Director Joshua Seftel has joined Redtree Productions, Boston and New York, for spot representation.
This is the first time Seftel has been repped by a commercial production house. He maintains his own Seftel Productions, based in Arlington, Mass., for documentary work. Some of his credits include the PBS promo "Electronic Liquid" for the series Greater Boston Arts, the CBS News segment "Steal This Bike" and 1996’s 52-minute documentary Taking on the Kennedys.
Seftel, who was raised in Schenectady, N.Y., has lived in the Boston area since ’90, when he graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Mass. "I was supposed to be a doctor," he recounts. "I was a pre-med studentflI worked in a morgue! … But I decided that before I went to medical school I was going to try making a film."
So in ’90, as Seftel explains it, "I went over to Romania, and produced a documentary for $2,000." This was Lost and Found, a 28-minute film about Romanian orphans. The documentary aired on PBS in ’92. In ’93, it became the first small-format work (Lost and Found was shot on Hi-8 and digital video) to be nominated for a national Emmy Award in the Outstanding News and Documentary Program Achievement category. "It was sort of a new thing at that time, to be working professionally with that kind of video," related Seftel. "That was my start."
He followed this up with a film about the war in Bosnia, which was shown as a five-minute news segment on ABC News in ’95. At that point, Seftel became interested in "trying to add humor and wit into my work. So I did a film called Taking on the Kennedys."
Taking on the Kennedys concerned an acrimonious ’94 race in Rhode Island’s first congressional district. Seftel observed, "Politics is a pretty funny topic. A lot of corruption and ludicrous things are happening. So I kept capturing moments like the two candidates practically getting into a fistfight—things like that!" Taking on the Kennedys was selected by Time magazine as one of the 10 best television programs of ’96, the year it aired on the PBS series POV (Point of View).
Political campaigns continued to provide Seftel with ample material, and in ’96 he collaborated with writer Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker) on Bob Dole & The Real Russell. The pair went to Dole’s hometown, Russell, Kan., to make a film about the then-presidential candidate. Seftel recalled, "We ended up sneaking into Bob Dole’s house, and we were evicted from our hotel by Barbara Walters! Well," he amended, "she took our room." Seftel and Lewis’ 12-minute film was shown at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
In ’98, the Cosby Foundation commissioned Seftel to make a film about Bill Cosby’s late son. Seftel believes that the resulting piece, Ennis’ Gift, has a more sophisticated visual style: "I focused a lot on the look of the film; storyboarding every shot. … It was a case of really aiming for the most beautiful look we could get." HBO will show the one-hour documentary in ’01.
Seftel became interested in commercials a few years ago, when he started watching network television regularly in an effort to catch the news segments he’d produced and directed. He told SHOOT, "I found that I enjoyed watching the commercials a lot. In the last couple of years, I’ve directed a number of :30 spots for WGBH Boston, the flagship PBS station." Seftel estimates he’s made about 40 PBS promos, most of which promote upcoming events featuring artists like composer Philip Glass and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.
"I loved doing it," Seftel enthused. "I liken directing spots to a novelist writing his first haiku: It was this new thing that I not only loved, but realized I was good at. I’ve been moving more and more in that direction, working in the :30 format.
When Seftel decided to pursue commercial work, "I was approached by a few companies, and I also looked around. I’m pretty busy producing documentaries, so I took my time."
Seftel and Redtree co-executive producer/sales rep Maria Sheehan had mutual friends and, according to the firm’s co-executive producer/sales rep RJ Casey, "They thought it would be a great idea for us to take a look at Joshua’s work." Seftel contacted Redtree in the autumn of ’99, and, said Casey, "We saw Taking on the Kennedys, and it was just great. It was as funny as some of the pieces that Michael Moore (Roger & Me) has done, and it was just beautifully directed." In December ’99, Casey and Sheehan received boards they thought would be right for Seftel, and so they suggested him for the project. Casey observed, "We were actually in serious consideration for working on a national spot with Joshua before we even talked about him having a home here at Redtree." Although the boards were never produced, Seftel, Casey and Sheehan kept in touch. The relationship was formalized about a month ago.
Speaking of Seftel, Casey added, "He has a great way with talent, as well as with storytelling, which is reflected in some of the :30s he’s done for WGBH. … Again, for the same reasons that he felt comfortable here, we felt comfortable with himflwe fit in terms of personalities and passion for work and trying to have fun with what we all do."
Redtree’s directorial roster also consists of New York-based Christian Hoagland and Boston-based Richard Klug. Redtree is repped nationally by Casey and Sheehan.
