Director Lloyd Stein, best known for his work in comedy, has joined Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. He comes over from Headquarters, a longstanding shop that is slated to close at month’s end (see story, p. 1). Stein had been with Headquarters for the past six years.
Stein has already helmed his first job at Crossroads, a humorous McDonald’s ad for Burrell, Chicago. Stein’s most recent endeavors at Headquarters included commercials for Mercedes-Benz and Arby’s via Merkley + Partners, New York, and Trex for Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis.
Over the years, Stein’s work has garnered numerous awards. For example, he directed Budweiser’s “What Are You Doing?” which debuted during the 2001 Super Bowl telecast. The spot, which was a preppie/yuppie send-up version of the famed “Whassup?” fare, earned such accolades as a Gold Clio, a Cannes International Advertising Festival Bronze Lion, and an honor in the dialogue/monologue category of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, was the agency.
Stein is no stranger to Super Sunday. For the ’00 Super Bowl–which was dubbed the Dot-com Bowl due to the fact that some 20 percent of the Big Game’s ad slots had been bought by Web site clients–Stein directed a Computer.com spot via Merkley Newman Harty (now Merkley + Partners), New York.
CREATIVE PEDIGREE
The director also brings a creative pedigree to Crossroads. Stein got his start in the business as a writer/producer at the on-air promotions department of TNT. He went on to MTV where for four years he wrote, directed and edited image campaigns and contest promos for the network. Stein described his MTV tenure as “film school,” recalling that he would conceptualize, then direct and edit a promo spot all in a week, “with no one looking over my shoulder.”
The body of work at MTV elicited interest from the commercialmaking community, resulting in his coming aboard the directorial roster of now defunct Propaganda Films, where he spent two years. He then moved over to bicoastal Epoch Films. After about a year there, he joined Headquarters in late ’99. Among the clients Stein directed spots for over the years were ESPN, Heineken, Sony, Kinko’s, Sprint and Nike.
For the latter’s mountain biking apparel line, via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Stein directed an award-winning campaign that parodied public safety films of the 1950s and ’60s. Individually and/or in various combinations, the six spots–“Mountain Lions,” “Hunting and Gathering,” “Mosquito,” “Shrubbery,” “Poison Oak” and “Tourniquet”–earned several Silver Clios as well as honors from The One Show, the ADDYs, the San Francisco Show, and the British D&AD Awards.
Stein said he was drawn to Crossroads’ longevity, its production and sales support, and its reputation for doing top-drawer work. He also felt Crossroads could provide him opportunities to diversify into other disciplines, citing the company’s music video, promo/trailer and feature divisions.
