Director Jeffrey Karoff, known in the advertising world as a visual storyteller and for his work with real people, has joined Original for exclusive national representation. Karoff, who directs branded content and documentaries in addition to spots, was last repped by The Artists Company.
Karoff’s recent work includes a package for Ford’s Swap Your Ride campaign chronicling the experiences of consumers who are given a chance to trade their current vehicles for Fords, and campaigns for the pharmaceutical brands Crestor and Nuvaring.
Karoff traces his interest in photography and filmmaking to acquiring his father’s Canon 7 Rangefinder camera “whose wicked-fast F.95 Dream lens,” he joked, “never produced an in-focus picture — making me a life-long Canon devotee.” He went on to study filmmaking at UCLA and the American Film Institute.
“They taught that everything, from the wardrobe to the lighting to camera movement, ‘must serve the story,'” he recalled. “Now story pumps through the veins. Even in the tiny span of a spot, I strive to create an arc, a beginning, middle and end, a journey to take the viewers on.” He later co-founded Paradox Works, a workshop where directors and actors worked together.
Karoff got his professional start in “offbeat media,” including a stint programming and designing multimedia shows involving dozens of synchronized slide and film projectors. Although the medium “went the way of the calculator watch,” he peaked as programmer/designer on Genocide, an Academy Award-winning feature about the Holocaust.
Among his most ambitious projects was a 360-degree CircleVision film for Mercedes Benz. “I chose to keep the nine-camera, Barco-lounger sized camera rig moving in every shot,” he said. “I had to find the smallest dolly grip in the Western Hemisphere to crouch under the lenses.” The project played for a year in a movie-theater-in-the-round at auto shows across the U.S.
Karoff broke into spotmaking in 2001 via Coppos Films, followed by stints at Backyard and The Artists Company. Along with his recent work for Crestor, Nuvaring and Ford, he directed two fundraising films for New York philanthropic giant The Robin Hood Foundation. He is currently editing his documentary, Cavedigger, about an artist whose work involves single-handedly digging sculptural, cathedral-like caves in sandstone. Karoff shot part of the film in 3D.
Karoff also recently directed a series of PSAs for Model Environment that employed the novel concept of using renowned fashion models to promote environmental causes. One spot features Mexican model Carla Houston (and three clones) in a humorous pitch for water conservation.
Original is led by executive producers Bruce Mellon, Joe Piccirillo, Marc Lasko and Jeff Devlin, and maintains production offices in Los Angeles and New York City. The company’s postproduction division, headed by Jonathan Del Gatto, provides editorial, design, graphics and visual effects services.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More