Shooting Gallery Productions (SGP), the commercialmaking shop of New York-headquartered Shooting Gallery, has formally launched a music video division.
Executive producer Kris Foster has been named to lead the new clips venture. Since the beginning of the year, Foster had served as a video commissioner at Priority Records, a hip-hop/ rap record label owned by EMI. Prior to that, she spent a year and a half repping directors at bicoastal Villains for music videos. Before that, she was the in-house rep at bicoastal A Band Apart Music Videos, a division she helped launch some three years ago.
In addition, SGP has just signed director Bill Yukich for video representation. Formerly repped by New York-based Flashframe Films, Yukich has helmed such clips as "Beautiful" for Joydrop (which he co-directed with Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions) and "Jack" for Oddman Out. Yukich is also an editor, and operates his own Los Angeles-based company, Scratch X. His music video editorial credits include Christina Aguilera’s "Genie in a Bottle," Hole’s "Malibu," and Marilyn Manson’s "Dope Show" and "I Don’t Like Drugs." Additionally, Yukich won best editing honors at the 2000 Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Awards for the Chemical Brothers video "Out of Control" (directed by W.I.Z. of Oil Factory Films, bicoastal and London).
The opening of the music video division represents a return to industry roots for SGP president Tim Clawson, who also serves as executive VP of Shooting Gallery’s production services arm, Gun For Hire. From ’83-’88, Clawson served as managing director of the former Limelight USA, whose roster of directors—which included Steve Barron and Julien Temple—is considered to have helped set the model for the music video medium. During the ’90s, Clawson was head of production at bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, which became one of the pre-eminent music video production shops during that decade.
"[Music videos] have always been a component of what I came over here to do for Shooting Gallery," said Clawson. "I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some extremely talented directors, and watched them grow during their transition from video into commercials or films. It was very important for us to launch our commercial division first, and get our foundation set."
"The second most important thing," continued Clawson, "was to find the right person to develop something new and exciting on the music video front. When I met Kris, I felt I’d found that person."
Foster, who got her start five years ago as a production coordinator at U ground, Los Angeles, said that she was drawn to SGP for the opportunities it presented. "Being on the label side, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go back into production again," said Foster. "But there was something unique about Shooting Gallery and its approach. And I’m excited to see the way that the company looks at the future of music and media; it’s something that I haven’t seen yet in a production company."
Clawson affirmed that traditional music videos are only one part of the big picture, and said the company envisions music—and, by extension, music videos—on the Internet becoming a major force. "We think music videos have always been driven by artists expressing themselves and, oftentimes, having to push past what a record company was willing to do … people like Madonna, Prince, the Rolling Stones," said Clawson. "I think we’re going to see the same thing on the Internet. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to do music programming overall, and finally unleash us from the four-minute format we’ve become so used to from MTV."
SGP’s commercial directorial roster consists of director/cameraman Allen Weiss, directors Richard D’Alessio and Peter Berg, and the directing team Spooner/French (Nick and Andrew, respectively). Although none has helmed videos before, Clawson said, he still thinks the directors are quite viable in the music video realm; Berg, in fact, has just been bid on an undisclosed video project from RCA.
SGP plans to further expand its video roster by bringing in directors on an exclusive and non-exclusive basis. To that end, Clawson related that the clips division has struck up a co-representation deal for videos with London-based music video production house Quick on the Draw. That company’s directorial roster consists of Cameron Casey, Simon Brand, Tony Vanden Ende, Alex Parker, Andy Hutch, Felipe Nino and Steve Haim. All will be repped by SGP in the U.S. and in Canada (via an association with Imported Artists, Toronto), while SGP’s directors will gain U.K. video representation through Quick on the Draw.
Additionally, Clawson noted that the video division will stand to benefit from the synergy with other sister properties, including Gun For Hire and Shooting Gallery’s newly developed music division, which is headed by Phil Carson, a former president of Atlantic Records, London.
