Before the AICP established the Jay B. Eisenstat Award in 1990, regional chapters presented the Crystal Award from ’86 to ’89, to recognize those who exemplified meritorious service to the industry. In the inaugural year of ’86, AICP/ San Francisco bestowed the very first Crystal upon director/cameraman Gregg Snazelle, widely regarded as a pioneer who helped establish the commercial production community in Northern California.
Snazelle died in Nov. ’99 due to complications from bladder cancer, at 73. But he is still fondly remembered for his contributions to the business and his mentorship of assorted artisans.
Snazelle maintained his own production house in San Francisco—called Snazelle Film Group in its last incarnation, in the late ’90s—since ’49. In the mid-’70s, he launched Cine Rent West, a San Francisco-based equipment rental/stage facility business that has proven to be a key production support service in the Bay Area. Cine Rent West was the first Northern California shop to be licensed for rental of the Panavision camera line. Snazelle opened another Cine Rent West operation in Portland, Ore., in ’95. That house also specializes in equipment rental and offers a state-of-the-art soundstage.
The Snazelle Film Group and the ongoing Cine Rent West were both spawning grounds for talent. Among those who got their career starts with Gregg Snazelle were noted animator Sally Cruikshank, feature DP Walt Lloyd, and Jim Morris, president of Lucas Digital, San Rafael, Calif.
"Over the years, I’d say Gregg’s companies served as a training ground for more than a thousand people who are now in the San Francisco film industry," related Gail Morris, a freelance producer who was Snazelle Film Group’s executive producer from ’80 to ’88, and freelanced regularly for Gregg Snazelle in subsequent years. She remembers Snazelle as a daredevil director/cameraman who felt most at home "when hanging out of helicopters or buildings to get an eye-catching shot," frequently for automobile commercials.
Among director Snazelle’s assorted credits were many of the early Chevy Trucks "Heartbeat of America" ads, out of Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich., and the Toyota "Oh, What a Feeling" campaign in the early ’80s, out of Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (now Saatchi & Saatchi LA), Torrance, Calif. Snazelle’s last spot directing gig was an elaborate campaign—with extensive helicopter shooting—that promoted the aerial news coverage of Portland TV station KATU.
Snazelle was also a prime mover in helping to promote the San Francisco film community. He is credited with the launch of the AICP in that city, and helped strengthen AICP’s national reach in the ’70s and ’80s. He also made junkets to varied destinations in order to encourage lensing in San Francisco, helping city officials—most notably the late film commissioner Robin Eickman—to network with commercial producers.
