Sex, drugs … Volvo and Constellation Energy. That about sums up the first few months that the directing duo Big TV!—a.k.a. Andy Delaney and Monty Whitebloom—has spent with Santa Monica-based harvest. Since they "got into bed" with the production house in July, jokes Whitebloom, "it’s been excellent—lots of new drugs, trying new things, and the actual work is going great."
The London-based directors signed with harvest for stateside representation because of a "like-minded idea of how you should do commercials," according to Whitebloom. Previously, they’d been handled here by now defunct Creative Management Partners, and earlier, by now shuttered Propaganda; DNA Inc., Hollywood, represents the pair for music videos, and they continue to operate their own company, Studio, London and Sydney.
Their recent U.S. work includes the aforementioned Volvo fare out of Euro RSCG MVBMS, New York, and Constellation Energy spots for McCann-Erickson, New York.
The Volvo work represents something of a departure for the directors, who are perhaps best known for a quirky sense of ad humor. The spots promote Volvo’s all-wheel drive sedan. One is a cinematic action/ adventure chase story, while the other, "All Road," is more along the lines of hot sheet metal performance, showing the car in various environments.
The Constellation work is characterized as a three-spot branding package that relies largely on visual storytelling. "They aren’t really selling anything," says Whitebloom of the ads. "It’s all about the brand." In "Equations," for example, a woman stands in a forest, surrounded by complex mathematical equations that appear to be written in the air. As a voiceover explains that energy isn’t abstract and complicated, the woman begins to erase the equations, until she is left with the letter E, an equals sign and the Constellation Energy logo. And in "Window," the woman is wandering through a darkened room, slowly opening blinds and shades to let in the light. The voiceover again explains that energy is not complex.
More recently, the directors were awarded a job for GMC out of Lowe, New York.
BIGGER TV!
Big TV! has also directed commercials for Mitsubishi ("Anthem" featuring The New Radical’s "You Get What You Give," out of Deutsch LA), Mercedes-Benz ("Tipperary," out of Merkley Newman Harty|Partners, New York), Claritin, Canon, Kodak, Eurostar, Reebok, Skittles, Leisureplanet.com and Halifax Bank. Their music video credits include clips for Lauryn Hill, Usher, Macy Gray, David Gray, Sinéad O’Connor and Natalie Imbruglia. "Doo Wop," which they directed for Hill, took home awards for Best Video of the Year, Best R&B Video, Best Female Video and Best Art Direction at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
Before long, Big TV! expects to add a feature film to their list of accomplishments. They are slated to begin shooting The Ballad of Paul Finley, Accountant in the spring. The film stars Woody Harrelson and Zooey Deschanel in a quirky romantic comedy about a mild-mannered accountant who, while in prison, falls in with his pen pal—a rebellious teenager who breaks him out of jail, leading to a Bonnie and Clyde-style escapade. Harrelson plays a nerdy straight guy, according to Whitebloom, while Deschanel’s character "motivates the whole film. It’s the type of movie we’d like to go see, all dialogue, a real actor’s film."
As for how they’ll approach the script by first-time writer Michael LeSieur, Delaney says, "We usually play it straight and ignore the comedy and it’s worked for us. We’ll probably play it the same."
In the meantime, the directors will continue to experiment via Studio, which they set up with executive producer Jason Dwyer a few years ago. Beyond producing their own commercials and clips, the idea behind the company is to funnel some of the profits from those endeavors into more artistic avenues. Studio has showcased the work of artists Jeb Loy Nichols and Rob Ryan, and financed the recording of Artificial’s first album. "We want it to be a studio where we can try out different things, rather than just do production," explains Whitebloom. Not that there’s anything wrong with production; Whitebloom says that in five years, he and Delaney hope to still be doing commercials and music videos.
But of course, a directing team that calls itself Big TV! should have ambitions to match. Five years from now, Whitebloom adds, he also hopes "to have done a couple of award-winning films. And also be phenomenally wealthy. And married to a Playboy pin-up or maybe two … "
