WEST HOLLYWOOD-It’s case closed for Case Nydrle, the eight-month-old bicoastal shop formed by director/cameraman Peter Nydrle and executive producer Carol Case, which is shutting its doors. Nydrle will now direct spots through his long-standing Peter Nydrle Productions, West Hollywood.
Launched last June (SHOOT, 5/29/98, p. 1), Case Nydrle was backed financially by executive producer Bruce Mellon and feature film producer Neal Moritz, partners/owners of Original Film, Los Angeles.
Case said the split with Nydrle "was just creative differences, and it’s not a big deal." Case related that, aside from her partnership with Nydrle, she had been (and continues to be) partnered in Original Film and sister company bicoastal Holiday Productions, a spot/music video shop. Case serves as managing director/ director of marketing and sales for both Original and Holiday.
"What I was doing was putting more focus on Peter initially," related Case, "hoping to get that going. But there were just creative differences from the start and it’s better this way. That’s it, plain and simple."
According to Nydrle, those creative differences had to do with his objection to Case’s involvement in Original and Holiday-which he says was not part of the arrangement he had agreed to. "I found out that Carol was not exclusive to Case Nydrle," said Nydrle, citing an Oct. 30, 1998, SHOOT article ("Carol Case To Chair The 1999 AICP Show," p. 7). "Originally, it was an exclusive partnership. And I was not interested in a relationship that is non-exclusive."
Mellon, however, contended that Case’s roles in Original and Holiday had been part of the initial arrangement. He added it was always the plan for Case, whom he termed "one of the industry’s premiere directors of marketing and sales," to work closely with him in managing the directors’ careers and helping expand the companies.
"We’ve just had a lot of creative differences over where Case Nydrle was going and how it was being handled," said Mellon. "One aspect of the creative differences was that Carol wanted to work with young, up-and-coming talent like [Holiday directors] Gavin Bowden and Joseph Kahn; that was one of the things that attracted her to the whole situation."
Case also disputed Nydrle’s assessment of the events, insisting, "No wool was pulled over anyone’s eyes." After her previous 10-year run as director of sales for bicoastal Giraldi Suarez Productions, working primarily in a single-director setup with director Bob Giraldi, Case said, she would never have left for another single-director situation.
"Obviously," said Case, "being a partner was definitely something I was interested in, but it wasn’t to be [only ] a partnership at a single-director company. The industry has changed, and, having been in a situation like the one I was in at Giraldi, it was evident to me that we had to expand our horizons. Having access to the feature and music video worlds was definitely a big part of doing this, and I made that clear from the get-go."
In retrospect, Case added, she regrets her name being used in the Case Nydrle moniker, as it sent the wrong message to the industry, with the implication that she had an exclusive relationship with Nydrle.
Nydrle helmed several jobs under the Case Nydrle banner: a Toyota spot for Saatchi & Saatchi Pacific, Torrance; a Lincoln Town Car commercial via Young & Rubicam, Detroit; and a client-direct spot for Est e Lauder. He is now working on a Corona spot out of The Richards Group, Dallas, and Lois/EJL, Chicago, and is preparing to shoot the music video "Let Me Let Go" for Faith Hill.
Nydrle was reluctant to speculate on his professional plans, be they joining another production company or hiring an executive producer for Peter Nydrle Productions. He said he is not a fortune-teller but acknowledged, "I guess I’m going to need someone."
Prior to Giraldi Suarez, Case headed up sales at Elite Films, New York, the predecessor shop to Original.
Before teaming with Case, Nydrle spent a year at Tony Kaye & Partners (now Tony K.), West Hollywood and London, and prior to that was affiliated with bicoastal G.M.S. Productions (now Villains). It was through G.M.S., which he joined in 1992, that Nydrle directed the work that earned him a best commercial director nomination from the DGA in ’96: "Savion’s Challenge," for Coca-Cola out of Rush Media, New York; Maxfli’s "Tell You Something," via BBDO South, Atlanta; "Waiting for the Bus" and "Birds," for Harley-Davidson, and "Dolphins," for National Car Rental, all out of Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis.
Nydrle began his film career in his native Prague. One film he helmed, Eugene Among Us, angered the Communist Party, which banned the movie and forbade him from filming in the country. He fled to the U.S. in 1983 and built his career helming music videos before moving into spots.
It was on Nydrle’s first big break in commercials, an Amnesty International PSA, that he met Case The PSA "Prisoner to President" was produced through GASP! Films, a now defunct division of Giraldi Suarez. "Prisoner to President" was honored at the 1992 AICP Show in the public service category.
