85-year-old James Armstrong, an African-American barber who spoke of his experiences and the manifestation of an unimaginable dream: the ascent of an African-American to the country’s presidency.
Upon returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, Fryday thought she had the makings of a viable, valuable documentary. Still, she sought an experienced filmmaker to collaborate with on her first venture into documentary-making. Serendipity intervened as her hairdresser introduced her to Gail Dolgin, a documentarian whose accomplishments included co-directing (with Vicente Franco) Daughter from Danang, nominated for a Best Feature Documentary Oscar in 2003. Dolgin saw the still photographs Fryday took of Armstrong in his barbershop and immediately embraced the project.
“Gail was an amazingly courageous woman,” said Fryday. “She had been battling breast cancer for over 10 years and was in the late stages of the disease. She didn’t let anything stop her. We spent a great deal of time together and she mentored me through this project.”
Fryday recently diversified into commercialmaking via Nonfiction, wrapping a documentary spot for Bank of America out of Hill Holliday, Boston.
Meanwhile the alluded to ad agency artisan is Tim Roper who’s spent the last 15 years at Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami, L.A., and Boulder, Colo., as writer and executive creative director. He left the agency life in February to direct commercials and entertainment content. In making the transition which he describes as being “from agency guy to writer/director guy,” Roper has secured his first production company home, coming aboard Partizan.
Roper got his initial directing break at CP+B when Hulu agreed to let him helm three commercials featuring actor/comedian Will Arnett. Roper wrote the spots for this year’s Super Bowl and Oscar telecasts.
Other former agency artisans are also in this year’s New Directors Showcase mix. Manny Bernardez is with international production house Savage and has a pedigree that spans the agency and client sides of the business. Bernardez earlier served as VP/group creative director at Digitas. Prior to that he was creative manager at Nike Global Brand Connections. Work contributing to his selection to the New Directors Showcase included Nike’s “Larry Fitzgerald” online spot.
Unaffiliated This year’s Showcase includes ten directors who have no production house affiliations, two of whom have agency backgrounds.
Lawrence Chen made the SHOOT Showcase on the strength of such work as the online spot “Little Things” for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). Chen is currently a producer at BBDO New York and moonlights as a director.
And Aron Paul Orton, who is also sans a production company home, earned Showcase inclusion on the basis of Taller San Jose’s “Home of Second Chance–Woman” PSA for agency DGWB, Santa Ana, Calif. Orton broke into the ad business via DGWB, starting in the mail room and working his way into the creative department, later building the shop’s in-house edit bay. He established himself as an editor there, cutting for such clients as Wienerschnitzel, Toshiba Copiers, Ryka, Hilton Garden Inn and the L.A. Dodgers.
Rounding out the field of unaffiliated helmers in this year’s Showcase are:
• Brian McAllister who scored for his short film The Man At The Counter. McAllister started his career editing for a range of TV networks including National Geographic, A&E, and OWN. He was involved in producing documentary TV series such as Jacked for A&E and Dangerous Drives for the Speed Channel, and edited Jonathan Caouette’s feature film Walk Away Renee.
• Marshall Harrington whose directorial entries include Pawsitive Pals, an online sort for the San Diego Hospice.
• Habib Semaan who earned Showcase status for his short film Bombs.
• Martin Rodahl whose Special Olympics PSA entitled “Speechless” impressed Showcase judges.
• John Ryan Johnson who directed “Nine To Five,” a spec spot for the NBA Summer League.
• M. Keegan Uhl who helmed Doritos’ “Babysitter” spec spot.
• And Michael Stalhberg, director of the online spot “Emily” for Children of the Night.
Teamwork For the second consecutive year, the Showcase roster had but one directorial team. This was after several years of duos and teams being fairly prominent in the mix.
This year’s team to make the grade was Everynone from Epoch Films. Everynone consists of Will Hoffman, Daniel Mercadante and Julius Metoyer.
Contributing to Everynone’s selection for the Showcase was the team’s short film about bullying, Losers.
Everynone joined Epoch last year and right out of the gate made its U.S. commercialmaking debut with a Target campaign for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
In addition to Losers, Everynone’s short film credits include WORDS, which was featured in the creative showcase YouTube Play at the Guggenheim Museum.
Production house finds Epoch and Partizan were just two of the prominent houses to have Showcase directors on their rosters. The other directors with established spot shop affiliations included:
Stephan Malik of harvest earned Showcase distinction on the strength of such work as his spec spot “Agave” for Arbor.
Supply&Demand Integrated scored with director David Holm whose entries included the short film American Dreams. Holm credited Tim Case, founder/managing partner of Supply&Demand Integrated, with taking “a big risk on me” by funding American Dreams. Holm said his directing career “basically all started then and there.”
Rhys Thomas of Skunk entered work from his Saturday Night Live Film Unit exploits, including SNL’s “British Movie” mock trailer.
Recommended Media, the house in which Stephen Dickstein is partnered, signed Andreas Roth while he was still a film student at Film Academy Baden-Wurttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Roth’s work there includes the lauded student spec piece, Dirt Devil’s “The Exorcist,” a viral hit which graces this year’s SHOOT New Directors Showcase reel.
James Gooding of Hungry Man earned inclusion into the Showcase on the basis of such work as Brother’s “Route 66–Ms. Immethun” commercial.
Chanya Button of HOMEcorp., London, caught Showcase judges’ attention with her short film Fire, commissioned by the British Film Institute for the Charles Dickens Bicentenary Film Festival.
Matt Bieler of Serial Pictures scored with this spec spot titled “My Mother” for VH1 Save The Music.
Kirsten Lepore of Caviar garnered Showcase distinction for work that included her short film Bottle.
Ariel Martin of Filmgraphics Entertainment in Australia who scored for the short film Bars And Tones.
David Rosenbaum of Mothership earned Showcase stature for entries which included the effects tour de force “Biomorph” for Nike.
Eran Hilleli of XYZ Studios, Melbourne, Australia, and New York, made the Showcase for such work as the online animation spot “Generation To Generation” for Honda.
Jonathan C. Hyde of Boxer Films scored with judges for Levi’s “Go Forth,” among other entries.
Matt Miadich of Detour Films earned his Showcase slot for a body of work which included the online spot “Meet The Moment” for Clif Bars.
Eddie Alcazar of Futuristic Films became a Showcase director in large part for Everlast’s “Everlast Astral” spec piece.
Ben Callner of Pogo Pictures submitted a wide range of work, including the humorous “Be Prepared” spot for Belgard.
Andrea Ball of Hoax Films impressed judges with Chevy’s “Imagination.”
Jeff Jenkins of ContagiousLA got laughs for his spec “The Salesman” for the Ad Council.
Hanna Maria Heidrich, who has production house affiliations in Germany and the U.K.–and is managed by Driven By Creative–struck a responsive chord with Showcase judges on the basis of such work as the spec piece “Life Is Calling” for Levi’s.
And Steve Petersen of Big Machine earned Showcase inclusion for his graphic visual storytelling on such projects as the TV program, Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Expanded agenda For the third straight year, the New Directors Showcase evening event was expanded to include daytime proceedings, a Directors/Producers Forum, also on May 17 at the DGA Theatre.
Gold sponsors of the two complementary SHOOT events are: the DGA, harvest, and ONE at Optimus. Silver sponsors are ARRI, Kodak, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. Bronze sponsors are Moxie Pictures and the Nevada Film Office.
For a full rundown of directorial talent in the 2012 SHOOT New Directors Showcase, see the mini-profiles beginning on page 15 and visit http://nds.shootonline.com starting May 18 to view all the work and see more Q&As with the directors.
