Nitro Films, a bicoastal shop that was part of the Michael Romersa-owned Stoney Road Productions family of companies, has closed and been largely consolidated into bicoastal Reactor Films, another Stoney Road house. Romersa explained, After nine years of steady growth [at his group of companies], business was a little flat for us, and from what I gather a lot of other houses this past year. In the case of Reactor and Nitro, consolidation made sense given their like-minded culture.
That like-mindedness is reflected in Oliver Fuselier, Nitros original exec. producer/ co-founder who moved several months ago to Reactor, succeeding exec. producers Chuck Ryant and T.K. Knowles. Ryant and Knowles went on to form Venice-based production company Bob (SHOOT, 1/8, p. 1).
Fuselier now finds himself reunited with director Tom DeCerchio, who just joined Reactor from Nitro. The two helped launch Nitro some 16 months ago (SHOOT, 10/3/97, p. 1). Their collaborations date back several years to when DeCerchio was at bicoastal HSI Productions and Fuselier freelance produced for him. DeCerchios latest work at Nitro included spots for Visa out of BBDO New York, Fidelity Fund via Boston-based Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Toyota for Saatchi & Saatchi Pacific, Torrance, and Michelob from The Leap Partnership, Chicago. The latter aired during last months Super Bowl telecast.
Nitros other mainstay director, Bruce Van Dusen, had most recently been working via The Bridge, a newly created satellite of bicoastal Bedford Falls, also a Stoney Road company. But Van Dusen is now leaving to partner in the launch of a bicoastal production company with Chuck Pfeifer, former sales director at New York-based Creative Film Management International (see separate story, page 1).
Meanwhile, other key Nitro staffers remain within the Stoney Road family. For example, Stoney Road is honoring its contract with director Marcos Zavitsanos. Romersa said several Stoney Road shops have Zavitsanos reel in hand and in mind for possible projects. And exec. producer Lisa Hollingshead, who succeeded Fuselier when he shifted over to Reactor, has been retained in a still-to-be-defined capacity with Stoney Road. Romersa added that Nitros exec. producer in New York, Joanne Ferraro, continues to serve as East Coast staff rep for Stoney Road company M-80, Santa Monica.
Chain Reactor
DeCerchios coming aboard is in line with an ongoing expansion of Reactors directorial roster, which is anchored by Steve Chase, a spotmaker who founded the company two and a half years ago. Among Chases latest credits is a Bud Light Super Bowl spot from DDB Needham Chicago in which two men with limited funds are at a grocery checkout stand where they confront the difficult decision of whether to buy a six-pack of brew or much needed toilet paper.
Also currently with Reactor is director John Mastromonaco, who at press time was helming a Red Lobster project in Sydney, Australia, for Euro RSCG Tatham, Chicago.
New to the Reactor fold are a pair of up-and-coming talents, Lori Hoeft and Marc Bennett. Hoeft first gained recognition when Recycling, a Nike spec spot she directed at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, won a Bronze Clio in the student commercial category last year. She then went on to a brief tenure at bicoastal HKM Productions, directing the Partnership for a Drug-Free America PSA Cleaning Girl out of jordanmcgrathcase&partners, New York.
Her latest job was a Family Gateway PSA, Good Girl, which touchingly shows the plight of homeless families through the eyes of a child, for Dallas agency The Focus Group. The PSA was produced by Hollywood-based Stiefel & Company, with which Hoeft said she had an informal test run before deciding on a permanent roost.
Hoeft noted that it was Fu-selier who drew her to Reactor. Months earlier, she had met him and contemplated joining Nitro. Hoeft said Fuselier understands how she likes to work with agency creatives: Completely collaborative, with us being on the same side.
Bennett, meanwhile, is no stranger to the agency side, having formerly been creative director/partner in Bennett-Novak, a Los Angeles ad shop involved primarily in print for entertainment, film and music industry clients. He caught the directing bug some four and a half years ago and began to take formal film classes. He has since broken through in both short- and long-form, starting with a pair of humorous spec spots he initiated for The New York Times and Baby Gap. Then came a Bennett-directed documentary, Life Matters, which tells the stories of four women who survived cancer. The documentary has been shown on PBS each of the past two years.
Last summer was particularly gratifying for Bennett with Life Matters running on PBS and his first two real-world commercials airing in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The comedic spots-Graffiti and Dog-for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art via Foote, Cone & Belding/San Francisco, promoted a retrospective of the work of artist Keith Haring. The two-spot campaign won a Bronze WorldMedal at last months New York Festivals 41st Annual Television Advertising Awards.
Bennett also has to his directorial credit a music video, Pray, for gospel singer Andrae Crouch. The job was for Quest Records, a Bennett-Novak client, and marked Crouchs move into the urban/ contemporary music category.
Chase explained that the infusion of directorial talent into Reactor helps settle a stretch of uncertainty after the departure of exec. producers Ryant and Knowles. We didnt know what directors might decide to go with them and were sort of in a holding pattern, not sure if we would be able to take on additional directors, Chase related. As it turned out, directors Jason Smith and the team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris left Reactor to join Ryant and Knowles at Bob.
At press time, Reactor was exploring its representation options in the Midwest. The company is handled on the East Coast by CMP, New York, and on the West Coast and in Texas by recently formed Superglu, Santa Monica and San Francisco.
