Based largely on the strength of a self-financed spec reel, director Shawn Driscoll has landed at his first career spot roost: bicoastal Coppos Films. Driscoll’s deal is for exclusive commercial representation throughout the U.S.
Two of the wry, character-driven spec ads on Driscoll’s reel are for Volkswagen. "Rain Drops," set to the classic tune "Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head," features a pajama-clad guy sitting on the front steps to his apartment in the pouring rain, gazing at the parked Volkswagen in his driveway. So enamoured is he that he sees beyond his bespattered, fogged-up eyeglasses, and scarcely notices his girlfriend, who steps outside to cover his shoulders with a blanket.
Meanwhile, "CD Changer," which is featured in this week’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery (see p. 13), involves a man’s mistaken assumption about the nerdy guy driving a VW in the next lane, and the beautiful girl who suddenly pops up in the passenger’s seat. Though she’d actually been looking for a CD on the floor, the voyeur assumes that a more personal exchange was taking place. He concludes about the VW, "I gotta get one of those."
A third ad, "Swing and Miss," is for Titleist golf balls. It centers on an incompetent but determined young golfer who takes many swings but can’t quite connect with the ball—although, in frustration, he does smack the ground several times. As his frustration peaks, we cut to the tag: "We don’t make you a better golfer. We make you a better ball."
"The ads on Shawn’s reel have really clear concepts," said Coppos Films’ executive producer Michael Appel. "A lot of people think good commercials are about camera moves or effects. But he had ideas in each of his commercials, which is more important. His energy and his background were also very attractive to me."
Driscoll’s additional directing credits include three short films. Stand-In is a three-minute spoof of the Los Angeles Times’ well-known theatrical commercials, and has been acquired by entertainment site Ifilm.com. It is expected to debut within the next month or two.
Driscoll’s other two films will be completed later this year. As its title suggests, 59 Second Gun Fight features a minute-long gunfight, with about 40 transitions. The Exam is a cautionary tale and an edgier departure for Driscoll, though it is still driven by humor and character development. In the 25-minute film, a college student fails his history final on World War II. To avoid retaking the course the following year, he borrows his roommate’s senior thesis project—a time machine—intending to send himself back to the hours just before the exam. But due to a malfunction, he and his roommate end up in war-torn Germany circa the early 1940s. After narrowly escaping with their lives, they beam themselves back to the present day, only to find their college under German rule. The catch? They’d mistakenly left the exam behind, which allowed Germany to outsmart the Allied forces and win the war. Driscoll plans to submit the finished film to various film festivals.
A native of Virginia, Driscoll has also worked as an actor, a stand-in for other actors, a graphics designer and a documentary cinematographer. In ’91, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va., with a degree in film. For the next two and a half years, he worked as a designer at Circuit City’s advertising department in Richmond. During that time, he also landed some small roles in television shows and commercials.
Later he relocated to Orlando, Fla., to pursue acting in earnest. After landing a small role as a reporter in HBO’s ’98 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Driscoll also began working as a stand-in for other actors on that Tom Hanks-directed production, which required that he travel to California. Once on the West Coast, he decided to stay.
Driscoll’s additional acting credits include Thirteen Days and the upcoming indie film TV Cowboy. He was John Cusack’s stand-in during filming of Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Satellite.
Driscoll also recently served as DP on a couple of documentaries produced by Los Angeles-based Neo Art & Logic, which were distributed in Japan. American Low-Riders explored the practice of manipulating a car’s chassis and suspension system, while Figurines examined people who are addicted to buying toys.
Driscoll rounds out a Coppos directorial roster that also includes the directing team of Coppos/Lee (company principal Mark Coppos and Virginia Lee), and directors Brian Aldrich, Scott Gillen and Tom Schiller.
Coppos’ East Coast managing director Joanne Ferraro and New York-based junior rep Victoria Venantini handle East Coast sales; Los Angeles-based Vicky Miller covers the West Coast and Texas; and Jill Reehl and Noelle Whitfield of Chicago-based Get Reehl! handle Massachusetts and the Midwest—with the exception of Detroit, which is Ron Hoffman’s territory.
