Executive producer Griff Marshall, a longtime staffer at Jon Francis Films, has bought that San Francisco-based production house from director Jon Francis and board member Sandra Marshall. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Upon finalizing the acquisition, Griff Marshall changed the company name to Big Trout Pictures, and brought in a pair of directors to complement Francis: Niko Preovolos and Timothy Roarke.
The latter is the latest Big Trout Pictures’ signing. Director/ cameraman Roarke had most recently been freelancing after departing Spoke Film, Chicago and Los Angeles, last year. Prior to Spoke, he was with Cognito Films, Santa Monica, and its predecessor shop, Landau Films.
Roarke first established himself as a spot DP. He then directed a humorous Budweiser spec commercial, "Chicken," which went on to debut during the 1997 Super Bowl telecast. Roarke has helmed spots for such clients as Home Depot, Blue Cross and Associated Bank. In September 1999 while at Spoke, he began filming Life on the Farm, a documentary about a minor league ballplayer’s struggle to break into Major League Baseball. Roarke left Spoke and diverted his attention from commercials in order to finish the documentary. He has now returned to the ad arena via Big Trout.
Preovolos has worked in production design for the past 10 years, first in features and then in commercials. His theatrical motion picture credits include Internal Affairs and Disorganized Crime. He learned about spot helming during his years as a production designer on assorted commercials. Last year, Preovolos completed a self-financed spec reel consisting of work he directed and edited. The reel drew interest from Marshall, who was looking to diversify his directorial roster.
Marshall related that he opted to replace the Jon Francis Films banner with a company moniker that would lure additional directors. "When you have one director’s name on the door, it can be difficult to bring in other directors," explained Marshall, noting that the studio still retains spotmaker Francis’ drawing power in the comedy genre. Marshall added that his buying the shop helped Francis attain his goal, which was to continue directing without having to be concerned with maintaining an entire company. Francis’ current reel includes commercials for such advertisers as Little Caesars, Tostitos, Cheetos, Hertz, Daily Soup, Pac Bell and Sprint PCS.
Jon Francis and Sandra Marshall opened Jon Francis Films in 1983. They first met on the agency side in the 1970s, when Francis served as an art director and Marshall as head of production at now defunct San Francisco shop Botsford Ketchum. Francis actually began his ad career in New York as an art director at Benton & Bowles. He transitioned to directing first at the former Bass/Francis Productions and then at Jon Francis Films. Francis initially gained widespread recognition as a director on the strength of regional Jon Francis Films-produced work (spots promoting the San Francisco Examiner and the Mill Valley Film Festival) for Goodby Berlin & Silverstein (now Goodby, Silverstein & Partners), San Francisco.
Griff Marshall—who is Sandra Marshall’s son—came up through the ranks during his 13-year tenure at Jon Francis Films. He had been serving as a producer and production estimator when he was promoted to company executive producer in ’99 (SHOOT, 4/16/99, p. 9), succeeding Linda Emery. He related that he learned a great deal about executive-producing over the years by observing Emery and, prior to that, Sandra Marshall and Frank Stiefel, who is head of Santa Monica-based Stiefel+ Company. For a 10-year stretch, 1986-’96, Jon Francis Films was repped nationally via Stiefel+ Company.
For Big Trout, Griff Marshall is assembling a sales force, which thus far comprises independent reps Michael Sitzer on the East Coast and Char Noonan on the West Coast and in Texas. The production house is currently seeking Midwest representation.
