Sponsored by the nonprofit Sean Francis Foundation to mentor promising creative and filmmaking talent via the production of a public service TV spot that’s guaranteed airtime, the Kangaroo Project has entered the fourth year of its annual competition, looking to extend its reach even further nationally. The 2005 Kangaroo Project is seeking concepts for a PSA that promotes safe and courteous driving–quite a departure from last year’s quest for a spot that addressed the HIV/AIDS epidemic among young people.
“We wanted to go with an issue that was more conducive to humor,” related Kirk Hokanson, owner/president of Voodoo Films, Minneapolis, a key member of the Kangaroo Project team. “When the [Kangaroo] board members got together, it turns out we all had a bad driving experience coming over to the meeting–running across drivers who were rude or irresponsible. Those experiences that day got the board to thinking about safe and courteous driving as the topic to hang our hat on this year.”
Concepts for the PSA can come from anywhere and anyone; deadline for submissions is June 24. The first round of judging will cull those entries down to several finalists. Judges will be a cross-section of agency creatives in Minneapolis, where the Sean Francis foundation is headquartered. Then a national panel of judges–drawn in large part from those assessing the work at this year’s Minneapolis Advertising Federation Awards–will scrutinize those finalists and select the winning concept.
Once the concept is chosen, directorial entrants will submit treatments so that they can be considered to helm the project. Again, anyone can submit a treatment–established directors, aspiring directors, editors, ad agency artisans and others who would like to take a crack at helming a worthwhile PSA. Deadline for treatment submissions is August 12. Plans call for production and post of the winning spot to take place largely in September. The PSA will be screened for an industry audience at the Minneapolis Advertising Federation Awards in October.
AIRTIME
Per the Kangaroo Project mandate, the PSA will enjoy wider spread exposure than an awards show gathering. Kangaroo Project organizers have struck a relationship with the National Auto Dealers Association, which has committed to secure airtime for the PSA. (Last year, the Kangaroo Project partnered with the Minnesota chapter of national fundraising organization the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS to gain TV airplay for the earlier alluded to HIV/AIDS awareness spot, “Student Security,” conceived by Ryan Carroll and Andy Gass of boutique Dallas agency Signal, and directed by Minneapolis-based Justin Staggs. Carroll is now a copywriter at TM, Dallas.)
Continuing its tradition, the Kangaroo Project will line up industry talent and resources to donate time and services to the production of the upcoming safe and courteous driving PSA. Also being gathered will be crew apprentices, called joeys, so that they can learn about the business and gain on-the-job experience and mentoring (see this week’s spot.com.mentary column).
In its four years, the Kangaroo Project has steadily reached beyond the Minnesota market to gain entrants from different parts of the country. That push is continuing as this year Kangaroo organizers have circulated materials and Web site info to 40 colleges and film/design schools nationwide for creative and directorial entries. Furthermore, for the directors’ leg of the competition, info on the Kangaroo Project will be circulated at Group101Spots’ June 3 get-together in Santa Monica. The Group101 event features the work of unsigned commercial directors; the Group101 collective was formed three years ago to help nurture up-and-coming directorial talent.
GENESIS
Julie Hartley, a veteran producer and production manager, teamed with several members of the Minnesota production community, including Hokanson, to form the Sean Francis Foundation, named after her 20-year-old son who died in a motorcycle accident in ’00. From the Sean Francis Foundation sprung the Kangaroo Project.
Francis was a production assistant and an aspiring producer. But with Francis’ life cut short, the Kangaroo Project was initiated to make an ongoing positive filmmaking contribution in his memory through opening up new creative opportunities for deserving creatives, directors and crew members, in some cases helping them to start their careers.
To enter the Kangaroo Project competition or for further details, log onto www.kangarooproject.com.