NEW YORK- Bob Ramos, president of bicoastal OneSuch Films, and his executive producer, Al Califano, were looking to sign director Bill Scarlet long before bicoastal Chemistry (formerly Harmony Pictures) closed its doors last November (SHOOT, 12/4, p. 1). Now they’ve got him.
"We’d been tracking his career for a long time, and, as it turns out, we were able to use him sooner than we thought," said Califano. In fact, Scarlet had been talking to OneSuch since last summer, when he, Ramos and Califano all met through Brian Farhy of New York-based Fink/Farhy Agency, who repped both Harmony and OneSuch at the time. According to Scarlet, the demise of Chemistry was merely incidental in his decision to move to OneSuch.
"I knew that my contract [with Chemistry] was coming up at the end of January anyway. The closing of Harmony was an unfortunate thing, but looking around was just something I was going to be doing anyway," Scarlet explained.
After earning a master’s degree in film from the University of Michigan, Scarlet started his career in 1978 as a PA with commercial production house Ultramedia, which later became Luna Pier Films, now defunct. Scarlet left Luna Pier after 14 years to join New York-based pfeifer lopes productions (now The Lopes Picture Company). Then, in ’95, he moved to Harmony Pictures, which became Chemistry briefly last year before it was closed by publicly held parent company Harmony Holdings.
According to Califano, OneSuch was attracted to Scarlet’s "incredible" reputation in the industry and his track record of attracting repeat business. Minneapolis agencies such as BBDO, Colle & McVoy and Campbell Mithun Esty have all established relationships with Scarlet, and Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, has been awarding Scarlet its Kix Cereal business for the past 10 years. "The fact that he gets so much repeat business tells you very quickly that he’s a director that people re-spected and wanted to work with again," said Califano.
Scarlet takes a humor-based approach to his directing, and his reel reflects that sensibility. In "Fire," a Cliff Notes spot for Colle & McVoy, misdirected fireworks wreak havoc on the fairgrounds of a small-town Fourth of July celebration , eventually setting a fire-prevention exhibit ablaze. Two high school students refer to their handy Cliff Notes and label the situation "ironic." In "Baseball," which Scarlet directed as part of a three-spot series (the others were "Taxi" and "Limo," which won a Cresta Award last year) for AirTouch Cellular via BBDO Minneapolis, a major league baseball team needs to bring up a new outfielder from the minors. The manager instructs his coach to phone the next guy in line to move up from the farm system, but there’s no answer: The player has faulty cellular service. The next guy they call-who has AirTouch Cellular, naturally-gets launched to big league fame.
Scarlet joins OneSuch directors Bruce Nadel, Michael Norman, John St. Clair and Sara Pirozek. OneSuch is repped in the East by Fink/Farhy Agency, Helen O’Brien of O’Brien & Co. in the Midwest and Reber Covington on the West Coast. Brian Donnelly is the executive producer at OneSuch’s West Coast office.
