NEW YORK—Director Tripp Dixon has joined Good Films, New York, for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. He has been with NFL Films, Mt. Laurel, N.J., a division of the National Football League, for the past eight years.
Although he noted that NFL Films didn’t limit him to "football-specific work," Dixon said he felt it was time to move on. When asked why he chose to sign with Good Films, he cited its executive producers/partners Kitty Overton and Ian Hunter, as well as the dynamic at the shop. "It’s a young company and I thought it had some exciting potential for me," he related.
To Overton, Dixon’s ease with sports figures was appealing. "We are looking for opportunities for him to do more of what he does well, which I think is really capturing a lighter side of the professional athlete or real person," she said. "There is a lot of personality in what he does, and we see that translating to almost every place where people use celebrities and real people and sports people to market their [brands]."
Dixon’s lighthearted approach is evident in a bumper titled "Advice" for the NFL Celebrity Golf Shootout, which features Samuel L. Jackson walking on the green between Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders. Playfully ribbing their opponent, Bettis and Sapp critique Jackson’s work, commenting that he sometimes falls short of a great performance. Samuel retorts that he never would have known that from his critics’ reviews. Straight-faced, the athletes continue to question Jackson’s technique and ask if he has tried any method acting courses, Stanislavsky perhaps? Caught off guard by the players’ knowledge of his craft, Jackson falls behind as Sapp bellows, "Stella!" and chuckles with Bettis.
Although Dixon’s reel primarily features work for the NFL, it also includes a comedic spec spot for Luden’s throat drops out of DDB New York. In "Late Night," a guy wakes up in bed alone—martini glasses and strewn clothes surround him. A raspy, masculine voice comes from the shower, commenting on the wonderful night they shared. Alarmed, the undressed man grabs his belongings and runs out. When a beautiful blonde woman emerges from the bathroom too late, a voiceover suggests, "Irritated throat? Try Luden’s Wild Cherry."
Dixon graduated from Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., in 1991, and began working as a graphic designer in Hong Kong for STAR TV network’s on-air promotions department. A year later, he moved behind the camera as a director at the network. Upon returning to the States in ’96, he joined NFL Films.
At Good Films, he rounds out a directorial roster that includes Andrew Walton, Nick Rafter and Margee Challah.
Maggie Klein of Maggie Klein & Co., New York, represents the shop on the East Coast, while independent reps Maureen Butler and Yvette Lubinsky handle the Midwest and West Coast, respectively.
