A spotmaker moves from nightclubs to locations.
By Scott Jones
Allen Martinez didn’t want to be a director. He wanted to be a drummer. He moved to Los Angeles from a small town outside of Chicago in ’89, and studied at Hollywood’s Musician Institute for two years. During that time, Martinez played everything from funk to country in Los Angeles clubs. "But my career wasn’t going like I wanted it to, so I choose another dead-end career—art," says Martinez, who now directs spots out of Tate & Partners, Santa Monica. Martinez enrolled at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif., with a major in advertising. He took a course in filmmaking, and his teacher was so impressed by Martinez that he encouraged him to change departments.
"We sat out in the parking lot after class for an hour, and he’s telling me why I should switch over to the film department," says Martinez. "I’m the kind of guy who was never good at sports—you know, always intramural everything—and here’s this guy saying, ‘You’re really good at something.’"
It was good advice. After earning honors from the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show in ’98 and ’99, Martinez seems to have found his true calling. "I’ve gotten a lot of attention in a relatively short period of time," he says. "Any attention is good. We’re just trying to create a buzz and say, ‘Hey, I exist.’"
The spot honored by the AICP in the low budget category in’99 was "Kaboom," for Ugly Duckling Car Sales, via dGWB, Irvine, Calif. A man stands on a desert roadside making a phone call from an emergency phone box. In the background is his broken-down car. As he tries to explain to a mechanic that the car is making an odd, "rah, rah" sound, the mechanic tries to determine exactly what the sound is. Suddenly, the auto explodes, and the frustrated motorist deadpans that the vehicle is now making a "boom" sound. The mechanic says, "A boom?" And the driver says, "A kaboom."
Martinez is reluctant to call himself a comedy director. "I’m always trying to find the balance in things," he says. "If you give me a comedy board—and my sense of comedy is more on the dry side—I’ll try to find the reality in a situation, because the reality is where the humor is. You have to really dig into the drama; then the humor will come out. In the same respect, if you gave me a really dramatic board, I’d try to find the irony in it, and use the irony to bring out humor, so [the spot] isn’t so heavy."
Martinez found that balance late last year with Totes’ "Flambé," out of Sive/Young & Rubicam, Cincinnati. The ad features a man and woman enjoying a romantic dinner. As a waiter prepares to flambé the dessert for the couple, he is captivat-
Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In “Rust” Shooting
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify reversing her decision.
"Because the state's amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken," the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely.
A spokesperson for Baldwin's lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to teh decision.
The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
Baldwin's trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey can now decide whether to appeal to a higher court.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer —... Read More