By Justine Elias
Richard Sampson, a former freelance and agency producer, has come aboard Pogo Pictures as its executive producer. Sampson joins company founder/director/cameraman Steve Colby, who opened the Atlanta-based shop last August.
Sampson and Colby have worked together many times over the last four years, while Colby was with Atlanta- and Venice, Calif.-based Means St. Productions. Means St. closed its West Coast office and relocated to Roswell, Ga., last summer. Colby then founded the new company, and was joined by Tara Burtchaell, who had been Means St.’s director of marketing and holds the same title at Pogo Pictures.
Colby’s credits at Means St.—all line-produced by Sampson—include "As Good as It Gets," an Irish-themed spot for Slazenger golf balls out of J. Walter Thompson, Atlanta; and a Bell Atlantic campaign via Tierney & Partners, Philadelphia.
Pogo Pictures’ recent credits include a TWA campaign via D’Arcy, St. Louis; a campaign for Macgregor golf clubs out of Fricks/Firestone, Atlanta; and "Awareness," a spot for Kraft/ General Foods International Coffee out of Young & Rubicam, New York.
Sampson, who studied film at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C., got his start in commercials by working as a production assistant at now defunct Kingfisher Productions. In ’91, he relocated to Atlanta, and worked his way up the production ladder. As a freelance line producer, Sampson collaborated with Colby, who was signed with Fireside Films, Atlanta, from ’89-’93, and then with Means St. from ’94-’99. "We kept crossing paths, and I felt Steve was one of the best directors around," said Sampson. "I enjoy working with Steve, and I wanted to work with him full-time."
Colby took a less direct path to commercial work. As an undergraduate at Berry College, Mt. Berry, Ga., he studied fine arts, sculpture and design, and hoped to open an art gallery. His first job was as an art department production assistant on Night Shadows, a low-budget horror film starring Wings Hauser. "Every afternoon before we started shooting, I re-dressed the business signs and windows to make it look like another, scarier town," said Colby. "It was all-night shoots and I didn’t like it much, but people kept calling me."
In ’89, Colby borrowed a camera and "filmed a bunch of friends dancing around and acting crazy." He edited the footage and sent it to several Atlanta ad agencies and production companies. Fireside quickly signed him, and his first assignment for the firm was an AIDS PSA for Leslie Advertising, Atlanta.
Over the years, Colby has become known as a director who is strong on visual style and emotional stories. In the aforementioned "As Good as it Gets," Colby’s camera takes a panoramic, lyrical view of windswept Irish settings. "We shot in February, when it was miserable, windy and cold," recalled Colby. "But I think the bad weather made the film prettier to look at. If it had been sunny and clear, I don’t think it would have felt as spiritual."
Sampson noted that a shot of two sheep—described in the spot’s voiceover as the golf course’s groundskeepers—was particularly difficult to capture. "What you don’t see are the sheepherder and sheepdogs just out of frame, going crazy," said Sampson. The animals were supposed to wander through the wild, long grass, not the carefully manicured green—"but the green was about the only place they wanted to go."
Colby, who helmed a new set of Slazenger spots last month in Oregon via Pogo Pictures, said he plans to sign other directors whose styles contrast with his own. "Whether that means comedy or tabletop or special effects, we’ll see," he said. "We’re also looking at moving into the Internet arena and creating interactive ads, as broadband becomes more available."
Pogo Pictures is represented in the Northeast by Peter Green, and in Canada by Toronto- and Vancouver-based Circle Productions. Burtchaell said the company is currently seeking representation on the West Coast and in the Midwest.
Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In “Rust” Shooting
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify reversing her decision.
"Because the state's amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken," the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely.
A spokesperson for Baldwin's lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to teh decision.
The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
Baldwin's trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey can now decide whether to appeal to a higher court.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer โ... Read More