Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And in the case of Gift Exchange, a :30 for the Oregon Lottery out of Moffatt/Rosenthal, Portland, Ore., an office worker hopes his colleagues turn out to be beholders superficial enough to judge a book by its coveraor, more accurately, a gift by its wrapping.
Directed by Nick Egan of bicoastal/international The End, Gift Exchange opens on a guy standing by the office water cooler. The camera pans to reveal a notice posted on a nearby bulletin board: Holiday Party. Bring A Gift for the Gift Exchange.
Cut to the mans office, where hes crumpling sheets of paper from a yellow legal pad, awkwardly taping them up into a rough gift-shape, then dunking the gift in his coffee cup. A bright red ribbon tops the unsightly package. He examines it and smiles.
Cut to the party, where we see him plant his ugly package at the bottom of a large pile of attractively wrapped gifts. Dissolve to later, during the party, when the stack of gifts has dwindled down considerably. A woman approaches and grabs the last big gift from the pile, leaving our heros pathetic looking package. A boss-type character bellows out, And that leaves you, Stan.
With a smug look on his face, Stanaour scheming workerawalks up to the table and claims his package for himself. We hear Stan utter to himself a quiet but victorious Yesss! Inside the ugly wrapping paper is an Oregon Lottery Scratch-it.
The spot ends with a beauty shot of the unwrapped lotto ticket. An accompanying voiceover relates: Fun to giveabetter to get. Oregon Lottery Scratch-its for the Holidays.
The agency team included creative director/writer Rob Rosenthal, writer Carl Loeb, art director Will Chau and producer Monique Veillette.
For The End, Roger Hunt served as exec. producer, with Amy Faust producing. DP was Martin Coppen.
Offline editor was Declan Whitebloom of Brass Knuckles, West Hollywood and Venice, Calif. Online editor was George Mitchell of DownStream, Portland. Audio mixer was Eric Stolberg from Digital One, Portland.
Music was handled by a team from bicoastal Elias Associates that included creative director Jonathan Elias, composer Cary Haun and producer Ann Haugen.
aMillie Takaki
Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. Explore Generations, Old School vs. New School, In “Poppa’s House”
Boundaries between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom "Poppa's House" starring father-and-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They shatter.
"It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his kids and my sister and my brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all contribute," says the senior Wayans. "I don't think there are words to express how joyful I am."
Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a curmudgeonly radio DJ who's more than comfortable doing it his way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son, Damon, a budding filmmaker who's stuck in a job he hates.
"My character, Pop, is just an old school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways," says Wayans, who starred in "In Living Color" and "My Wife and Kids."
Pop yearns for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he got fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the younger generation's participation trophies.
"It's old school versus new school and them teaching each other lessons from both sides," says Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the Fox sitcom "New Girl."
"They (the characters) bring the best out in each other and they're resistant initially. But then throughout the episode they have revelations and these revelations help them become better people," he adds.
The two have worked together before — dad made an appearance on son's "Happy Endings" and "Happy Together," while son was a writer and guest star on dad's "My Wife and Kids." But this is the first time they have headlined a series together.
The half-hour comedy — premiering Monday and co-starring Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson — smartly leaves places in the script where father and son can let... Read More