Director/cameraman Charlie Cole has come aboard New York-based production house Lovinger Mahoney Adelson (LMA) for commercial representation.
Previously, Cole was with bicoastal Straw Dogs, which he joined at the end of ’96. While there, his credits included Chase Manhattan Bank’s "Saturday Morning" and "Dues" through McCann-Erickson, New York; Aetna’s "I Can Tell You," "Flying in the Face" and "Living Proof" for Waylon Ad, St. Louis; and AT&T’s "It’s A Girl" for Wunderman Cato Johnson, New York. Prior to Straw Dogs, Cole was with now defunct Fahrenheit Films.
Cole, an East Coast resident, said the main reason he left Straw Dogs was that he was anxious to work in a smaller shop: "There’s just one other director at Lovinger, and that’s Jeff [Lovinger]. That was incredibly important to me. The concept is, if it’s a smaller company [with] fewer directors, you get more attention. And I loved their [national] rep, Mary Ford.
"This happened very fast because I didn’t want to look [for another company]. I knew what the profile of the company I wanted was. And Lovinger fit that profile. It was just perfect timing for both of us."
Cole actually had not known of LMA previously, although "of course I had known all about Jeff. They were connected with Jack Cohn [as Lovinger/Cohn & Associates] for a long time, but I didn’t realize that [now] Lovinger was just Jeff. I found out through my line producer, who has worked for them in the past. He made a phone call and spoke to Andy [LMA executive producer], and it just clicked."
Cole still has a prior commitment to wrap at Straw Dogs. His last job for that company-La-Z-Boy’s "Dandelion," "Lawn" and "Drape," via Doner, Detroit-shoots in June. Cole insisted, "It was a very amicable split. I’ve never had more angst about leaving a place. I really was very close to those guys; I just felt that I wanted more attention. The company just grew and grew and grew, went public. … I had a different vision."
The director/cameraman has seen many changes over the course of his 22-year career. Born and raised in Connecticut, Cole graduated from Boston University in ’80, and started working under Bruce Nadel at Nadel Productions [now bicoastal OneSuch Films]. He remained there until joining Fahrenheit in the early A90s. Cole reminisced, "Back in ’72, ’73, you just didn’t know that this business was a viable industry; it wasn’t talked about like it is nowadays. It’s so much more competitive now. [Before] you could name the twenty-five directors that were out there. Today, you see great spots on the air and you say, AWho is that?’ You find out, and you don’t recognize the name."
He continued, "There’s also this real push for youth. The type of work I do fortunately doesn’t always attract that kind of audience." Cole likes the spots he sees, however: "There’s a lot of clever stuff that’s being done now. We haven’t had [such] good concepts in years. They [commercials] have become a form of entertainment. I have no idea if the advertising works, but boy, it’s fun to watch."
Cole characterized his work as often being "the real emotional people stuff. With that, I try to control the frame and make it very interesting to look at as well. … I have no idea if I succeed," he laughed.
Cole recently helmed a segment of pop singer Christina Aguilera’s music video "I Turn To You," which belies his statement that his work isn’t necessarily youth-oriented. He recounted, "People would ask me if I was interested in doing videos. And I would say, AYeah, on two conditions: one, I don’t have to do performance footage, and [two] I don’t have to work with the artist.’ Which pretty much takes you right out of the video world! But [in this video] I didn’t have to work with the artist, and I didn’t have to do performance footage! It was great. All I had to do was this little story that they inserted into the performance footage."
