Director Kate Magee has joined New York production house The Firm. As a freelancer with the company over the past year, Magee has helmed nearly 50 spots for Macy’s, including "Macy’s Gift Card," "Nautica" and "Weatherproof," all client-direct.
Magee trained as an artist and received her MFA in sculpture from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, in 1994. Magee later settled in Cleveland, where she exhibited her work and became a board member/trustee at Spaces, a non-profit art gallery there. Magee’s first contact with the film world came in ’97, when she met aspiring director Manfred Reiff. At the time, Reiff was serving as the DP on a commercial in which Magee and her artwork appeared, and the two became friends. Shortly thereafter, Magee moved to Los Angeles to work as a scenic designer and later as the assistant to production designer JP Flack (Flack was the production designer on the ’91 film Eye of The Storm; recent credits include Bell South’s "Loose Dog," "Getting in Shape" and "Wedding" via WestWayne, Atlanta). Magee and Reiff kept in touch and at his request Magee served as the production designer on Reiff’s spec reel.
Reiff joined The Firm in ’97 and when he started helming spots for Macy’s, Reiff again recruited Magee to be his production designer. Magee returned to Cleveland in ’98, and spent the next year and a half commuting to New York to work on the Macy’s spots, relocating here in mid ’99. In ’00, when Reiff stopped working on the Macy’s commercials, Magee took over as director. It was not too difficult a transition, said Magee: "I was doing the image design, and since the spots are without sound, the campaign was really driven more by the way the spots were shot, lit and designed. Since I had a history with Macy’s, the people there felt comfortable with me." Magee was also undaunted by Macy’s grueling schedule, which requires that she shoot up to three :15s a day. Magee said that her familiarity with the pace of the work made her "a bit of security for Macy’s."
Late last year Magee decided to pursue different directing pro-jects in addition to her ongoing work for Macy’s. She spoke to The Firm’s executive producer, John Grossman, who helped Magee find canceled comedy and performance-driven boards that could demonstrate her skills in a wide range of genres. Magee shot the spec spots with the understanding that she would join the company when the reel was complete. She signed with The Firm in May. Magee offered, "I think I have a unique way of keying into what the client wants, and pushing it just a little bit farther than what they would expect." In the future, she added, "I’d like to get into projects that are more performance-driven and maybe a little comedic."
Grossman said, "I feel strongly about Kate. And now that she’s got a reel, it’s time to get her out there."
The Firm’s other directors are Vince Nigro and Charles Hendley. Peter Green in New York reps The Firm on the East Coast, while Los Angeles-based Elizabeth Mang reps the company in the Midwest and on the West Coast.
