After 11 years at bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, where his spotmaking career launched him into feature filmmaking, director Michael Bay has announced he is forming his own as-yet-unnamed commercial production house.
SHOOT spoke to Bay after he had just wrapped principal photography on his fourth feature, the upcoming Disney release Pearl Harbor. The $145 million-budgeted epic action movie, centering on the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, is slated to open in theatres on Memorial Day 2001. Relating that his contract at Propaganda expired in January, Bay said that he plans to open a company in partnership with Scott Gardenhour as executive producer. Gardenhour has recently worked as a freelance producer and also served as an executive producer on the Baja, Mexico-filmed sequences in Pearl Harbor.
"I wasn’t a founding director at Propaganda, but I was literally one of the first directors," said Bay. "I was 25 when I came, and I grew into a filmmaker there. I think there was a time when Propaganda was considered one of the best in the world. I’ve seen it go from a really small family atmosphere to a factory, and … [after it was sold], it became a place where I didn’t know anybody. The company [an investment group led by former Sundance CEO Gary Beer] that bought them [in ’99] literally started firing everyone who ran Propaganda. I couldn’t even tell you who’s at that company anymore."
Bay acknowledged that, effectively, he has been away from Propaganda for the past four years, during which he has focused on developing and directing features. His credits include Bad Boys (1995), The Rock (’96) and Armageddon (’98). The films, all high-grossing box office hits, were produced by Hollywood mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who also is producing Pearl Harbor.
"I’m 36," added Bay, "and I’m coming off what I think is going to be the best movie I’ve done so far. I just think it’s time that I start my own company. I’m still very much a feature guy, but I do want to do commercials." Bay, who maintains a production deal with Disney, noted that, for the past four years, he has had his own Santa Monica-based long-form company, Bay Films. He said he plans to produce spots from that office, although he may take on additional space in the future.
Gardenhour’s relationship with Bay dates back to some five years of freelance-producing spots for the director at Propaganda. Gardenhour joined Propaganda’s staff as an executive producer in ’95, later becoming its VP/commercials before leaving in Feb. ’98. Subsequently, he had what turned out to be a brief stint as president/CEO/executive producer at Farmland Studios (now JGF, Hollywood) that ended in late ’98 (SHOOT, 12/18/98, p. 7). Following this, he returned to the freelance world and went on to serve as line producer on the international portion of Armageddon.
Bay is tentatively booked on a Pepsi job out of BBDO New York that is slated to shoot in London in the next couple of weeks; that job will be produced out of Bay Films. Observing that Pearl Harbor is now headed to postproduction, Bay stated, "It’s a long enough post that I’m going to have plenty of time to do commercials."
Bay said he and Gardenhour plan to develop a company that may well add other directors, as well as sales reps. "I don’t know how big or small it will be," explained Bay. "We’re going to gear up slowly. But I don’t think I really want to be associated with [another company]. I’m game to look at any directors out there." Sounding like a man with an aptitude for mentorship, he added, "A lot of commercial people have broken into the feature world that haven’t really made it. The feature world is a very different business from commercials. I guess, from my background, I can help [directors] prevent some of the mistakes that I’ve seen some of these other young commercial directors make in the feature world."
Many regard Bay as experiencing one of the fastest rises in the commercial industry, as well as being one of the biggest crossover success stories. After graduating from Pasadena, Calif.-based Art Center College of Design, he forayed into music videos. His direction of clips for such artists as Donny Osmond, Meat Loaf, Tina Turner, Aerosmith and the DiVinyls earned recognition and a number of MTV Video Music Award nominations.
After making his spot debut on an American Red Cross ad, Bay proceeded to amass an impressive body of commercial work, including spots for Nike, Reebok, Isuzu, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Levi’s and Mercedes-Benz. Among his spot highlights is "Aaron Burr" in the "Got Milk?" campaign for the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board, out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. The ad won Best of Show and Gold awards at the ’94 Clios; and, together with other "Got Milk?" spots, was recognized at that year’s Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show at MoMA in several categories, including best advertising campaign.
"Aaron Burr" also contributed to a body of work that earned Bay the Directors Guild of America Award as best commercial director of ’94. The other spots were "Baby and Cat" and "Vending Machines," also for the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board; "Big Lawyer Roundup" for Miller Lite via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, and "Deion Sanders" for Nike via Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
