This spring 2014 installment of SHOOT’s ongoing Up-and-Coming Directors Series offers a mix of talent which consists of:
• An Oscar-nominated production designer who’s extended his creative reach to the director’s chair.
• A helmer whose TV series pilot for a commercial production house led to his being handled by that shop for spots and branded content. Additionally he’s in postproduction on his feature directorial debut, a comedy starring Kevin Hart.
• A costume designer honored for his work in features, commercials and branded content–and who’s enjoyed a 20-plus-year collaborative relationship with director Spike Jonze–makes a commitment to a directorial career, turning out a fashion film and a pair of music videos.
• A resident ad agency filmmaker who’s broken through with a feature documentary which made its world premiere at this month’s SXSW Film Festival.
• And a still photographer who’s naturally diversified into moving imagery, actively pursuing commercials and branded content since 2012 upon securing his first production company affiliation.
Here’s our spring collection of directorial talent:
Jess Gonchor
For Oscar-nominated production designer Jess Gonchor, extending his creative reach into directing evolved naturally. The seamless diversification stems for his approach to production design. “I’ve always considered myself a filmmaker first. A production designer is really all about figuring out how to tell a story visually. The visuals don’t speak but you have to make them talk–sometimes talk loud and sometimes whisper to tell a story. That to me is directing. It is art direction. I don’t have a formal design background. I’m just a huge fan of the script and someone who can visualize a story–especially when I’m in love with the material. Your work as a production designer can help take the acting to another level. And the art direction itself is a character in the story.”
Gonchor has had an embarrassment of riches when it comes to falling “in love with the material,” citing his regular collaborations with such directors as the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan), and Bennett Miller.
As production designer, Gonchor earned an Oscar nomination in 2011 for Best Achievement in Art Direction on the strength of the Coens’ True Grit. Gonchor has six career Excellence in Production Design nominations from the Art Directors Guild. Five of those came for his work with the Coens: No Country For Old Men in 2008, Burn After Reading in 2009, A Serious Man in 2010, True Grit in 2011, and Inside Llewyn Davis this past year. He won the Art Directors Guild Award for No Country For Old Men. (Gonchor’s first nomination came in 2004 for The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick.)
Gonchor’s latest Guild nomination, Inside Llewyn Davis, presented its share of challenges for the production designer who, for example, added brick textures, placed arches and columns in a rundown, empty warehouse in Brooklyn to help recreate the Gaslight Cafe circa 1961 in which Davis performs. But production design does more than bring settings and environments to life–it also promotes feelings, sometimes sensations. “After the AFI Film Festival screening of the movie,” said Gonchor, “three people texted me whom I hadn’t seen in years. They said the movie felt ‘cold,’ literally. They could feel the winter, Llewyn having no jacket. In that regard, there’s never one comfortable moment in the movie. We had the responsibility of conveying that visually with touches like little patches of snow in an alleyway.”
As for Miller, Gonchor has served as production designer on all three of the director’s films: Capote, followed by Moneyball, and Foxcatcher, which is slated for release this year. For the latter, Gonchor did double duty as production designer and second unit director. “Being a full-time production designer, you know the material so well–your work is all linked to the story. I asked Bennett if I could do some of the stuff that he couldn’t get to with the first unit. He was gracious and trusting enough to say that was a great idea. He took a chance and it was a wonderful experience.”
Gonchor made his directorial debut in the summer of 2012 with a package of PSAs for the Partnership at Drugfree.org out of JWT New York. Each of the spots was a story misdirect as we’re introduced to an addict who is seemingly in the midst of or about to engage in damaging behavior. As it turns out, though, each is on the road to recovery, serving as inspiration for those affected by addiction–either personally or through family and friends–to share online their stories of turning their lives around after drug addiction. “The Hope Share” campaign is driven by those stories helping to positively change someone else’s.
JWT later returned to Gonchor with a Stouffer’s assignment, providing a repeat business endorsement of him as a director. Both the Partnership and Stouffer’s spots were produced by Hungry Man, which handles Gonchor for commercials and branded content. Gonchor credited Hungry Man director/co-founder Bryan Buckley with giving him the chance to direct commercials. Gonchor had production designed assorted spots for director Buckley over the years, and the two have become friends. “We were out socially one day and I said I wanted to take a shot at directing. I asked him if anything came across his fax machine that he thought I’d be good for, let me know. He said that would be great. They started to look out for projects for me and then Partnership at Drugfree.org came across my desk.”
While he is looking to pursue more such directorial opportunities, Gonchor sees himself continuing his production design endeavors, noting that he treasures his collaborations with the likes of the Coens and Miller. Besides allowing Gonchor to diversify into second unit feature directing on Foxcatcher, Miller has been instrumental in helping to open other doors for the production designer earlier on in his career.
Gonchor started out in the theater and then expanded into film, mainly in the art department. He art directed several movies and then found a niche in commercials, extending his reach into production design. “The first commercial I art directed was with Bennett when he was at Hungry Man,” noted Gonchor. (Miller is now repped for spots and branded content by production house Smuggler.) Gonchor and Miller developed a working relationship and rhythm in commercials over the years so the director naturally gravitated towards the production designer for his first feature, the lauded Capote.
In turn, Gonchor feels his work on Capote led to the opportunity to connect with the Coen brothers. “For whatever reason, they were looking for a production designer for No Country For Old Men,” recalled Gonchor. “Capote had just come out–it was my only movie out at that point. I had done The Devil Wears Prada but that wasn’t out yet–maybe they would have thought of me differently since that was an entirely different look. I interviewed with them, they seemed to like my presentation. They contacted Bennett who wrote me a letter of recommendation that my mother still has framed in her apartment. It was such a powerful letter. I remember Bennett showing me the funny response he got in a letter from one of the Coen brothers–they were so impressed with Bennett’s letter that Joel or Ethan asked him if he would write a letter for his co-op board.”
As a director, Gonchor would like to emulate Miller and the Coens in one key respect–”they trust their audience and their ability to figure things out.” Gonchor observed that the common denominator in these directors’ work is “the freedom they as filmmakers give the people they work with. They trust me and let the audience trust my work. You don’t have to have a 1957 Chevy in a movie to tell the audience it’s 1957. I trust the audience to know. it’s such a pleasure to respect your audience’s intelligence.”
Jeremy Garelick
One discipline informs another and long-standing commercial production house harvest has experienced that firsthand, diversifying into TV series with the making of its first pilot which in turn has laid the foundation for more longer form opportunities while further fortifying the company’s spot directorial roster.
Titled Godbrothers, the comedy pilot was recently screened at UTA in Beverly Hills for broadcast and cable execs as well as cast and crew. UTA is serving as the showrunner, courting cable and broadcast networks interested in the property. The talent agency represents key players behind Godbrothers, including director Jeremy Garelick who connected with harvest via Matt Benson. At the time, Benson was at harvest which hired him to explore long-form entertainment prospects for the spot house. (Benson has since left harvest.) Benson and Garelick–who had past ties–crossed paths again last year, with Garelick relating that he had a script he planned on shooting soon, asking Benson if he wanted to produce it.
Benson brought the project to harvest founders, executive producer Bonnie Goldfarb and DGA Award-winning director Baker Smith, who agreed to provide funding and production support.
Godbrothers introduces us to an injudicious, run-by-the-seat-of-your pants, charmingly self-confident soul (portrayed by Miles Fisher) who in hopes of launching his acting career crashes his godbrother’s Hollywood apartment. The host godbrother (played by DJ Lubel) is a tad nerdish and neurotic. Together they face and view life through different filters, a mix which is inherently comedic as they interact with each other and others–in the pilot, among the “others,” are upwardly mobile yuppies, including a married couple consisting of an entertainment industry player and his wife, the ex-girlfriend of Lubel’s character. Fisher’s character inadvertently winds up putting himself in the middle of his godbrother’s business yet at the same time reinforces what the true meaning of “family” is all about.
Beyond extending its creative reach into the TV program arena, other benefits have been realized by harvest as Garelick has come aboard the company’s directorial roster for spots and branded fare. Via harvest, which worked in concert with GolinHarris, Garelick directed a portion of the long-form web initiative “What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar?,” last year’s summer-long contest emceed by Joel McHale and which thrust several celebs into situations–suggested by winning contestants–requiring them to do something for the ice cream treat. The contestants too had to perform the same deed for Klondike gratification.
Garelick directed a segment featuring former teen pop music star Tiffany who today as an adult sings her hit from yesteryear, “I Think We’re Alone Now,” in a shopping mall–all for a Klondike bar.
“It’s been great with harvest. Bonnie saw a way I could help her company get into TV shows and I have enjoyed harvest getting me into the advertising industry,” said Garelick whose directorial aspirations date far back. Early in his career as an assistant to director Joel Schumacher, Garelick saw the inner workings of such features as Tigerland, Phone Booth and Bad Company. “I remember one day showing Joel a short I directed that won a competition in L.A.,” said Garelick. “He then let me direct second unit on his feature Victoria Guerin.”
Garelick went on to make his mark as a writer, teaming with Jay Lavender on the screenplay for The Break-Up, which starred Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Furthermore, Garelick’s writing has opened the feature directorial door, though it required considerable patience. Some 14 years ago, Garelick penned The Golden Touch which has since evolved into The Wedding Ringer, a comedy about a loner and a friendship he forms with a guy he hires to pose as the best man at his upcoming wedding.
Currently Garelick is in post on The Wedding Ringer, which marks his feature directing debut. Starring Kevin Hart and Josh Gad, The Wedding Ringer is slated for release in early 2015.
Garelick’s quest for a directing carer has thus been realized recently in varied forms–a theatrical feature, a TV pilot and a piece of branded content. On the latter score, he’s enthused over the prospects of breaking into the ad arena via harvest, citing the immediate gratification of commercialmaking. “In the world I live in, the movie I just shot is for something I wrote 14 yeas ago. Theatrical films take so long to come to fruition. In sharp contrast, to shoot a commercial, do something funny and get the chance to see it in fairly short order is really satisfying. Plus it’s an opportunity to work with and get to know people I might not have gotten to collaborate with otherwise.”
As for what’s next, Garelick has a window of availability for commercials and branded entertainment. Additionally at press time Garelick was awaiting word as to the fate of a series, The Rebels, which he created for Amazon. Centered on a Los Angeles football team, The Rebels pilot was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. If The Rebels is picked up by Amazon, Garelick will have to decide whether or not to serve as its showrunner.
Citing Garelick’s work as both a writer and director, Goldfarb said, “He brings so much to the table–for commercials and content development.
Casey Storm
An accomplished costume designer with work spanning features, shorts, commercials and music videos–and a 20-plus year collaborative relationship with director Spike Jonze–Casey Storm has made a promising foray into directing with a fashion film for Geren Ford and a pair of music videos: one for Xu Xu Fang, and the other for Maceo Paisley. Underscoring Storm’s promise is Anonymous Content which brought him aboard its directorial roster several months ago. And underscoring Storm’s commitment is his decision a year ago to focus pretty much solely on directing, turning down costume design gigs.
Storm’s seamless transition into directing is hardly a surprise; in fact, it’s hereditary. He grew up on film sets, watching his father, Howard Storm, direct assorted series, most notably sitcoms starting with Rhoda and then such shows as ALF, Taxi, Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley, among many others over the years.
“Starting out, my focus was on directing–until Spike derailed me for 20 years or so,” smiled Casey Storm. Jonze got Storm his first gig as a stylist–with Storm at first not even sure what a stylist did. He proved to be a quick learner. “I took it on a lark–it was a photo shoot for a woman whom Spike and I met at a party. I liked the work and then Spike asked me if I would like to do a music video he was directing. We went to a house in the Loz Feliz area [of Los Angeles] and it turned out to be where Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys lived.” That initial video for Storm turned out to be a classic, lauded clip –the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” The costumes were ambitious and made the video more like a production design assignment, he recalled.
From there, Storm was on his way, establishing himself in costume design, taking on more high profile music videos (for Michael Jackson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bjork, Fat Boy Slim) and then diversifying into commercials and features. In the latter discipline, Storm served as costume designer on such Jonze-directed films as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are, and most recently the acclaimed Her. Storm also worked with David Fincher on short and long-form fare, including the feature Zodiac.
This year Storm landed a Costume Designers Guild Award nomination for Excellence in Contemporary Film on the strength of Her. He won Guild Awards in 2009 and 2010, respectively, for the California Milk Processor Board commercial “White Gold” and the branded content film “Milkquarious,” both directed by Tom Kuntz of MJZ for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. The Milk Board fare was a costume designer’s dream, according to Storm. “We were all creating an iconic rock star [White Gold] who never existed,” Storm recollected. “There were all kind of wardrobe changes for this over-the-top rocker. The creative was terrific as were the creatives who worked on ‘White Gold’ and ‘Milkquarious.’”
Collaborating as a costume designer with the likes of Jonze, Fincher, Kuntz and Alejandro González Iñárritu (the primetime commercial Emmy-winning “Best Job” for P&G), among others, translated into an invaluable education in directing for Storm. For example, Storm explained that Jonze maintains “a collaborative film family,” citing such long-term relationships as Jonze’s with production designer K.K. Barrett which has been 17 or so years and counting. “The way Spike works, we don’t stick to our own departments. Everybody is in everybody’s business,” observed Storm. “Even when we were in Shanghai on Her, Spike had me shooting a sequence of photos of [actress] Olivia Wilde. Those photos appeared in the movie. Your work frequently bleeds into other departments. I remember Thomas Smith [long-time first assistant director for Jonze] always called me a 3rd a.d.”
Storm added that many of the projects he’s worked on for Jonze have been on shoestring budgets. “That means you need to come up with creative solutions and ways to do things. Relatively speaking there may not be that much money but still we can’t compromise creativity. Working under challenging budgets prompts you to come up with incredibly weird yet innovative ideas. You wind up doing things in unexpected ways.”
This sense of innovation and the unexpected is evident in Storm’s initial recent directing turns, ranging for example from what he described as the “weird looseness” and “nightmarish, surreal feel” of the video for L.A. band Xu Xu Fang which “had us in a run-and-gun mode all over” without any [filming] permits, to the Maceo Paisley video which was “essentially about putting Maceo’s charm on display.”
While he plans to take on select costume design assignments “here and there,” Storm affirmed that directing is his prime focus as he actively pursues filmmaking opportunities via Anonymous Content.
Dave Marshall
An in-house agency director isn’t typically thought of as a coveted film festival-worthy talent. But that conventional thinking may be changing as innovative in-house-generated branded content opportunities emerge, calling for people-based storytelling acumen that connects with an audience. Dave Marshall is an accomplished talent in his own right. His filmography features Songs of Freedom, which was broadcast on PBS and went on to win New York Emmy Awards for Best Children’s Programming and Best Director; and Criminal Injustice: Death and Politics at Attica, which is currently in national distribution through PBS and is up for three NY Emmys, including in the Directing and Producing categories.
Putting a definitive punctuation mark on Marshall’s directorial endeavors thus far, though, is this month’s SXSW Film Festival which selected his film, Beginning With The End, for its Documentary competition. It was one of eight documentaries chosen from nearly 900 entries.
The documentary follows teacher Bob Kane of The Harley School in Rochester, and a select group of teenagers who have enrolled in his Hospice Class which helps them learn about and experience providing comfort care for the dying and their families. Kane tells his students, “You will be in front of people whose lives are disappearing before your very eyes–and they know it.” But at the same time, the teacher assured that those providing hospice care will find the experience “emotionally meaningful.”
One teen later reflects on what the class meant to her and in doing so captures the essence of the film. She observed that it “is scary when you fall in love with the person and then they die. But it was worth it to fall in love with all these people.”
Marshall noted that among the lessons he learned from the film is that “empathy is in our DNA,” an observation born out of the fact that “no matter how the students stratify themselves in high school–the Ins, the Outs, the jocks, the intellectuals, the nerds, the wallflowers–how they were in the comfort care homes was never defined by those same strictures. I have come to believe that if the right circumstances are presented, it is innate to us to be compassionate.”
Going in, Marshall thought that some students would invariably drop out of the class, finding the emotional demands too daunting. Instead, every student succeeded. “A lot of the students said midway through the class that this is where they came to decompress from real tension,” said Marshall. “That what they were doing was not a chore, wasn’t frightening but rather rejuvenating to them.”
Beyond going to homes to help those facing death, some students even took a trip to Belize to help those without access to any form of hospice care.
Marshall said that the students’ experiences also confirmed that there is no substitute for human contact.
“Many think we’re having relationships by connecting online via Facebook or Twitter or messaging–and I’m not putting that down. They are of value. But when we have human contact, touch and in-person conversation, that represents a special and unique place in human existence that cannot be replaced. The students learn to stop and take a moment to connect, to be very present because for the person in a hospice these are their last moments. Your time with them, your presence in their lives, is quite valuable. If you stop, sit and listen, you will hear things that mean something. You learn not to take your relationships for granted–to tell someone you care, that you love them.”
Marshall also shared teacher Kane’s observations, an overriding one being that after doing this class for 12 years, “none of the patients’ conversations are about the cars they drove or the size house they had or career achievements.” Marshall said that Kane told him, “Almost always the conversation was about who I loved and who loved me, what a great adventure their marriage was, what my kids are like, what my dog was like. It all centered on the fact that they loved and that they were loved. It brings home the message to all of us, ‘What do you want to spend time on each day?’ At the end of life, what matters most are the people who have been in your life and what they mean to you.”
Documentarian Marshall recently started a new chapter in his commercialmaking career which over the years included his directing and shooting spots and branded content at Post Central in Rochester. But towards the end of 2013, Post Central was acquired by Partners + Napier, which maintains offices in Rochester, NYC and San Francisco. The deal expanded Partners + Napier’s core offerings to include a full suite of content creation, production, VFX and post talent and resources, supporting the launch of a division called Content Central, designed to address clients’ diverse content marketing needs. (Partners + Napier is part of Project: WorldWide, a global, independent network of complementary agencies.)
Marshall serves as the resident filmmaker at Content Central while continuing to maintain his long-standing Blue Sky Project, a not-for-profit conceived to create and distribute documentary films focused on under-reported social issues that shape an open and enlightened society. Blue Sky Project is home to all of Marshall’s documentary endeavors, including Beginning With The End.
Christian Weber
Making his first mark as a photographer with images–many consistently recognized for challenging a conventional interpretation of beauty–exhibited at museums, art institutions and events over the years, Christian Weber transitioned into film directing while working on a print campaign for computer and electronics company Lenovo in 2007. Having previously collaborated with the creative directors on this project, Weber was commissioned to conceptualize the moving image portion of the campaign and was naturally the best fit for directing the spot. Weber noted, “What was enticing to me about transitioning into film was the ability to tap into more senses. In photography, there is a lot of production that comes to head with one iconic image—but it’s entirely visual. In moving image, you have so much more to deal with through sound and emotion. Music inspires me in all of my work and I like having the audio and sound design in place early on to enhance the visuals when going into a brief.”
But Weber did not actively pursue commercials until 2012 when he landed his first career spot production company affiliation, joining the roster of Wondros. Since 2012, Weber’s spotmaking endeavors include work for the NHL, Kmart and El Jimador via Draftfcb Chicago, client-direct fare for MySpace, and HP out of BBDO New York. Weber also directed a short film For Somatic.
His many print clients have included AT&T, BMW, Braun, Budweiser, DHL, GE, Hennessy, Hyundai, Levi’s Nike, Seiko, Showtime, Sony, Subaru, Volkswagen and Xbox. Weber’s photographs have been featured in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Magazine, Esquire, Atlantic Monthly, Life, Spin, Details and GQ.
Between his editorial and advertising work, Weber has been commissioned to photograph many notable figures including 50 Cent, The Black Keys, Ussain Bolt, Kate Bosworth, Steve Buscemi, Dick Cavett, Landon Donovan, Jesse Eisenberg, Edie Falco, Rudy Giuliani, Josep Guardiola, Brian Greene, Michael C. Hall, Angel Haze, Anna Kendrick, John Kerry, Wiz Khalifa, Tony Kushner, Karl Lagerfeld Sir Ian McKellan, Joe Manganiello, Seth Meyers, Frank Ocean, Manny Pacquiao, Michael Polish, Maggie Rizer, Rick Ross, Rick Rubin, Hope Solo, Kelly Snyder, Michael K. Williams, Andrew WK, Miguel and Nas.
Weber’s short films include Man on Fire, which had a special screening at the Musee d’art Moderne in Luxembourg. His shorts have gained exposure internationally at such outlets as The Creators Project in Tokyo, and The New York Fashion Film Festival in N.Y. and Seoul.
