Director Danny Weisberg has signed a deal for exclusive spot representation in the U.S. via Crash Films, a Santa Monica-based production house headed by executive producers Gary Ward and Bill Fortney. Weisberg comes over from Orbit Productions, Hollywood.
Weisberg’s final assignment at Orbit was for Wrigley’s Gum via BBDO Chicago. During his four-year tenure at Orbit, the visuals/ dialogue director also helmed ads for such clients as Oldsmobile, the Phoenix Suns, Lamkin Grips, Buick, Iowa Healthcare and Sony.
Among Weisberg’s noteworthy Oldsmobile work via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, was "Pomegranate," which aired during the 1999 telecasts of the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards. The branding spot paired footage of active people making the most of life, with upbeat music and supered text that urged viewers to "start something."
The director’s "30th Anniversary" for the Phoenix Suns via SRO Communications, Phoenix, highlights the past three decades of the pro basketball team with a poignant look at a group of friends who grew up near the same public court.
Weisberg has also helmed numerous ads for Lamkin Grip via Matthews Mark, San Diego. The most recent, shot a couple of months ago, was "Arnold Palmer," and featured that golf legend talking about his father. Another ad for Lamkin, "I’m in the Woods," focused on several golfers whose grips had failed them—resulting in their golf balls landing outside the green. The tag: "Change your grip. Change your game."
Weisberg said that when his four-year contract at Orbit ended, it was simply "time to go." He’d originally met the Crash principals prior to joining Orbit, and had kept in touch over the years. "Gary and Bill are great guys," he noted. "They’re humble, hard-working and I trust them. They’re also very concentrated on commercials, and if you want to get anywhere, you have to be in it and dig it."
Weisberg has also been developing a feature film. Last year he optioned the rights to the marijuana-smuggling novel The Catch, by Kim Wozencraft (Rush). Together with Wozencraft and her husband, Richard Stratton (Smack Goddess, Slam), Weisberg has adapted the novel and is currently shopping it around town as a vehicle for him to direct. The plot centers on a recovering cocaine addict, antiques dealer and mother of two who reluctantly agrees to help her husband with one last marijuana heist before he retires.
Weisberg broke into commercial production in ’92 as an assistant director for directors such as Zack Snyder, who at the time was with now defunct The End. (Snyder is currently repped through bicoastal HSI.) After directing a couple of spec ads in ’95—"Lawn Bowling" for Banana Republic and "Blind Barber" for Paul’s Hat Shop—Weisberg garnered a few commercial assignments through The End, including Budweiser’s "Smoking Gun" via DDB Chicago, which featured race car driver Christian Fittipaldi. Weisberg began directing through The End full-time in ’96. About six months later he signed with Orbit (SHOOT, 3/7/97, p. 7).
Weisberg joins a Crash directorial roster also comprising Ron Ames, Billy Kent, Keva Rosenfeld and Robin Willis. Los Angeles-based Siobhan McCafferty represents the company on the West Coast; Chicago-based Tim Harwood handles the Midwest; and New York-based Peter Green heads up East Coast sales.
