Director Gerald V. Casale has joined Picture Park, the production company with bases in Boston and Santa Monica.
Casale comes over after a year and a half at San Francisco-based Pandemonium. His previous roosts were Crash Films, Santa Monica, and the now defunct Commotion Pictures.
Picture Park has also hired Raub Shapiro as West Coast-based executive producer. Shapiro fills the void left by Tessa Rayner, who departed late last year. Picture Park executive producer Mark Hankey credited Shapiro with bringing Casale into the fold—noting that the company’s initial intention had been simply to add an executive producer.
After starting out as a production manager, Shapiro has been producing for the past five and a half years, for such shops as bicoastal HKM Productions, bicoastal The Directors Bureau and bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, in addition to more recent freelance gigs with Industrial Light+ Magic Commercial Productions, San Rafael and Los Angeles, and Western Images, San Francisco.
In 1996, Casale and Shapiro first worked together on a music video called "Freak" for the band Silverchair. At the time, Casale was repped by San Francisco-based Commotion Pictures; Shapiro was tapped to line-produce the clip after the director’s regular producer was booked on another job. "It was a fabulous experience working with Raub," said Casale. "We finished the job on budget and we got everything we promised we would deliver."
That clip marked the start of a regular collaboration between Casale and Shapiro, whose working relationship continued throughout Casale’s subsequent stints at Crash (SHOOT, 10/3/97, p. 26) and Pandemonium (SHOOT, 10/8/99, p. 4). In total, Shapiro has produced all of Casale’s jobs since "Freak"—about 25 clips and 50 spots.
Shapiro also produced Casale’s first commercial project in ’97: a package for Miller Lite’s "Dick" campaign, out of Fallon, Minneapolis, produced by Crash Films. "Gerry got a little spoiled on that first spot experience," observed Shapiro, noting that they were insulated from the client. "It was a fabulous debut."
The Miller Lite effort displayed Casale’s penchant for offbeat comedy. Like the other ads in the campaign, the :60 "Crying" is an exercise in the bizarre, featuring such incongruous elements as a tuxedoed balladeer playing the piano and singing "Why Is Almost Everybody Cryin’?" as a chimp watches from nearby. The tune abruptly shifts into a hard rock anthem, to relate the conclusion of Miller’s cheerleading contest and to announce the four winners. Other ads in this campaign were "Farmer Girl," "Thunderstorm Cheerleader," "Urban Cheerleader" and "Hawaiian Brothers."
Among Casale’s recent credits are Hasbro’s "Funny Hands" for DDB New York; Tang’s "Karate" via Ogilvy & Mather, New York; and UniCare’s "Lost Episode" and AM/PM’s "Morning Meeting," both out of Rubin Postaer and Associates, Santa Monica.
Through Apple Box Productions, with bases in Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto, Casale has also helmed such Canadian ads as "Rescue" for BC Dairy via Cossette Communications—in which a boy who’s fallen into a ditch sends a glass of milk to get help. Another notable spot is the slyly funny "Shake a Shake" for Parmalat beverages via Palmer Jarvis DDB Downtown, Toronto, in which a wife makes a shaking gesture with her fist to pantomime to her husband that he should come inside for a cool drink—only to have him misconstrue the gesture as an amorous invitation.
"I think [Casale] is a great creator of worlds, which, with regard to comedy, often have to do with art direction," assessed Shapiro. "At Pandemonium, I think maybe his offbeat humor wasn’t [sufficiently showcased], and he got a little lost in the shuffle."
"No one understands my talents and my limitations better than Raub," Casale stated. "When he was offered this executive producer role, I had no choice but to go along with him. With us, it’s an equal partnership."
A self-taught director, Casale studied fine art at Kent State University in Ohio, where he met Mark Mothersbaugh; the two became founding members of new wave music group Devo. Casale directed about 20 of the band’s clips, helping to pioneer the music video form in the process. Devo clips include "Whip It" and "Beautiful World"; the latter is a part of The Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection.
"The Devo concept included both music and videos," reported Casale. "Our idea in the mid-’70s was that we’d put out laserdiscs, like a musical Three Stooges, and every six months we’d come out with a new Devo short. Eventually, we found ourselves evolving into a real rock ‘n’ roll band." In addition to writing, performing and video directing, Casale was also responsible for Devo’s elaborate multimedia stage productions and graphics.
Devo’s videos became less frequently played after MTV began leaning towards a commercially driven/Top 40 format. Casale turned his attention to directing music videos for other artists, such as The Cars, Rush and Jane Siberry, while working in the U.K. as a guest director at London-based Media Lab, founded by musicians/directors Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Eventually tiring of the demands of music videos—which, he observed, require doing twice as many setups as spots, for half the money—Casale returned to the U.S. in an effort to launch a commercial directing career. "With videos, it’s much more of a solo effort, but on spots, you get to work with great creative people, and you’re only as good as the creative concepts."
Shapiro said that he plans to divide his time between Santa Monica and San Francisco, intending to set up an office for Picture Park in the latter location, most likely within the next 18 months or so. "It will be a place that offers high-caliber ‘L.A.-worthy’ directors,’ " Shapiro concluded.
Casale joins a directorial roster also composed of Jonathan Bekemeier, Carolyn Chen, Bill Cuccinello, John Huet, Harry McCoy, and directing team Khari Streeter and Demane Davis.
Picture Park is repped on the West Coast by Los Angeles-based Lisa Giminez and San Francisco-based Keith Quinn, in the Midwest by Chicago-based Jeanne Rashford and Cindy Moran, and on the East Coast by New York-based Perry Schaffer of Schaffer & Co.
