SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Director Robert Black, formerly of bicoastal Headquarters, has joined Message, a newly formed bicoastal house under the aegis of executive producer Lynne Pateman. While it operates independently, Message can draw upon established resources in that the shop is in association with bicoastal Bedford Falls, part of the Michael Romersa-owned Stoney Road family of production companies.
Black’s recent credits include spots for the U.S. Mint via Grey Advertising, New York, and Chrysler for BBDO Toronto. During his Headquarters’ tenure, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America as the best commercial director of ’97 (SHOOT, 2/13/98, p. 1). Black earned DGA nominee status based on three entries that reflected a wide directorial range: Baked Lays Chips’ "Antonio" for BBDO New York; Rite Aid’s "Firefighter" via MARC Advertising, Pittsburgh; and Southwest Bell’s "Rancher" out of DMB&B, St. Louis. "Antonio" was a comedic romp driven by performances from Antonio Sabato Jr. and Frank Oz (the creative talent behind Miss Piggy of the Muppets). "Firefighter" played like a mini-documentary, focusing in particular on a female firefighter. And "Rancher" began like a circa-’50s cinematic cowboy western and then unexpectedly detoured to a personal palette of emotions evolving from apprehension to a sense of profound relief.
Black made his first industry mark on the agency side of the business, establishing himself as a writer and conceptual talent, most notably at Foote, Cone & Belding, San Francisco, where he had been a creative director for nearly 10 years. In late ’88, he left Foote, Cone to join the production house fray, coming aboard the directorial roster of the then Travisano DiGiacomo Black Films (now Travisano DiGiacomo Films, New York). In ’91, he moved to bicoastal G.M.S. Productions (now Villains). And in ’96, Black landed at Headquarters.
The Headquarters’ tenure was a positive experience, said Black, noting that he remains "close friends" with that company’s partner/head of sales, Tom Mooney. "They were wonderful with me," related Black. "It’s not so much that I’m running away from there. Instead it’s a case of my running to something that had a different set of opportunities attached."
"He’s a terrific director and storyteller," said Mooney of Black. "We had a nice run together and I wish him all the luck."
Among the factors behind Black’s decision to jump to Message were his self-described "like-mindedness" with Pateman and Bedford Falls president/ exec. producer Nancy Fishelson, and his long-time friendship with and admiration for Bedford Falls co-founder/director Ed Zwick. Black also cited the chance to be on the ground floor of a new company that potentially could re-define the nature of the business, and the real opportunity for him to become more active in longform.
On the latter score, Black is slated to direct an episode of the upcoming Once And Again, a primetime series for ABC created by Zwick and Bedford Falls’ co-founder Marshall Herskovitz. (Zwick and Herskovitz have teamed on such other series as thirtysomething, Relativity and My So-Called Life.) Via Bedford Falls, Zwick and Herskovitz have a track record of bringing commercialmakers into the TV and feature arena. For example, Bedford Falls’ spot director Mark Piznarski broke into TV series by directing episodes of Relativity and My So-Called Life. Piznarski-who also executive produced Relativity-has since wrapped his first feature, Heaven On Earth, and is scheduled to embark on a second, Animal Husbandry. Both movies are for 20th Century Fox.
Seeking something
Zwick and Black first met some seven years ago. At the time, Zwick was scouting spot directors for possible episodic duty on thirtysomething. He was favorably impressed by several commercials, which happened to have been directed by Black. "I was taken by the understanding of behavior, performance and storytelling that was reflected in those commercials," recalled Zwick of Black’s work. Zwick then read a Black-authored screenplay and the two have kept in touch ever since, finally resulting in their coming together professionally at Message.
While he’s interested in longform, Black said that spotmaking remains his prime career focus at Message. He believes his agency experience-and that of Pateman (who earlier in her career served in the television department at Collett Dickinson Pearce, London) and Fishelson (i.e.-exec. producer at Lintas: New York, a producer at Young & Rubicam, New York)-can prove to be advantageous to ad agencies and their clients. "It’s good if a commercial filmmaker understands the problems and opportunities of positioning and marketing a product so that he or she can render an idea to its maximum potential," related Black who added that on some select projects, it might make sense for him to become involved earlier on in the conceptual process. "That’s only when the right situation occasionally comes up. We’re not looking to compete with ad agencies but to offer them more help if they need it."
"Boundaries are changing," observed Fishelson. "There are times when agencies ask us to pitch a piece of business, to help with creative and to execute certain ideas. With Robert’s background, we can move a little quicker than others in that way if called upon."
Romersa added that there are also instances where smaller clients who can’t necessarily afford an agency might look to a production house for creative/ conceptual prowess. "Robert puts us in a better position to be responsive to those kinds of needs and offer a fuller service when appropriate," said Romersa.
New Model?
Romersa noted that Message is also positioned to perhaps tap into new forms of advertising. "Commercials represent the company’s core business," said Romersa. "But there are other areas to explore through our relationship with Ed [Zwick] and Marshall [Herskovitz] as well as Stoney Road’s talent management company [Envision]."
One such area identified by Romersa is the notion of bringing advertising and TV programming "closer together. We’re starting to look into this, discussing ways in which advertising might be integrated into certain programming. It’s a step beyond a Hallmark Hall of Fame model. Ed and Marshall bring tremendous clout and expertise in programming to the table. We have a lot of experience in the advertising industry. Add to that the management company which is about to grow further. And you can see there are some elements in place where we might be able to put our heads together, some resources together and come up with some new models that expand our business reach and can help ad agencies and their clients….We’d like to create a stronger relationship between agencies, clients and production companies that feels more like a partnership instead of an adversarial proposition."
The growth at Envision alluded to by Romersa entails a pending merger with a couple of other talent management companies. He declined to identify those two firms. Envision manages a coterie that includes directors, writers and actors. According to Romersa, Envision helped land an independent feature for Boris Damast to direct. Damast helms commercials via Bedford Falls.
Lucky 13
Fishelson and Pateman have a professional relationship that dates back 13 years when the former was at Lintas and Pateman was producing for director Norman Seeff (now of Norman Seeff Productions, Studio City, Calif.) and serving as exec. producer for director William Dear (currently repped for spots by Electric Avenue Films, Venice, Calif.). Pateman and Fishelson remained friends ever since and now finally get the opportunity to work closely together.
During the early ’90’s, Pateman freelanced for such directors as Willi Patterson, Marc Chiat, Mike Berkofsky, Louis Ng and Thom Higgins. In ’93, she joined Dektor Higgins as director Higgins’ exec. producer. Higgins also went on to earn a DGA nomination the same year as Black. In spring of ’98, Higgins and Pateman moved over to RSA USA. She exited RSA for Bedford Falls at the end of ’98 to head an associated company which turned out to be Message.
"Lynne has been great in marketing directors and helping to develop their careers," observed Fishelson, citing the job Pateman did with Higgins. "It’s time she headed and helped build a company."
Pateman, though, foresees a slow, careful build. She wants to keep Message a boutique shop, with a maximum of three directors. "You need to maintain a manageable size to ensure that your directors are well managed and looked after," opined Pateman.
Message takes on the same spot sales force that’s handling Bedford Falls: New York-based Lori Youmans and Matt Factor on the East Coast; Chicago’s Robin Pickett and Maureen Cronin in the Midwest; and rep firm Saarinen/Korsan on the West Coast.
