Inexorably intertwined with mentorship are those companies that have proven to be spawning grounds for talent over the years. Though the following is a far-from-comprehensive rundown, an informal survey of industry folk repeatedly yielded the names of several shops that have or have had a propensity for grooming artisans as well as being ahead of the curve whether it comes to setting trends or shaping influential business models.
Relative to talent, it’s the lifeblood of the business. Often this talent migrates to another company or forms its own enterprise, creating a lasting effect felt throughout the community at large for years to come. Here are some of the companies that were cited for their talent development prowess, and profoundly positive influence on the creative and business landscape:
RSA Films
Now in its 41st year, RSA is a marvel in a short attention span business where 10 years is considered an amazing run. Jules Daly, RSA president, believes that ultimately “the longevity comes from the fact we are owned by creative people. That’s not a slight to companies that aren’t. But for us, having Tony and Ridley [Scott] at the helm has meant everything. When you’re rooted in a director-owned house–even if there are decisions being made that aren’t conscious decisions about running the company–it always goes back to being in a creative place. Ridley and Tony want to surround themselves with great talent, visually and creatively interesting projects and environments. The two of them are competitive. They don’t ever want to be bored. Working with younger talent, finding new talent keeps them on their toes. They’re constantly seeking new approaches, new ways of doing things, new technology, new crew talent, new ideas.
“For the Scotts, there is no company if we don’t continue to find interesting directors. If it were just them directing, the Scotts wouldn’t want to have a company. We seek out new talent–Ridley and Tony are very much a part of looking at reels along with me.”
Indeed RSA has been a preeminent spawning ground for talent over the years, on both sides of the Atlantic. There are numerous stories about how RSA has uncovered and discovered directors over the years. As an example, consider Carl Erik Rinsch, whose latest accolade–the Grand Prix in The Cannes International Advertising Festival’s inaugural Film Craft competition–was for The Gift, one of Philips’ series of “Parallel Lines” short films for DDB London.
Nine years ago, Rinsch came across a Brown University alumni newsletter which contained a piece from Brown alum, RSA director Tom Dey. Rinsch had just graduated Brown and on a whim sent three spec spots to RSA.
“The work came in a crumpled brown bag,” recalled Daly. “We immediately saw what it represented and brought Carl on board. We saw that not only was the work promising but it fit into our culture. Now Carl is about to make his first $100 million movie.”
Regarding another discovery, Daly recalled being among those who saw the feature film Narc very early on. “It was directed by Joe Carnahan and I sought him out. We called his agent at the time and got Joe a BMW film–one in the series we did, with the other films being directed by Tony Scott and John Woo. Joe thought we were joking at first. This was his first foray into advertising and it was a big project. His career has taken off from there. We just made the feature film The A Team with Joe directing [via Ridley and Tony Scott’s feature/TV company Scott Free] and are about to start another movie with him.”
Daly also cited the discovering and nurturing of talent done at Little Minx, a shop in the RSA family headed by executive producer Rhea Scott. “It’s almost like the independent film arm of a studio–like a Fox Searchlight on the Fox lot,” observed Daly. “Rhea brings in filmmakers who add to our diversity and to what we can offer clients and agencies.”
Similarly music video arm Black Dog has brought new directorial talent into the fold such as Melina Matsoukas, a.k.a. Melina, who was part of SHOOT’s spring 2009 collection of Up-And-Coming Directors (SHOOT, 3/23/09).
But perhaps the most eloquent testimonial to the collection of talent at RSA came recently from Neil Dawson, chief creative officer of DDB London, who oversaw the aforementioned “Parallel Lines” series of shorts for Philips.
Dawson noted that the “Parallel Lines” campaign had to follow in the footsteps of the widely lauded “Carousel” which promoted the cinematic experience offered by Philips’ movie-theater proportioned television set. Directed by Adam Berg of Stink, London, “Carousel” copped the Film Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
“That’s a pretty daunting proposition,” assessed Dawson. “We didn’t want to do a literal follow-up to ‘Carousel’ because that would have eliminated what made “Carousel” successful–the element of surprise, of doing something unexpected.”
So the “unexpected” took the form of “Parallel Lines” and its dramatically different shorts based on directorial interpretations of the same dialogue. DDB London grappled with the means towards that end, considering at one point turning to different directors at different production companies, or having the same director work on all the shorts–but both working propositions were deemed too unwieldy and unmanageable.
“We needed to commit to one production company, give them the whole budgeted pot of money to divvy up the way it saw fit,” said Dawson, with DDB London ultimately gravitating towards RSA Films.
“The first criterion was the quality of the work. We sent out a brief to some production companies and RSA Films came back with the treatments and an enthusiasm that made them the obvious choice. Another factor was one of comfort. We have worked with RSA before, we didn’t have to get to know them from scratch. Their production resources and support are world class–and they needed to be in that we had one director in Moscow doing a short, another in Cape Town, me in London, another in Montevideo, with all this varied work being done pretty much simultaneously.”
Dawson said that RSA directors generated 45 treatments out of the gate, a wealth of options eventually narrowed down to the final initial five shorts in the series (one each from RSA directors Rinsch, Greg Fay, Jake Scott and Hi-Sim, as well as Johnny Hardstaff from Little Minx). Since then, another short emerged, in 3D, from RSA director Barney Cokeliss. And the overall series sparked a Philips “Tell It Your Way” contest for which assorted new directors submitted shorts for consideration, with Ridley Scott selecting the winner, director Keegan Wilcox for his film Porcelain Unicorn. Wilcox, who’s partnered in 100to1 Productions, is seeking a mainstream production house affiliation. (Wilcox was profiled in SHOOT’s recent fall Up-And-Coming Directors Issue–10/15).
The “Parallel Lines” campaign also further underscores RSA’s proactive diversification into varied content forms that go beyond conventional TV commercial formats.
This is also exemplified in Ridley Scott exec producing the YouTube movie “Life in a Day,” a project that intends to document July 24, 2010, based on user-submitted videos from around the world. The call for entries yielded some 80,000 submissions representing 197 different countries, with content in 45 languages. Director Kevin Macdonald (whose spotmaking roost is Chelsea, and whose feature credits include The Last King of Scotland) has been charged with culling from all this content a movie of 80 or 90 minutes, which will debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January. Scott Free is producing the film.
Daly, who line produced for Tony Scott and other RSA directors for nine years before taking on the mantle of running the company 11 years ago, described “Life in a Day” as a work in progress in more ways than one. “It’s a way for us to find new talent,” she said. “Let’s see what catches our eye as we move toward the film’s launch at Sundance.”
@radical.media
Jon Kamen has seen his mainstream commercial production house evolve into what he describes as a global “transmedia” company, transmedia being the approach of telling a story by using multiple media types. “Today we create and produce content for all forms of media,” related Kamen. “There’s no question the proliferation of media and channels ranks among the most profound changes during my watch in the business. The advertising industry has adapted, morphed and evolved to embrace this change to multiple platforms–in some cases people and companies have adapted more rapidly than others.”
Indeed @radical.media was quick to adapt, well before it became fashionable. Back in ’94, well entrenched as a successful production company under the banner Sandbank, Kamen & Partners, with a 20-year pedigree, the shop did not rest on its laurels, changing its moniker to @radical.media to reflect a broadening of its base into the brave new media world.
Kamen looked to history as his guide, noting that the advent of new outlets and technology over the years often translated into opportunity both for new and conventional forms. TV was supposed to be the death knell of radio. Ad-free cable television was supposed to be a threat to the advertising community. But cable turned out to be quite the opposite, stimulating advertising and branding opportunities.
“You couldn’t help but think that things weren’t going to stay the same,” recollected Kamen. “We were inspired to embrace change, not to fear it. In some cases, technology strengthened established forms of business. In other cases, it caused traditional opportunities to decrease but we were prepared to capitalize on the new opportunities that emerged.”
Embracing change, though, entailed far more than a new company shingle. “We maintained and grew a culture which encouraged people to explore and to share their experiences, to have a sense of excitement and adventure over the new frontier. From that we created a community which is @radical today. Those who said we’ll adapt when the business changed were being somewhat naive as to what it would take to truly transform a company and the people who work in it. That’s why we committed early to truly be prepared.”
And that commitment is ongoing, observed Kamen. “You have to keep evolving. Platforms won’t stop. With two million iPads in less than 60 days, you suddenly see possibilities for that device and how it could affect people’s viewing habits. It would be crazy not to be thinking in terms of what those possibilities might be and how we can better prepare ourselves for that future, to continue to live that destiny. I consider myself a lifetime student which means you have to be constantly learning. That mindset has certainly helped to shape our company.”
In a constantly changing landscape, the importance of learning remains a constant as does, said Kamen, “collective contributions from so many people. You have the directors who grew up here, some of whom became stars, as well as the next generation of talent we’ve been developing. Both I and Frank [Scherma] would point to among our proudest achievements being the careers we have created from what had been an unlikely group of suspects at the time–Bryan Buckley and Frank Todaro were not household names when they broke in with us. Even Errol Morris was relatively obscure as a commercial filmmaker when he joined us. They all did well with us and moved on. Others have stayed with us over the years–director Jeff Zwart continues to flourish, the relationship we have with Tarsem has been creatively fulfilling.”
“And while directors are often focused on, the @radical community goes beyond them–it extends to staff and freelancers who have been with us for years and who helped to break new ground with various projects. And it’s an extended family we’ve created on a global basis.”
The latest chapter in that family and its progression comes with the news that Fremantle, the global entertainment company behind American Idol, The X Factor and the Got Talent franchise, has acquired a 60 percent stake in @radical, itself a global business that creates and produces noted advertising and branded entertainment content. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The deal represents FremantleMedia’s first large scale move into the branded entertainment market, allowing the company to further diversify its revenue sources and to develop new business models. Kamen will continue in his role as @radical chairman/CEO, and the partnership will not impact any of the firm’s existing management team and relationships.
FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen announced the deal during the company’s press breakfast at MIPCOM in Cannes, France, in October. He said: “This major investment increases our expertise and capability as a multi-platform branded entertainment business. @radical.media’s reputation and relationships with the world’s leading advertising agencies, their clients and broadcast partners, combined with their strong creative profile and in-house talents, allows both organizations to develop more on- and off-screen content for broadcasters and brands. We are very excited about working with Jon and his exceptional team, and we welcome @radical.media to the FremantleMedia family.”
This investment is an extension of an ongoing and successful relationship which began between @radical.media and FremantleMedia’s brand extension arm, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME). The division has been working with @radical.media since 2008 on several highly successful projects such as the critically acclaimed TV series Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel, and the table tennis tournament Hardbat Classic on ESPN. @radical.media, which has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Sydney and Shanghai, will continue bringing its expertise to FremantleMedia’s extensive global network of production, distribution and licensing companies.
“We are delighted to be furthering our relationship with FremantleMedia and working creatively with them to develop new business opportunities that will help maintain our position as a leading global transmedia company,” said Kamen. “As a new member of the FremantleMedia family, @radical.media will have access to new customers, new territories in key international distribution outlets and even more innovative brand extension opportunities for our existing clients.”
@radical.media produces projects in a variety of media including television, feature films, commercials, music programming, live events, digital content, graphic and interactive design, mobile media, exhibitions, and original photography. The company’s global network has given it a foundation for identifying and incubating in-house talent, while offering its client base a worldwide platform for the development and production of content. The company has been honored with an Academy Award®, Emmys®, a Golden Globe®, Grammys®, Webbys, The Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Communication Design, two Palme d’Ors at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, numerous AICP Show honors, and other accolades in the advertising and marketing industries.
R/GA
To reflect on change in the industry, Robert Greenberg needs to look no further than the evolution of what is now R/GA, which began in 1977 when he co-founded New York-based R/Greenberg and Associates with his brother Richard Greenberg as a motion graphics company specializing in film. By incorporating computers into every aspect of filmmaking, the company was credited with creating the first fully integrated computer-assisted production process, making its mark in feature films, trailers and title sequences.
In ’86–starting the second of what would be milestone nine-year chapters in the company’s history–R/GA became a precedent-setting digital studio spanning features, TV commercials and print. From ’86 to ’95, R/GA’s body of work included some 400 features and 4,000 TV spots.
In ’95, R/GA started to evolve into an interactive advertising agency while continuing to serve the film and advertising communities. This was well before the term “interactive agency” had become common industry parlance. In making the transition from a production house to an interactive ad shop, R/GA survived the dot-com implosion, emerging with innovative approaches and breakthrough work.
And in ’04, the current chapter in R/GA’s history began as the shop became an agency for the digital age, centering on the digital experience and the consumer. R/GA built further upon its creative and technological core, adding mobile and retail offerings along with planning, data/analytics, and media capabilities.
Among its notable projects is the landmark Nike+ which bridges two products, a Nike+ shoe and an iPod nano. A sensor in the Nike+ shoe records running data like time, distance, speed and calories and transmits it to the runner’s iPod nano. When the runner returns home and docks his or her iPod, the data is automatically uploaded to nikeplus.com. The digital platform allows runners to set goals, compare runs and track individual progress as well as connect to a digital community through virtual challenges and a global forum. The interface seamlessly integrates the physical with the virtual and creates a completely new brand experience. In less than a year, the Nike+ community logged more than 12 million miles–and the Nike+ initiative garnered assorted awards, including a Cannes Lions Cyber Grand Prix, and a coveted Black Pencil (in the New Uses for Websites category) from London’s D&AD Global Awards, both in ’07.
And like so much of what R/GA creates, Nike+ is a platform that keeps on connecting with its community. Challenges have brought runners from around the world together as first embodied on a grand scale in The Human Race, a 10 kilometer running event held in 25 cities on Aug. 31, ’08. Virtual challenges continue to build competitions worldwide.
And just as this ongoing initiative builds its global footprint, so too does R/GA itself. In addition to its N.Y. headquarters, R/GA launched what were once fledgling offices in San Francisco and London. Today the U.K. office has 50-plus employees while the San Francisco shop has more than 30 staffers. Other R/GA shops are nestled in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Singapore.
“We intend to have a complete global run-out, the reason being that our clients are global,” related Greenberg. “And we don’t believe in going the acquisition route like many agencies to expand around the world. We started our London office from scratch with one person. This way we can grow and expand our culture to different countries.”
In the throes of a global recession, R/GA is indeed growing, securing new clients and continuing to build platforms. “More has happened in our industry the last nine months than the last nine years,” said Greenberg in SHOOT’s “Then, Now and Looking Ahead” series in Dec. ’09. “That’s because the impact and exponential growth of technology have been unfolding at the same time as the global economic downturn.
“Most agencies are struggling, doing very little to change their model, hoping things will come back,” continued Greenberg, adding that R/GA has continually sought out new ways of connecting, constantly monitoring how people use technology to immerse themselves in culture, information, entertainment and life.
“It’s a matter of seeing around the next curve,” said Greenberg, citing what he described as a dyslexia which in “an odd way” allows one to see patterns others don’t. “I could see the model we wanted and needed to build each time we’ve evolved.” That’s how the unprecedented and improbable development of a leading production company turning into a groundbreaking advertising agency came to fruition.
“If you look back over the years at our comments in Back Stage and then Back Stage/SHOOT and SHOOT, you’ll see that we predicted many of the things we are doing currently,” said Greenberg, adding that part of each iteration in R/GA’s evolution has been education–educating others about computer graphics, about the digital studio, about the integration of film, video and computer graphics, about an interactive agency, about digital displacing traditional media as the most important point of contact between brands and consumers, about being an agency for the digital age. “Education breaks barriers.”
Propaganda Films
The shuttering of bicoastal/international Propaganda in late 2001 closed a high profile, telling chapter in the industry’s development. The influence of music videos on commercial production–if not born at Propaganda–arguably matured and took full force there. In that vein, Propaganda was in the right place at the right time.
Around the time of Propaganda’s launch in the mid-1980s, MTV was just starting to take off, creating a greater demand for videos. And this made an indelible mark on spotmaking.
Propaganda was founded in ’86 by co-chairmen Steve Golin and Joni Sighvatsson, and directors David Fincher, Nigel Dick, Greg Gold, and Dominic Sena. Reflecting on the music video dynamic back in 2000 was Golin who at the time was about to receive, along with Propaganda’s other five founding fathers, the Eastman Kodak Lifetime Achievement honor from the Music Video Production Association (MVPA). Looking back on the company’s roots, Golin observed: “I think there was a big changing of the guard between the initial directors that established the business–British directors like Russell Mulcahy, Julien Temple and Steve Barron–and [those of us] who started the new wave of American directors. I think the influence of Greg, Nigel, Dom and David had over the video business really established a whole look that influenced TV commercials and movies.”
Furthermore, the Propaganda group of companies proved to be a spawning ground for talent, including directors, editors and executives. Propaganda and sister shop Satellite were lauded companies, scoring at assorted awards competitions domestically and globally, including The Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show and the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Propaganda/Satellite last won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2000, capping a stretch during which it received that honor three out of four years.
In ’92, Polygram bought Propaganda. Polygram was purchased six years later by Universal Studios; that acquisition included Propaganda’s spot, music video and talent management businesses, which in ’99 were bought from Universal by a group put together by entrepreneur Gary Beer in association with SCP Private Equity Partners investment fund, and cable TV pioneer Jack Crosby of RUST Capital. Propaganda left a trail of debt upon its closure in ’01 yet even in its demise it spawned other companies and ventures as its filmmaking and executive talent went on to varied enterprises or helped to fortify other shops.
On the latter score, MJZ scored an infusion of talent, securing in December 2001 three directors who continue to break new ground to this day–Spike Jonze from Propaganda sister shop Satellite, and Propaganda helmers Dante Ariola and Tom Kuntz.
Shortly after Propaganda’s sale in ’99, Golin went on to found the multi-faceted Anonymous Content, which became Fincher’s home.
Director Michael Bay now continues to maintain production house The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness, co-founded with Scott Gardenhour.
Stephen Dickstein, who left in ’99 after serving as president of Propaganda’s commercials operation, went on to Partizan and is now global president/managing partner of worldwide production house The Sweet Shop.
The roster of directorial talent at Propaganda was deep and talented, with filmmakers such as Gore Verbinski, Brian Beletic, The Malloys, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Pellington, Luis Mandoki and Doug Liman, among assorted others, moving on to multi-faceted creative careers. Among the in-house editors at Propaganda were such notables as Tom Muldoon, John Murray and Jim Haygood.
Creatively the mix of disciplines at Propaganda also proved healthy as experiences in music videos informed commercials and features, spot work informed shorts, videos and features, and features sparked sensibilities which directors brought back to their ad projects, and so on.
There was also a subtle stirring of the pot when it came to ad directing specialties. The conventional formula was to have a company roster with a tabletop guy, a fashion/beauty director, a comedy helmer, et al–but not to have more than one in the same field. Propaganda broke that mold. There would be a number of directors working in the same genre, necessitating that agencies and clients start to differentiate more between their various nuances, which arguably helped to change and broaden the spectrum of talent in the marketplace and how it was being assessed by potential buyers.
Optimus
Founded by Jimmy Smyth in 1973, Chicago-based film and video postproduction house Optimus in some respects parallels the career of that rare breed of director who attains longevity and lasting relevance in the business–akin to a Bob Giraldi who has reinvented himself over the years, always staying contemporary and often ahead of the curve while maintaining his foundation as a storyteller and filmmaker. Optimus indeed has persevered and flourished to this day, first as a preeminent editorial and post force in the Midwest, staying true to those roots while gaining a foothold on the West Coast, diversifying successfully into design and audio, and then into production via its ONE at Optimus, offering clients and agencies the option of one-stop creative, production and post.
This geographic (the opening of Optimus LA in 2002) and business diversification took place under the leadership team which bought the company in 1996 from Anheuser-Busch (Smyth sold Optimus to A-B in 1986). Heading that team was Tom Duff, who joined Optimus in ’95 as its CFO. He had an agency pedigree, first at Leo Burnett before leaving there to help start Hal Riney’s shop in Chicago. A year later he came aboard Optimus which was under A-B ownership. By January ’96, Duff was president of Optimus, succeeding an exec who moved back to A-B in St. Louis. That’s when talks began for Duff and his partners to buy Optimus from A-B, a deal which came to fruition in August ’96.
Duff, who continues today as Optimus president, knew the acquisition was the right move. “When I first got there, it was hard to get enough business from Anheuser-Busch and because we were owned by them, we couldn’t get business from their competitors and competing agencies,” recalled Duff. “So we did a leveraged buyout, knowing full well that Optimus would do better as a boutique than a corporate-owned post house.”
With that boutique mindset came entrepreneurial initiative. Duff began the task of building a foundation of new up-and-coming editing talent, which included some notable cutters coming out of the assistants’ arena. He and his partners looked to reclaim prominence in commercials. Duff noted that during their first year of ownership, the largest Optimus client was The Jenny Jones Show. But over time the spot foundation that the company was built on began to return.
Still bold moves were needed down the road to retain and strengthen marketplace position. Optimus had long been a spawning ground for editors but many had gone off on their own ventures or to other established shops. At one point, Optimus evolved into more of a finishing house, getting business from other editorial boutiques. This prompted Optimus to enter into a deal to bring an infusion of established editors aboard in order to reaffirm its standing as a leading editing house. The much needed infusion came from Optimus’ purchase of EditSweet in October ’01, which netted Optimus’ Chicago team a half dozen editors with strong advertising client followings. A few months later in January ’02, Optimus extended its reach West with the opening of a shop in Santa Monica.
Other alluded to diversification steps followed, among them the launch of the Optimus design department in the fall of ’05, the stepping up of the company’s commitment to sound with the formation of a full fledged, fully staffed audio department with a state of the art suite unveiled in ’08, and shortly thereafter the launch of a production division, ONE at Optimus under the aegis of ad agency veteran John Noble who came aboard in September. For the prior five years, Noble served as senior VP/director of production/digital at Element 79 Partners, Chicago. During his Element 79 tenure, Noble worked on such accounts as Gatorade, Propel, Celebrity Cruises, Supercuts and Quaker. Prior to that he spent eight years as director of production at The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va. The move to Optimus represented his return to the production house side of the business as he started out as a P.A. for such directors as Bob Giraldi, Henry Sandbank and Mark Story, and then moved up to production coordinator. But Noble soon jumped into the agency ranks with stints at McCann Erickson and DDB in New York, and GKV Advertising in Baltimore, before coming aboard The Martin Agency.
Noble’s expertise and his contributions to the building of a directorial roster–including several who earned inclusion into SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase in recent years–have brought to fruition Optimus’ vision of establishing a full fledged production house, providing clients with a one-stop shop they can tap into as needed, with collaborative talent and resources spanning production and Optimus’ editing, post, graphics, effects, design, telecine, finishing and audio capabilities. This year Noble has brought such directors as Otto Arsenault, Jamie Flieshel and Alex Beh into the ONE at Optimus fold. Beh made the grade for the 2010 SHOOT New Directors Showcase and represents the new generation talent being infused into the company’s expanding roster.
At the time Duff and his colleagues bought Optimus from A-B in ’96, Optimus had about 30 employees. Today, Optimus has a staff of 90, including a dozen editors, seven designers, four graphics artists, two colorists, two audio engineers, three online editors, nine producers, a web designer and eight ONE at Optimus directors.
And while Duff and Noble see ONE at Optimus continuing to serve the agency community, they note that the structure, talent and resources in place at the production company can adapt to changes in the landscape such as accommodating clients directly when needed. Noble’s extensive agency experience, including expertise in broadcast business affairs areas like the talent payment process, could prove valuable to advertisers looking to link directly with a full service production/post operation that also has creative chops.
Similarly Optimus’ director of marketing, Matt McLaughlin, who joined the company in late ’09, offers agency/client relations savvy with seven years of account management experience, first at MARC USA, and then Foote, Cone & Belding (which became Draftfcb), Chicago, where he spent five years guiding the portfolio of Coors brands.
Relative to the talent and resources being marshalled with such developments as the evolution of ONE at Optimus, Duff related, “It’s part of our business model which is designed to embrace whatever needs arise. The roles our model will help fill are going to be defined for us by the market itself and by what clients are seeking.
EUE Screen Gems
Screen Gems has a long and storied industry history as a major force in commercial production. The company remains a part of the spot landscape today. EUE stands for Elliot Unger Elliot, and in some historical accounts, Steve Elliot (who started EUE with brother Mike) is credited with having directed the first moving-picture commercial–for a car advertiser–in the late 1940s. The company grew into prominence when it was purchased by Columbia Pictures in 1959. George Cooney, who joined EUE Screen Gems as an executive in ’64 and assumed the title of executive VP and general manager in ’72, bought the shop from Columbia Pictures’ parent Coca-Cola in ’83. EUE Screen Gems spawned considerable talent via its satellites over the years, which have included now defunct Murray Bruce Productions, Ian Leech and Associates, and Catherine Lefebvre & Associates. Executives who have come out of the EUE fold include Jerry Bernstein and Dick Kerns.
In 2000 the company bought control of the independent producer and distributor First Look Studios. Having produced the indie hit Waking Ned Devine and Julie Taymor’s Titus, First Look also owned a library of over 300 films.
EUE Screen Gems’ diverse holdings also include new media technology/entertainment house Breed Digital, and stage facilities in New York (home to the Rachael Ray show), Wilmington, N.C. (a stage/studio complex on 50 acres), and Atlanta. The latter opened earlier this year with construction of an even larger soundstage (37,500 square feet) slated to be completed during the first quarter of 2011. Plans for the Lakewood Fairgrounds site near midtown Atlanta include the development of office space, a mill shop and lighting and grip facilities. “Through our properties in New York City, Wilmington and now Atlanta, we provide coastal, rural and urban settings to our clients as well as size and infrastructure needed to handle intensive special effects for film, commercial and gaming needs. This urban location expands our portfolio in a powerful way,” said EUE/Screen Gems COO/co-owner Chris Cooney.
Cooney noted that the company was also drawn to Georgia’s attractive 30 percent tax credit to qualified production and postproduction expenditures. The credit is available for feature films, television series, commercials, music videos, game development and animation.
MPO
This venerable New York-headquartered full-service shop was in its heyday during the ’60s and into the very early ’70s. A production house with a full editorial and opticals operation, MPO was in on projects from start to finish. Among the directors to come out of the studio were Michael Cimino, Bob Reagan, Dave Nagada, Marshall Stone and Joe Kohn. Morty Dubin, a former MPO VP, is now founder of Iris Films, and founder/chairman emeritus of the New York Production Alliance (NYPA). MPO also proved to be a spawning ground for editorial talent; cutters like Bob Lynch and Frank Minerva left to run New York-based Editors Hideaway, for example.
MPO exited the production biz in 74, after an explosion rocked its 45th Street premises, the result of a massive natural gas leak. The boom could be felt throughout Manhattan, rattling buildings as far as 90th Street, according to some reports. But other factors led to the company’s closure long before the big boom. MPO’s star directors, cameramen and editors departed the company in the late ’60s to form their own shops. Ironically, MPO found itself competing against many of these newly formed boutiques. Also cited as contributing to MPO’s rise and decline was its volume deal to do some 70 percent of Procter & Gambles commercialmaking. When P&G decided not to renew that contract in the early ’70s, MPO was left reeling, and several agencies which had been bound by the pact to work with MPO immediately took their business elsewhere. Dubin described MPO as having had some of the best talents ever to get together in one place in the entire motion picture industry.
John Urie and Associates
Some contend that anyone looking up the term “spawning ground” in the industry dictionary should find a picture of director/entrepreneur John Urie right next to the definition.
Urie established amazing credibility with the advertising agency community; his guarantee that the work would turn out well was often enough to get ad shops to take that leap of faith and try out unknown talent during the 1960s.
The directors who cut their teeth at his Los Angeles-based studio included Ron Dexter, Stu Hagmann, Joe Hanwright, Remi Kramer, David Stern, Ahmed Lateef, Dick Bailey and David Impastato.
Young cameramen broke into commercials via the Urie studio, among them John Hora, Ed Martin, Alan Daviau, Woody Omens, Caleb Deschanel and Kent Wakeford. Editors also emerged from the Urie fold, including cutter Pete Verity, and editor-turned-helmer David Dryer.
A key grip at Urie, David Farrow, became a leading automotive spot director. Additionally, casting director Niki Minter made the transition to director. Also in the Urie fold were animation directors Jean Guy Jacques and Bob Curtis.
A beloved figure, Urie passed away earlier this year, leaving behind a legacy of giving opportunities to and nurturing talent.
Horn/Griner
Two leading still photographers, Steve Horn and Norman Griner, were partnered in this New York shop, with noted executive and AICP founding father Dick Hall and sales maestro Phil Peyton. Both Griner and Horn successfully diversified into commercials, establishing themselves as preeminent spot directors. The company flourished in the late 1960s and early ’70s as this diversification took hold. Griner and Horn split in ’74, each opening his own separate shop. But a wealth of creative and executive talent came up through the ranks at Horn/Griner, perhaps most notably Jon Kamen, now a proprietor of @radical.media.
Robert Abel & Associates
During its heyday spanning much of the ’70s and ’80s, this pioneering Hollywood-based visual effects/computer animation/live-action studio turned out numerous classic spots (the Levis “Walking Dog” logo, 7-Up’s “Bubbles” and the ground-breaking CG commercial “Brilliance-Sexy Robot” for the Canned Food Information Council). The late Bob Abel, a director of note in his own right, had an instinct for discovering filmmaking talent. The Abel shop proved to be a spawning ground for such directors as Peter Smillie, Randy Roberts, Richard Taylor, Bruce Dorn and Rod Davis. Production and business talent got its start at the Abel stable, too, including John Hughes (principal in Rhythm & Hues, Los Angeles) and producer Clint Goldman (now a founder of Hoytyboy Pictures after a long tenure at Industrial Light+ Magic Commercial Productions). Robert Abel & Associates amassed a slew of industry awards, including 33 Clios, a pair of Emmys and a technical Oscar. The company is credited with helping to innovate the slit-scan effect employed in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as making major breakthroughs in motion control camera systems and computer animation of human movement. An ill-fated merger with Omnibus resulted in the Abel studio’s closure in 87.
FilmFair
This studio enjoyed a 32-year run in commercialmaking before closing its doors in 1992. Two years later, its founding father, director Gus Jekel, passed away. FilmFair was active in both live action and animation, earning leadership status on several fronts. For example, the Studio City, Calif.-headquartered FilmFair launched a successful London studio in 1966, long before international reach became fashionable for U.S. commercial production houses. In ’79, the company entered into an association with now defunct Hagmann Impastato Stephens & Kerns. HISK’s formation was billed in some circles as one of the first bonafide satellite deals in the spot production biz. This helped to set a prototype for what later became a common practice of setting up satellites, thus infusing smaller boutique-style shops with the financial clout and backing of larger, established companies.
FilmFair developed an array of talent over the years, including animation director Frank Terry. Much of that talent was cultivated through various satellite operations, among them: Murray & McNamara Moving Pictures (which later became Murray & Blum Moving Pictures); Michael/Daniel Associates, Pelorus; Summerhouse Films; and animation house Cornell/Abood.
Overshadowed at times by his and FilmFair’s influence on the industry was the fact that Jekel served with distinction as a director. He was one of the original judges for the Directors Guild of America’s best commercial director of the year honor. He helmed spots that earned numerous Clios as well as honors at Cannes. Jekel additionally played a key role in helping to establish the animation department at UCLA. He taught classes as part of that curriculum. Another FilmFair mainstay was director/executive producer Ted Goetz, now retired from the business. Goetz played a key role in the development of the AICP on the West Coast.
Directing Artists
The influence of this bicoastal repping services firm is legendary. Suffice it to say that Ray Lofaro, dubbed by many as the inventor of repping–and certainly of independent repping–trained many top sales people and career managers in the business. These included Stephen Dickstein, Tim Case, Sarah Holbrook, Peter Ziegler, Carol Biedermann and Andrew Halpern. Lofaro contributed enormously to establishing Propaganda Films. He also served as the first national rep for Chelsea Pictures and helped immeasurably in the development of that house. Directing Artists opened in 86, after Lofaro & Associates was forced into a highly publicized bankruptcy. Directing Artists closed shortly after Lofaro’s passing in 1991, at the age of 54. Lofaro died of heart failure after a nearly year-long struggle with lung cancer.
Snazelle Film Group
Director/cameraman Gregg Snazelle died in 2000, due to complications from bladder cancer, at the age of 73. He had maintained his own production house in San Francisco–last operating under the Snazelle Film Group banner–starting in 1949. In the mid-’70s, he launched Cine Rent West, a San Francisco-based equipment rental/stage facility business, which opened a second operation in Portland, Ore., in 95. Upon Snazelle’s passing, Snazelle Film Group closed.
Gregg Snazelle is largely credited with helping to put commercial production on the map in the Bay Area. Among those who got their careers off and running with Snazelle were noted animator Sally Cuikshank, feature DP Walter Lloyd, and Jim Morris (who’s now GM and executive VP of production at Pixar Studios). Conservative estimates peg Snazelle’s companies as having served as a training ground for more than 1,000 people in the San Francisco film industry.
(Colossal) Pictures
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. When San Francisco-based (Colossal) declared bankruptcy in May 1996, it left numerous unsecured creditors holding the bag, ultimately resulting in a payment amounting to only some 18 cents on the dollar in ’99. However, in the big picture, the company, which went out of business in ’99 after 23 years, left a positive mark on the Bay Area community in several respects. For one, it was a spawning ground for talent, who left to form other entrepreneurial ventures in San Francisco.
Just as importantly, (Colossal)–founded by Drew Takahashi and Gary Gutierrez–was a tremendous source of business, spanning commercials, features, promos, network and cable IDs and other projects. It created a pipeline of top-drawer work that helped other shops in the Bay Area grow.
Dennis Hayes & Associates
After 20 years as one of the industry’s leading editorial houses, Dennis Hayes & Associates closed up shop in August ’97. The next year, editor Dennis Hayes was the first inductee into the Association of Independent Commercial Editors (now Association of Independent Creative Editors) Hall of Fame. During his 30-year career in the New York editorial community, he had a profound impact on the industry as a business owner, editor and industry leader. He served as the first president of the AICE/East chapter and helped in the development of the organization’s editorial bid form. He also helped in the development of assorted editors over the years. Among Dennis Hayes & Associates alumni were editors Michael Saia, Barry Stilwell, Frank Cioffredi and Michael Schwartz.
