Director Spencer Antle has signed for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. with Metro Pictures, the Marina del Rey production house headed by executive producer Craig Farkas. Antle comes over to Metro after a one-year stint at now defunct Fahrenheit, his first commercial roost.
Additionally, Metro reps Antle in the Asian market via its 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. Antle continues to be represented in Canada by Maxx Productions, Toronto.
The director recently wrapped his first assignment under the Metro banner: an ad for music-on-demand Web site Virgin JamCast via Bozell, San Francisco. Other recent work includes three ads for Hershey’s out of Ammirati Puris Lintas, Toronto, and Maxx Productions.
Antle’s final project at Fahrenheit was for Horseshoe Casinos via Cramer-Krasselt, Phoenix; the ad revolves around a Mission Impossible-like spy scenario.
Fahrenheit, which was part of the Stoney Road family of production companies, was shuttered last fall (SHOOT, 9/17/99, p. 1). Antle said he was given the option to move over to bicoastal M-80, another Stoney Road company that had been closely associated with Fahrenheit, but the director declined: "There had been a lot of changes over the past year, and I felt the time had come to move on," he said.
For the next few months, Antle explored his production house options before linking with Metro. "Craig is one of few executive producers who understands filmmaking. He has had a lot of exposure in the production side—having been a cinematographer and director himself, and because of his partnership with Larry," Antle said. Metro also appealed to the director because it’s "a company that’s not so large, so it can deal with the directors at hand, and yet it is still poised for international exposure." The latter statement is a reference to the Hong Kong operation and Metro’s affiliation with Australian production house Halo Films, Melbourne. Metro reps Halo directors Lynn-Marie Milburn and Richard Lowenstein in the U.S. and Asia, while Halo provides Metro with an Australian production base (SHOOT, 6/4/99, p. 8).
Farkas said he immediately connected with the director when they met, citing Antle’s "focus and energy." Farkas added, "I had a feeling about him from the start." After seeing the director in action on the Virgin JamCast job, Farkas said, "it was very refreshing to be proven right." The one-day shoot involved more than 50 set-ups. In the current advertising climate of tight budgets and shooting schedules, Antle said, "My mantra has been to take every five bucks and make it look like one hundred."
Antle’s body of work leans toward comedy and dialogue, but also features sports and action sequences. The director said he’s also interested in projects that are visually oriented or that deploy visual effects. "As a filmmaker, I think it’s important to expose myself to as many different genres as I can," he said. Most importantly, however, Antle is focused on doing "good work with good people."
With a creative writing degree from Florida’s University of Miami, Antle has several years of experience as a crew member on indie features, where he "learned everything he could" about filmmaking. In the mid-’90s, he held support staff positions at music/sound design firms Primal Scream, Santa Monica, and Machine Head, Venice, Calif., as well as an assistant editing position at bicoastal Moxie Pictures.
During that time, the future director began building up a spec reel with several ads for products such as Bud Light, Arizona Jeans and the Milk Advisory Board. Several of the ads won awards and led to his first commercial assignment in ’98: an ad for Sharp via Standard Advertising, Osaka, Japan. The humorous ad, "Amphitheater," shows a young guy with quite an imagination. Standing on the stage of an empty amphitheater, he recreates in his mind the ultimate pop star experience. Grooving along to Kool & The Gang’s "Get Down On It," which blares from his Sharp boom box, he imagines the millions of fans, the lights, the excitement of it all.
Antle’s additional credits include campaigns for Fox Sports Interactive via WongDoody, Seattle; Bob’s Stores via KGA Advertising, Middletown, Conn.; and Williams Chili out of NHK&W, Kansas City, Mo.
Antle joins a Metro directorial roster that, in addition to Shiu, Milburn and Lowenstein, includes Brian Lai; director/cameraman David Lena, who recently joined the company ("Street Talk," 3/17); and two Kuala Lumpur-based directors, Paul Loosley and Steven Ang, who joined Metro for U.S. representation earlier this year. Overseas, Loosley and Ang work out of Loosley’s company, Axis Films, Kuala Lumpur. The directors are former agency creative directors: Loosley at J. Walter Thompson, Hong Kong, and Ang at BBDO, Kuala Lumpur.
Metro also maintains See Spot Run, a satellite based on the Marina del Rey premises, which represents director Larry O’Flahavan.
Metro and See Spot Run are repped by a trio of independents: Los Angeles-based Connie Mellors on the West Coast, Chicago-based Doug Stieber in the Midwest and New York-based Nancy Workman on the East Coast.
