Director Rent Sidon has joined bicoastal Shelter Films. He formerly was at Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart Commercials, where his latest credits included Keystone Beer’s "Tennis," "Zipper" and "Laundry," and Budweiser’s "Only the Best for Fred," all out of DDB Chicago; and IKEA’s "Hide and Seek," "Sofa" and "Geek," through Deutsch, New York.
Los Angeles-based Sidon appreciates Shelter’s approach, describing its executive producer Steve Shore as being "a very hands-on executive. That’s something that I really look forward to having—something that you have to have in today’s environment … Shelter is a very small operation, and it’s kept small deliberately so [that Steve can] stay involved with the directors, build their careers and help them make the right decisions.
"There’s a tremendous value to that, especially at the point in my career where I am now," Sidon continued. "It’s a bit of a turning point: I’m a known quantity and my budgets have gotten bigger, but it’s a big challenge to find great creative work. There are a lot of extremely talented people at my level in this business."
Sidon observed, "It’s a great situation for me, there’s a great synergy going on with Shelter and Straw Dogs." Shelter was recently bought by New York-headquartered Paradise Music and Entertainment, also the parent company of bicoastal Straw Dogs (see SHOOT, 7/7, p. 7). "I’ve known [Paradise chairman and Straw Dogs CEO] Jesse Dylan for a few years, and I’ve always respected him and I think he runs a great shop."
Sidon came to spot directing in ’95, nearly 10 years after graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in ’86. He recalled that, after graduation, he "worked in every aspect of the feature film business, from production assistant up into the studio system." Yet, he noted, "I just was never particularly satisfied. I had studied motion picture production and dramatic writing and had always wanted to do both. I had anticipated that my background would get me into directing." However, he continued, "Although I had worked on a few high-profile movies and various development deals, after a few years I was still unproduced. That’s the key difference between the film business and the advertising business: In advertising, things actually get produced; you actually get out there and have an opportunity to hone your craft."
In ’95, Sidon decided to pursue spot directing and made some spec commercials through ad agency Ground Zero (then based in Venice, now in Marina del Rey, Calif.). By early ’96, he had joined Hollywood-based Johns+Gorman Films (now JGF), drawn largely to the company by its then managing director Jane McCann.
But in ’97, McCann resigned from Johns+Gorman (SHOOT 6/6/97, p. 1) and soon Sidon followed as the company prepared to reconfigure. "At the time I talked to a few companies," he recalled. "Straw Dogs was one of them. … For a lot of good reasons I chose to go to A Band Apart (SHOOT, 2/13/98, p. 1)." He added that those same "good reasons" were instrumental in his now joining Shelter, which is affiliated with Straw Dogs.
Sidon’s move was fueled by his desire to be at a company devoted solely to commercials. "I had a great experience at A Band Apart, needless to say. They’re an outstanding com-pany." Nonetheless, continued Sidon, "They were becoming really a major player in the music video business; there was a focal shift there. And for me, it’s important that I be at a company that lives and breathes advertising. It’s what I do."
Currently, Sidon is bidding on a few jobs. "I’m always trying to build on a visual style and experiment with visual storytelling," he explained. "I’m also committed to building a stronger representation of my ability to do dialogue."
Shelter’s other directors are Tim Abshire, Melissa Bolton and Siraj Jhaveri. Shelter is repped by Kent Eby of Creative Management Partners (CMP) in New York on the East Coast, Catherine De Angelis of CMP in Chicago for the Midwest, and Gimenez & Associates’ Lisa Gimenez in Santa Monica and Keith Quinn in San Francisco on the West Coast.
