By Robert Goldrich
Director Suthon Petchsuwan of TWC Films, Los Angeles, teamed with London agency 18 Feet & Rising on an inventive spot launching wood care brand Cuprinol's new integrated advertising campaign "Cheer It Up!" "Whimpering Garden" is about an unhappy garden shed that gets cheered up with a can of Cuprinol Garden Shades.
In the :30, a couple is woken up in the wee hours of the morning by a crying baby. The husband drags himself out of bed, as his wife turns over and goes back to sleep, As he heads down the stairs the cries and whimpers continue. When the husband walks into the backyard holding a giant baby bottle, we find that the sobbing isn't coming from a baby but a weathered baby shed in need of some love.
Lying down on the ground in full fit is the couple's shed, shaking and crying, fountains of tears spilling from the windows. The door "pacifier" handle comes out and the bottle goes in. It seems like all might be well until the shed spits out the bottle spewing milk all over the husband.
Finally, the exhausted wife appears holding up a can of Cuprinol, which works like a charm. A few coats of Cuprinol paint later and the couple are smiling happily next to their bright and cheerful shed. It finishes with the tag line, "For protecting and brightening your garden. Cuprinol. Cheer it up."
"When the board first came in for Suthon, immediately I knew this was a creative idea that he could bring a great deal to, in terms of how the comedy should be interpreted. The agency creative team and client were so receptive to his ideas, and we had a fantastic creative development process from inception to final picture." remarked Hugh Bacher, executive producer for TWC. "Suthon's approach to the live action gag elements, his casting and how he gets the most from the performance of the talent, and the exacting level of detail and quality he delivers in post all played a part in realizing this creative idea's full potential."
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More