SANTA MONICA—F.M. Rocks, the longstanding Santa Monica-based music video house under the aegis of owner Craig Fanning, has launched a spot production division. Tom Mickel, a former partner in bicoastal HKM Productions, has been hired as president of the new venture, dubbed F.M. Rocks Commercials. F.M. Rocks will also have a London office—for both spots and videos—up and running within 30 days. The company additionally has plans afoot to move into feature production.
Mickel has secured a couple of directors for his commercials roster—Thomas Kloss, a noted DP who is making the transition to helmer, and Rawson Thurber, a young filmmaker who directed a comedic Reebok spot featuring "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker," which debuted during this past weekend’s Super Bowl. Creative inspiration for the Super Sunday ad came from a short film Thurber directed last year that not only spawned several Reebok commercials for New York agency The Arnell Group, but also four shorts that are being run on a dedicated "Terry Tate" portion of Reebok’s Web site (see separate story in this week’s Advertainment Special Report, p. 21).
At press time, director/cameraman Kloss was wrapping his first major job under the F.M. Rocks Commercials banner—a Target department stores spot being shot in Buenos Aires for Peterson Milla Hooks, Minneapolis. Kloss, an accomplished DP whose work spans commercials and music videos for such directors as Marcus Nispel of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander and Francis Lawrence of Hollywood-based DNA, has directed a smattering of spotwork in recent years for such clients as CoverGirl, Generali insurance and D.O.C. optical lenses. He also helmed the music clip "Something Worth Leaving Behind," featuring Lee Ann Womack.
According to Mickel, Kloss is committed to directing. He plans to curtail his DP activity and only occasionally shoot for select collaborators with whom he has a close-knit relationship. Mickel envisions that in six months to a year, the lion’s share of Kloss’ schedule will pretty much be dedicated to directorial gigs.
Additionally, Mickel has handpicked some talent from F.M. Rocks’ music video lineup—directors Bryan Barber and Antti Jokinen—whose vision and sensibilities he believes will translate well into commercialmaking. Barber has helmed clips for such artists as Outkast, Slum Village and Killer Mike. Jokinen’s credits include videos for Will Smith, Westlife, Thalia, City High and Wyclef Jean.
Fanning and Mickel plan to keep F.M. Rocks’ commercial roster small and manageable—no more than seven directors, complemented by several of the company’s music video helmers who have the potential to diversify meaningfully into spots. "Keeping our operation on a smaller scale-—where we can be hands-on in developing directors’ careers—is an essential part of the philosophy Craig and I share," Mickel related.
Mickel expects at least one or two of F.M. Rocks’ commercial directors to come from overseas, which is why the aforementioned London office is key in his plans. That foothold, he said, will help him discover and make connections with spotmaking talent in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and other foreign markets. Mickel added that the London shop will facilitate international production and help draw work from European agencies for F.M. Rocks’ directors.
F.M. Rocks has made prior bids to diversify into commercials with executive producers such as Eileen Terry (now managing director of Red Car, Santa Monica) and Roger Zorovich, formerly of now defunct Propaganda Films. While their efforts attained some measure of success, Fanning said that in order to spearhead a major F.M. push into spots, he felt the need to hire a commercial industry veteran who was not only an experienced executive producer, but also a company owner and entrepreneur. Fitting those criteria, he said, was Mickel, who co-founded HKM with directors Graham Henman and Michael Karbelnikoff some 21 years ago, helping to build it into a leading shop with diverse interests and a track record of advancing directorial careers.
Mickel said he had "a great run at HKM," but philosophical differences over its future direction led to his departure from the company nearly a year ago. He then focused on feature development before being pursued by Fanning. Mickel initially resisted those overtures. However, as he thought over the proposition—which gave him freedom and autonomy to run the commercialmaking operation—and found that his goals were simpatico with Fanning’s, Mickel decided that F.M. Rocks offered him "a special opportunity."
Underscoring F.M. Rocks’ commitment to expand significantly into commercials is the company’s move into a three-story, 18,000-square-foot building in Santa Monica. The quarters will house extensive production offices and support facilities for spots and videos. At press time, the complex was in the midst of being renovated and refurbished.
Looking further down the road, Mickel said that in about 18 months, F.M. Rocks will also be involved in feature filmmaking. Over the past year, Mickel has fashioned relationships with several leading feature producers, including Patrick Markey (The Joy Luck Club, A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer) and Martin Elfand (Dog Day Afternoon, An Officer and a Gentleman). Mickel intends to bring some of the projects born out of those relationships into F.M. Rocks, hopefully yielding longform opportunities for the company’s directors.
Also in the works, according to Fanning, is the hiring of a noted feature writer to spur F.M. Rocks’ development efforts. Fanning’s roots are in feature filmmaking, as reflected in his formal training at the American Film Institute. He went on to enter the music video arena 12 years ago, via F.M. Rocks.
F.M. Rocks’ lineup of music video directors includes Barber, Jokinen, Fred Durst, Irv Gotti, Charles Infante, Dave Meyers (who is repped for commercials by bicoastal/international @radical.media), Jake Nava, Thom Oliphant and Rob Zombie.
Executive producer Nancy Osborne is head of sales for F.M. Rocks Commercials. The spot shop is handled by independent reps Kevin Smith in the Midwest and Loren Munchick on the East Coast.
