After years of running solo tabletop director shop Sato Films, Santa Monica, helmer Garry Sato has switched representation to Green Dot Films, Santa Monica. Over the next six months, Sato will go through a transition period where he will complete all current commitments to Sato Films clients and then close that company. Sato said the decision was due to quality-of-life issues. Ive come to a point in my life when I want to not have to deal with all the day-to-day, said Sato. I want to spend more time with my family.
Sato related that moving over to Green Dot was an easy decision for him, as it represents a reunion of sorts. Rick Fishbein, executive producer at Green Dot, had been Satos freelance executive producer at Sato Films. Green Dot is owned by director Brent Thomas, who along with Sato and director Mark Coppos were colleagues at Coppos Sato Thomas (now bicoastal Coppos Films). It really wasnt that big of a switch as far as personal or working relationships [went]-just [a] metamorphosis, so to speak, said Sato.
Theres a real comfort [level], added Fishbein. It was very natural for us to join forces. Fishbein emphasized that Satos expertise in tabletop will allow us to provide a one-stop shop for commercials needing both live action and tabletop, where we can even become more cost efficient.
Recent commercials that Sato directed the tabletop for include KFCs Popcorn Fun via Young & Rubicam, New York, (animation by Dan McHale of Wild Brain, San Francisco); and Dennys 1950s, (live action by director Mark Reber of Green Dot), via Lowe Lintas & Partners, New York. Among Satos full spot credits are Taco Bells Fireball via TBWA/Chiat/ Day, Los Angeles; McDonalds New Day Breakfast Bagel Stand via DDB Chicago; and Merridian Wines Watercolors for Goldberg Moser ONeill, San Francisco.
Sato attended Californias Long Beach State University in order to become a doctor. Upon finding pre-med distasteful, he dropped out and enrolled in a few photography courses at El Camino Junior College, Los Angeles. Without obtaining a degree, Sato entered the world of Los Angeles advertising as a still photographer; for the next 12 years, he enjoyed a successful career working on ads, magazines and catalogs.
This series of events led Sato to tabletop-the most important occurring in 80, when he met the late tabletop director and fellow still photographer Elbert Budin. Budin took a liking to Sato and became his mentor. Although Budins own company, now defunct Ampersand Productions, was based in New York, he allowed Sato to sit in on his sessions whenever he visited the West Coast. There, Sato would take notes, return to his own studio at night and try to duplicate what he had learned.
In 85, Sato joined Coppos Films, which later became Coppos Sato Thomas Films. He left in 95 to open Sato Films, which he said was successful straight through its four-year tenure. I didnt have to advertise. I didnt have to have any promotion, he related. I feel that I had probably the cream of the crop in terms of accounts. I was working virtually every week of the month with clients that kept coming back.
Sato joins a Green Dot roster comprised of Thomas, Reber, Marc Chiat and the mono-monikered Karsten. The company is repped in-house by national director of sales Alex Anderson, with Moira Shevlin handling the West Coast and Texas.
