On the evening of Nov. 2, two great cities squared off in a battle at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. The terms of the duel were simple: representatives for New York and San Francisco were each given one hour to convince the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to select their city as America’s representative in a global competition that will determine the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics. When the dust settled, the strains of Frank Sinatra, not Tony Bennett, echoed through the Broadmoor’s ballroom—New York had won the battle.
The city may have earned the bid in part because of five short films. Thanks to the efforts of the New York commercial production community, the city was able to present the films, each highlighting a different aspect of New York’s strengths as an Olympic host candidate. Forget spreadsheets and lectures—New York entered the fray with six high-profile directorial guns blazing: Bob Giraldi of bicoastal CaseGiraldi Media; Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international hungry man; Lenard Dorfman and Robert Leacock of bicoastal/international @radical.media, who acted as co-directors; Jeff Lovinger of Lovinger Mahoney Adelson, New York; and Samuel Bayer of bicoastal Mars Media.
Pro Bono
Even more notable than six top-shelf commercial directors agreeing to shoot promotional films for the city of New York is the fact that each short was produced and posted pro bono. From production companies to postproduction facilities to music houses, actors and crews—over 680 individuals and companies from the commercial production community chipped in with their services. The results are impressive: five high-quality short pieces showcasing the city that never sleeps.
Starting the ball—or the camera—rolling on the whole undertaking was John Held, national executive director of the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE). Last summer, Held asked Daniel Doctoroff, New York City deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding, how the AICE could help in the NYC2012 effort. Doctoroff immediately put Held in touch with Amy Stanton, the director of marketing and communications for NYC2012—the civic organization charged with planning and executing the city’s Olympic pitch—who showed Held some initial plans for the Colorado presentation, developed by Broad Street Productions, a New York-based business communications firm.
Broad Street’s plans called for a series of short films highlighting the various selling points of New York City as host of the Olympics. "When I looked at the [plans], I thought, ‘There is only one group that can do this, and that’s the commercial film industry in New York,’ " recalls Held.
Enter Matt Miller, president/CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), whom Held and Stanton contacted to rally the troops. Miller recalls that his initial response on being asked to help bring the Olympics to New York was rather grim. "My first instinct was to say, ‘Are you out of your mind? Why would we want the Olympics here?’ " Miller jokes. "But the people at NYC2012 and I had a meeting, and they gave me a presentation, and I walked out of the conference room saying, ‘I’m a believer. This thing can work, and it’s going to be great for the industry. We’ll do anything we can to help.’ "
Miller proceeded to send out letters inviting the New York members of the AICP to come view the same NYC2012 presentation, and to gauge interest among local companies. The response was overwhelming—scores of representatives from production companies and music houses attended.
The next step was to solicit reels from directors and choose helmers for the five films. Again the response was strong. Within a few days, Miller received over 30 reels, at which point he knew he needed some help. "I thought, ‘We need to have someone go through these reels and match the concepts from Broad Street to the right directors,’ " notes Miller. "That’s not something I do on a regular basis, nor should I do [it] for political reasons. We needed someone who critiques reels on a regular basis, and who would have a creative vision for the film concepts."
Miller called on Rick Boyko, chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) North America and co-president of O&M, New York. Boyko, Miller explains, brought to the project the refined creative eye of a "dedicated New Yorker … someone who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get involved in a big project that really is for the benefit of others."
Boyko became involved in choosing the directors and fleshing out the concepts for the individual films. He also worked to ensure that there was no creative or informational overlap across the five separate projects. He was intent, however, on giving the directors extensive creative freedoms. During an initial meeting with Broad Street Productions, Stanton and Miller, Boyko purposely asked everyone involved if they were amenable to the directors being able to shape and mold their films, as opposed to just blindly following the script provided them. "They said, ‘By all means. We want these to be as good as they can get,’ " notes Boyko.
Miller set out to convince the commercial community to undertake the project on a gratis basis. NYC2012, Miller says, "had no money, very optimistic film goals and needed this stuff delivered in six to seven weeks. From almost every perspective, it seemed undoable."
Through countless conference calls and letters, Miller made the case that "everyone was going to have to donate everything, not just pitch in with discounts."
In soliciting support, Miller maintained it was important to emphasize that he wasn’t really asking for a favor. "[I said,] ‘Don’t do it as a favor to me—this is about the city, and the future and the chance to really do something good while doing what we do best,’ " he relates. "The first piece of it was getting all the unions to allow our people to work for free—not even the way PSAs are usually handled, where you pay pension and welfare—but totally for free."
One by one, the unions agreed to contribute. Labor organizations that donated their efforts include the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), IATSE Locals 52, 161, 798, 829, 700 and 600 and the Teamsters.
If NYC2012 had to pay for the entire production, Miller estimates it would have cost the organization somewhere between $10 million and $15 million. But everyone involved stepped up to the plate with "a whole range of contributions," Miller says. "From the people at Kodak, who donated an extraordinary amount of very expensive film, to the production assistants who donated a large chunk of their time."
Giraldi
Giraldi’s film, titled The Dream Begins, was the NYC2012 presentation’s leadoff hitter. It showcases a multiethnic montage of aspiring young New York Olympians, many of them recent immigrants. Filmed in each of the five boroughs, The Dream Begins catches up with an 11-year-old Trinidadian runner in Central Park; a Yugoslavian basketball player in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn; a pair of bicyclists on Ward’s Island; a nine-year-old gymnast balancing on a Bronx stair railing; a burly 18-year-old shot-putter hurling stones under the Triboro Bridge; a 16-year-old fencer on Roosevelt Island; and a young soccer player in Queens.
Giraldi, who wrote his own script for the film, says the concept he tried to convey was simple. "On any given Sunday in New York, all day long, you’re going to find a bunch of young people trying to pursue a dream of excellence," he relates. "It’s simple as that."
Giraldi went on to say that making one of the five Olympic films appealed to him as a competitor and a New Yorker. "When we [directors] hear our names called out, we get competitive," he states. "We think ‘I know what he’s gonna do. So I’m gonna do it better.’ " That sort of attitude, Giraldi maintains, is what makes New Yorkers so successful. "You can’t be afraid to go for it here. Everyday, you’ve got to compete with someone else—and enjoy it."
Buckley
We’ll Get It Done, Buckley’s film, conveys a multitude of hard information in a lighthearted manner. The plot centers on a group of New York University (NYU) film students who decide to produce a short film in support of New York’s bid for the Olympic games. Led by a young punk wearing a backwards baseball cap, the students sprint around the city, tracking down various luminaries to pitch for the Olympics on film. The young crew starts out by paying developer Donald Trump a call, and from there, proceeds to soliciting comments and commitments from New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso, media scion Laurence Tisch, New York Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson and Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, among others. The film culminates in a visit with New York City police chief Raymond Kelly.
Buckley says he shaped his film as a "reverse Roger and Me," referring to Michael Moore’s ’89 documentary of his persistent but fruitless attempts to land an interview with then General Motors chairman, Roger Smith. "The idea here," says Buckley, "was to have this team of kids go around and cold call, and instead of them getting stopped everywhere, they get instant access because of the 2012 thing. The enthusiasm for the games can really show through that way."
In the interest of full disclosure, Buckley revealed that no actual NYU film students were used during the filming process. "They were all too busy," he chuckles.
Dorfman & Leacock
Dorfman’s and Leacock’s Athletes and Venues uses celebrity faces to convey a significant amount of information. The pair interviewed a large contingent of ex-Olympic athletes who explain the virtues of New York as an Olympic venue. Former gymnastics gold medalists Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner appear together to tout Madison Square Garden, while almost a dozen other former Olympic athletes recommend other various potential Olympic venues in New York.
Jon Kamen, co-proprietor of @radical.media, points out that Dorfman was particularly suited to direct the project because of his prior experience directing Olympic athletes in a pair of IBM campaigns for the ’98 Winter Olympics and the ’00 Summer Olympics. (Both campaigns were done via O&M.) "Lenard was actually in the middle of another project at the time," relates Kamen, "but with Robert’s help, he was able to fit the [Olympic film] into his schedule and get the job done."
Kamen notes that focusing on individual athletes who dream of competing in a New York Olympics proved an effective strategy. San Francisco’s presentation, which relied mainly on that city’s aesthetic pleasures, lacked the concrete impact of New York’s pitch, asserts Kamen.
Lovinger
Lovinger’s film, You’ll Love New York, opens on a shot of Conan O’Brien, host of Late Night With Conan O’Brien, standing in front of Rockefeller Center. "Everybody knows if you ask an average New Yorker, you’ll get an opinion about anything and everything," O’Brien begins.
Lovinger then proceeds to offer us a whirlwind interview tour of New Yorkers both famous and not—all of them extolling New York as a cultural Mecca. We see Itzhak Perlman at Lincoln Center, Woody Allen on an Upper East Side street, Michael J. Fox in Central Park, a pair of New York City Transit workers reciting facts and figures about the city’s substantial mass transit capabilities and a hotel doorman giving a precise figure on the number of guest rooms in the city. The film also features a New York firefighter, a jogger, Cardinal Edward Egan, Jerry Seinfeld, Bette Midler and Robert De Niro among others. "If you’re looking to stage the world’s greatest event, could there be any doubt?" concludes O’Brien toward the end of the film, as all the personalities shown previously give the camera their best rendition of the phrase: "You’re gonna love New York!" After a fade to black, Seinfeld reappears to add, "The Olympics have to be in New York because … well, they don’t really have to be here! But it would be nice if they were."
Andy Adelson, who, along with Sheila Mahoney, served as the film’s executive producer/producer, says the shoot was accomplished in two days—a remarkable time frame given the large contingent of celebrity personalities involved. "It’s pretty amazing that we were able to pull off that many set-ups in two days," remarks Adelson. "The city and the people were enormously cooperative. It just shows you what can happen when all the forces of New York City want something to happen."
Bayer
Concluding NYC2012’s presentation was Bayer’s film, Torch Runner, an emotional jog through the city set to John Lennon’s "Imagine"—the use of which was donated to NYC2012 by Yoko Ono. The film’s first big shot captures an Olympic torch runner traversing the Brooklyn Bridge, as a massive motorcade of NYPD motorcycles trail along behind her. The torch is passed from runner to runner through Chinatown, the United Nations, Madison Avenue, the New York Public Library and the interior of Grand Central Station.
The rail station shot yields to a shot of a runner racing through Lower Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes, where ticker tape falls. Next, the action moves through Rockefeller Center and Times Square.
Finally, a runner mounts a set of steps to light the Olympic flame. This sets off a chain reaction of laser beams that link together across the city’s skyline. The montage culminates in a grand fireworks display on Liberty Island. The grand lady of New York Harbor presides as pyrotechnic delights engulf the sky. "And the world will live as one," Lennon finishes along with the film.
Bayer’s executive producer, Bill Sandwick, told SHOOT that Broad Street’s initial concept for the film called for the action to be set in 2012. It was supposed to depict how athletes would get around town transportation wise, and how a torch runner might run through Manhattan and into what would be the Olympic stadium. "Sam thought that would turn out like a bad science fiction movie, and it wasn’t going to work," relates Sandwick.
Bayer eventually put forth the torch montage idea, which rapidly gained currency as a viable way to shoot the film. "We worked very closely with the city," continues Sandwick, "and realized that if they gave us unprecedented access to the streets, then we could deliver something that would show the beauty of New York architecturally, as well the beauty of its people."
The city shut down Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Canyon of Heroes and every other venue Bayer requested permits for. The dazzling fireworks display in the harbor was also a live shot—the Gruccis, known in New York as "the first family of fireworks," donated the dazzling pyrotechnic display. The shot was filmed from a helicopter provided by motion picture pilot/aerial coordinator Al Cerullo, of Hover-Views, New York.
Miller notes that the most gratifying aspect of the Olympic project was "the industry looking the city back in the eye and saying, ‘What do you need?’ So often, industry goes to government and says, ‘You’ve got to help us with tax incentives [and other programs] … so it’s nice to have that dynamic flow the other way—for the city to say, ‘We need your help.’ "
It is, of course, impossible to credit all the companies and individuals who donated their time and talents to NYC2012. As Miller pointed out, "It almost feels wrong to mention just a fraction of the companies and individuals [involved]. Everyone gave what they had."
