A guy from the company mailroom makes his rounds through the corporate offices, giving us a tour of the executive suites and the execs in them, his comments resonating in light of the current Wall Street debacle.
We see in one office a man who’s eating pastry while getting his shoes shined. The mailroom employee introduces us to this captain of industry: Mr. Jones who ran the company’s biggest account into the ground.
Next we see a high powered exec in another office: Mr. Smith who gets the big bucks for coming in at 10 and leaving at noon. He has his golf bag full of clubs in hand.
And finally we meet Miss Cowans, whom the mailroom guy describes as being a “terrific lady” who “lost everyone’s pension.” She is in her office, getting a massage from a professional masseuse. Despite her incompetence, the female exec “still gets the big bucks,” says our mailroom guide. “That’s not for me, though. I’m going for Jumbo Bucks.”
A voiceover then introduces us to Jumbo Bucks, the new scratch-off card game from the New York Lottery which offers the chance to win up to $3 million.
“Mailroom” was directed by Harold Einstein of Station Film, New York, for DDB New York.
The agency creative team included chairman/chief creative officer Lee Garfinkel, executive creative director/copywriter John Russo, group creative director/art director Rich Sharp, director of broadcast production Bob Nelson and exec producer Walter Brindak.
Thomas Rossano exec produced for Station with Eric Liney serving as producer. The DP was Adam Kimmel.
Editor was Chuck Willis of Cutting Room, New York. Susan Willis produced for Cutting Room.
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More