Australian directors Lynn-Maree Milburn and Richard Lowenstein have signed with Metro Pictures USA, the Marina del Rey production house headed by executive producer Craig Farkas. It is the first full-fledged U.S. spot home for both directors, who will remain based in Australia where they maintain their own company, Halo Films, Melbourne.
Additionally, Metro reps the pair in the Asian market. The house maintains an overseas operation, Metro Pictures Hong Kong, which is a joint venture between Metro and partner/director/cameraman Larry Shiu’s Hong Kong-based production company Shooting Gallery. Milburn and Lowenstein are repped for spots in the U.K. by London-based MAP Films.
DP David Knaus, a mutual friend, initially brought the directors and Farkas together. Knaus has worked with the helmers for several years and recently teamed with Lowenstein on a Eurotel mobile telephones spot via Leo Burnett, Prague. "David recommended Craig," Lowenstein recalled, "and we talked, and then we saw each other’s work and it went from there."
According to Farkas, the association with Milburn and Lowenstein is favorable to Metro for two main reasons: the talent of both directors, and also because they bring to Metro an Australian production base through Halo. In addition to Milburn and Lowenstein, Halo consists of principals Julie Stone, producer, and Andrew De Groot, DP.
Farkas described Milburn as "a very strong visualist" who is also talented in animation, design, editing and camera operation; Lowenstein’s repertoire spans dark comedy, drama and action, with considerable feature film experience and an editing background. Farkas continued: "But the idea of having a base in Australia to offer to clients here-so we can now shoot very cost effectively in Australia-was also a big draw."
Furthermore, Metro’s Asian operation appealed to the directors. "Lynn has been exposed on a limited basis to the [Asian market]," Farkas said. "They’re [both] very excited about the potential of getting more exposure in that market as well."
Farkas said the respective reels have generated considerable interest in the short time since the signing. "I’m very happy with the response," he said. As SHOOT went to press, however, no jobs had been finalized.
Lowenstein and Milburn were acquainted in ’80. Lowenstein had graduated from the Swinburne Film and Television School, where he’d written and directed Evictions, which won Best Australian Short Film at the Melbourne Film Festival. He said his "first and only proper job," as an assistant editor, turned out not to be the one for him, and he soon began directing out of his own company, RML Productions, often teaming with De Groot, whom he had known since film school. Meanwhile, Milburn studied fine arts at the Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melbourne (now part of the Monash University system). Through a combination of film classes, experimentation and in-the-trenches experience, she acquired skills in animation, camera operation and wardrobe design.
Lowenstein and Milburn first teamed up on a music video for Hunters & Collectors’ "Talking to a Stranger," which Lowenstein directed and Milburn created the animation for. "It was pretty clear that we clicked and we kept working together from there," Lowenstein said. Milburn served in a freelance capacity as co-director, animator and camera operator with Lowenstein over the next few years; often working out of Midnight Films, London, which at the time repped the pair stateside and in the U.K. for clips. They collaborated on music videos for INXS ("New Sensation," "Need U Tonight"), U2 ("Desire") and Crowded House ("Into Temptation"), among others, as well as U2’s one-hour documentary Love Town. Later they also co-directed a spot for the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua’s ’90 election campaign.
Metro is repping Lowenstein and Milburn as individual directors. Both have extensive credits independent of one another. On her own, Milburn directed additional clips for INXS, Christine Anu and Wendy Matthews and started work on a cinema featurette, Memories and Dreams. During that time, Lowenstein made his feature debut, with ’84’s Strikebound. He went on to direct several more feature films, including Say a little Prayer (’92), Dogs in Space (’86) and White City (’85). In October, he is slated to go into production on his fifth feature, a black comedy titled He Died with a Falafel in his Hand.
In ’93, Milburn completed Memories and Dreams, the story of a Czechoslovakian woman who was forced to flee her country, which the director also co-wrote and edited. She was drawn to the subject, she said, for its "romanticism," adding that the woman’s individual history was unique, and yet her experiences in many ways were universal. The film, which was shot by De Groot and produced and co-written by Stone, won several awards, including Best Australian Short Film at the Melbourne Film Festival.
With De Groot and Stone (who they had been working with regularly since the mid-’80s), Milburn and Lowenstein formed Halo in ’95 with the intention of focusing on commercials; however they will continue to explore other avenues. "We’re quite fresh to commercials," Lowenstein said. "But we also like to spread ourselves out in different areas, to do low-budget films, which I think seem to generate a lot of interest." Since then, Milburn has made considerable strides in the fashion market, writing and directing spots for Bendon lingerie via Mojo Partners, New Zealand, and Myer Miss clothes out of Y&R Mattingly, Australia. She also directed a package of spots for Glassons department stores out of Mojo Partners, Melbourne and New Zealand. Other credits include Hewlett Packard via Batey Ads Singapore and Telstra out of John Singleton Advertising, Melbourne.
Lowenstein’s recent spot credits include Tourism Victoria’s "The Perfect Getaway" out of Mojo Partners, Melbourne, which has received praise for its theatrical-style chase scenes. He has also directed spots for Kellogg’s Nutrigrain via J. Walter Thompson, Sydney, Big M flavored milk via Wybin TBWA, Melbourne, and Amstrad computers via Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney. His Jim Beam spot "Fingerprints," out of J. Walter Thompson, Sydney, won best cinematography at last year’s Melbourne Art Directors Club Awards.
Milburn and Lowenstein join a Metro directorial roster that includes Shiu and Brian Lai. Metro also maintains a satellite based on the Marina del Rey premises, See Spot Run, which represents director Larry O’Flahavan.
Metro and See Spot Run are repped by a trio of independents: L.A.-based Connie Mellors on the West Coast, Chicago-based Doug Stieber in the Midwest and New York-based Nancy Workman on the East Coast.
