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, with judges selecting George Andrew (“Andy”) Basore to helm the 2005 PSA.
An aspiring director who’s been working as a production assistant in New York, Basore won the plum Kangaroo assignment over a field of entrants based on a treatment he submitted for the project. This year’s PSA promotes safe and courteous driving.
Production and post of the spot is slated for September in Minneapolis, where the Sean Francis Foundation is headquartered. The commercial will be screened for an industry audience at the Minneapolis Advertising Federation Awards in early October. And 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 spot.
Basore’s win is the second leg of the ’05 Kangaroo competition. The first was for the PSA’s concept, which came from Thom Sandberg, a veteran graphic designer who’s a fixture in the Minnesota ad community, and Mark Wirt, a freelance copywriter in Minneapolis. Sandberg heads the Minneapolis-based graphic design firm The Kenyon Consortium. The PSA concept from Wirt and Sandberg topped entries from across the country.
The spot’s storyline centers on a family visiting a video arcade. The kid plays a driving simulation game and gets a bit carried away, swearing a blue streak fraught with assorted bleeps. Their youngster’s bad behavior has his parents aghast. But it also sparks the realization that they need to do a better job of setting a positive example when they’re driving.
The first round of concept judges came from a cross-section of agency creatives and filmmaking artisans in Minneapolis. This jury pared down the submitted concepts to a field of finalists. Then a national panel of judges–drawn in large part from those assessing the work at this year’s Minneapolis Advertising Federation Awards–scrutinized those finalists and chose Sandberg’s concept on July 11.
Then a call went out for directors. Anyone was eligible to submit a treatment for the concept–established directors, aspiring directors, editors, ad agency artisans and others who would like to take a crack at directing a worthwhile PSA. A mix of judges from the agency producer and creative ranks, as well as a Minneapolis-based director, assessed the treatments, ultimately voting for Basore–a decision that was announced on Aug. 18. Basore moved from Portland, Ore., to New York three-and-a-half years ago to start his career in spot production. He’s been serving as a P.A., got wind of the Kangaroo competition and entered.
FROM LOCAL TO NATIONAL
In its inaugural year of ’02, the Kangaroo Project turned out a motorcycle traffic safety PSA. The next year, the PSA promoted live-saving organ donation. In ’04, the spot addressed the youth HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Kirk Hokanson, owner/president of Voodoo Films, Minneapolis, a key member of The Kangaroo Project team, related, that in year one, the competitions largely drew concept and directorial entries from the local community. Now the range of submissions has come from throughout the U.S. “The quality of the entries was very high this year,” assessed Hokanson, who is also president of the Minnesota chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). “This is building toward being a major competition that is helping to discover and create opportunities for new talent.”
As in years past, Kangaroo Project organizers will line up industry talent and resources to donate time and services to the production of the PSA. Also being gathered will be a coterie of apprentices, called Joeys, so that they can learn about the business and gain on-the-job training and mentoring. Prospective Joeys can apply to work on this year’s PSA by logging onto the Kangaroo Project Web site (www.kangarooproject.com).
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 nurturing and opening up new creative opportunities for deserving creatives, directors and crew members–in some cases, helping them to start their careers.
The Kangaroo moniker grew out of the fact that the animal nurtures its baby in her pouch. The apprenticeships parallel this in that experienced crewmembers help Joeys take a hop forward in their chosen profession. The Kangaroo designation was also chosen because Francis was born in Australia.
