This spot provides an honest athlete’s POV as he encourages cheaters ranging from the Vaseline-loaded up baseball pitchers to the tennis player who calls a ball out when it’s in, to those jocks who shoot up with anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing concoctions.
After seeing all these athletes who lack character do whatever it takes to get an edge, the camera reveals our clean athlete wearing SKINS compression sportswear. The state-of-the-art apparel gives the man a legal edge and he wants to take on any and all who try to beat him through illicit means. After all, he loves the competition, particularly when outfitted with SKINS, which allows him to “cheat legal.”
“Cheats” was directed by Noah Marshall of The Sweet Shop for Sydney agency The Furnace. The DP was John Toon.
Editor was Auckland-based Tim Mauger.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More