Noted agency creative director Adam Goldstein has made the career jump to full-time director, landing at his first production house roost, RSA Films. He comes over from BBDO New York where he served as a senior creative director/copywriter.
Goldstein is hardly a stranger to RSA. While on the agency side, he recently directed through the bicoastal/international production company a pair of client-direct PSAs that deployed comedy to impart a serious message from New York’s Coalition for the Homeless. This marked the second time he had helmed work through RSA; about six months earlier he had done a spec piece for the Freelancers Union.
The chance to work with RSA on both coasts amounted to a trial run for Goldstein at the production house. His favorable experience on the two assignments–including the high level of producer and crew talent RSA was able to bring to the table–proved to be a key factor in his decision to formally come aboard the shop. Other prime motivators, he related, were RSA’s stellar reputation, the stamp of legitimacy it gives to a new director, and his longstanding admiration for the work coming out of the company over the years.
Goldstein’s agency pedigree includes multiple tours of duty with Ammirati & Puris, New York, a stint with Ogilvy & Mather, Paris, and the past six years at BBDO New York. He’s done lauded creative work for varied clients during his career, perhaps most notably for Pepsi and FedEx at BBDO. For example, he served as senior creative director/writer on FedEx’s “Great Idea,” which garnered a Gold ADDY at the New York ADDY Awards competition in 2002. “Great Idea” was directed by Frank Todaro who at the time was with bicoastal/international @radical.media. (Todaro is now at bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures.) This was one of the initial FedEx collaborations involving Todaro, BBDO executive creative director Gerry Graf and Goldstein. The trio later teamed on such commercials as “Crate” and “Call Center,” which represented a precursor of sorts to FedEx’s current brand of advertising.
While on the agency side, Goldstein decided to give himself a year to build a directorial reel during his spare time. In Dec. ’04, he helmed his first spec piece, a humorous Sirius Satellite Radio ad, part of a BBDO pitch for the client. Over the next 12 months, Goldstein managed to direct varied work, including the Freelancers Union commercial, the New York Coalition for the Homeless campaign, and some Levitra-inspired spec comedy fare for livewithoutED.com, in which erectile dysfunction takes the form of a cantankerous senior citizen who disrupts the sexual spontaneity of younger couples.
Acknowledging that there is no dearth of agency creatives turned directors, Goldstein contended that there is, however, a shortage of dialogue directors who can capture true, spontaneous moments. He hopes to help fill that void, noting that among his favorite directors in this vein are Todaro, Martin Granger who’s also with Moxie, and Craig Gillespie of bicoastal/international MJZ. In fact Gillespie–who recently won the Directors Guild of America Award as best commercial director of ’05–has been particularly inspiring to Goldstein. During his days at Ammirati, Goldstein teamed with then art director colleague Gillespie. Goldstein now hopes to emulate the successful transition Gillespie has made from agency creative to filmmaker.
