Arnold Communications, Boston, takes the "communications" aspect of its name very seriously. "We believe in collaboration," says Keith Dezen, senior VP/executive producer at the agency. "Everyone helps each other. This is a creative business. Even though there are egos involved, the egos all seem to be working in the same direction. People are looking to share experiences in order to make the overall project better. The agency has a small, boutique feel in the way it does things."
While not exactly a boutique—Arnold has 1,120 employees spread across 17 regional offices—collaboration is a big part of the agency’s production department. Producers enter the process at the storyboard stage, and the directors the agency works with are, rather than maverick filmmakers, very willing to work with the producers. "Things seem to go better when we work with collaborative types, rather than with auteurs who want to control every aspect of the job," Dezen says.
The agency’s approach seems to have paid off. Although the staff of 12 full-time producers is small, its successes have been great. In ’99, Arnold picked up numerous awards, including the ’98 GRANDY at the ANDY Awards. The $50,000 prize was awarded to Arnold for a three-spot Volkswagen campaign for the redesigned Beetle—"Dream," "Flower," and "UFO"—all of which were helmed by Nick Lewin, who at the time was with bicoastal Manifesto. (He is now with bicoastal X-1 Films.) The agency also picked up three honors from the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show at MoMA, again for Volkswagen. The spots honored by the AICP included "Flower," for art direction; and "Synchronicity," directed by Gerard de Thame of bicoastal HSI Productions, in the editing and original music categories. The latter ad was also nominated for the primetime Emmy award for best commercial.
Arnold has worked with a formidable list of directors, including Kinka Usher of House of Usher Films, Santa Monica, Dayton/Faris of bicoastal Bob Industries and Jhoan Camitz of bicoastal/international Satellite for VW; Peter Cherry of Highway 61, New York, for The Hartford; Marcus Nispel of bicoastal RSA USA for Titleist and Toysmart.com; Scott Burns of Tool of North America, Santa Monica, for Pinnacle; Tony Kaye of Tony K., Santa Monica and London, for the Food and Drug Administration; and Ted Demme of CFM, New York, for Bell Atlantic. Paul Giraud of bicoastal HSI Productions is currently in preproduction for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, an account the agency recently won, and Christian Hoagland of Boston-based Redtree Productions is shooting Pinnacle’s "Drive Across Europe," a follow-up to the golf ball company’s "Drive Across America," which was helmed by Burns.
Work Flow
The production department is headed up by Margie Sullivan, executive VP/director of creative services and broadcast production. "We have group head producers who report to me," she explains. "Each of the group heads is in charge of a certain account. Then I have producers who are not ready to be group heads assigned to smaller accounts. We have tried to set up a tier system within the department so that everyone can feel a sense of ownership and responsibility."
Typically, Sullivan will discuss assignments and personnel with chief creative officer/managing partner Ron Lawner. She then talks to the group creative director that assigns the creatives on a particular account. After that, she meets with Bill Goodell, senior VP/associate director of broadcast production, Adelaide Haigney, general manager of the broadcast department, and the production department group heads. Once a producer is assigned, he or she works with the creatives on possible ideas. "We are involved early on so that we can advise them on what is produce-able," explains Dezen. "If there’s a problem, it has to be solved, and we are the best people to know our resources."
The agency handles spots with budgets that can be anywhere from "very frugal to very expensive," says Dezen. "We’re pretty smart about how to skin the cat in keeping car commercials inexpensive." Costs are kept down by careful choice of directors, locations, and postproduction houses. Directors are selected for a variety of reasons: successful work with the agency in the past, unusual reels, enthusiasm and ideas. "We try not to make typical choices," Goodell notes. "All our spots involve storytelling. I love to pick people with storytelling and comedy abilities."
"We talk to a lot of people who did edgy things," observes Dezen. He says he leans towards directors who will prepare storyboards, a growing rarity among the MTV-styled helmers who are often more interested in "cool shots than storytelling. Everyone here loves a cool shot, but you want it to have to do with what you want to communicate.
"When you have storyboards," he continues, "you have a window into how the director thinks. You see establishing shots, then you introduce the character, and there’s a cutaway reaction—you know exactly what you’re going to get. That helps with the client, who can be very nervous. Shooting boards clarifies everything so that the shoot [itself] can be more relaxed."
A case in point is a recent two-spot package directed by Bruce Dowad of Bruce Dowad Associates, Los Angeles, for a data storage and technology firm called EMC. The director was chosen for the two ads—"A Man’s Best Friend" and "Dead Plants"—on the strength of his experience, enthusiasm, and storyboards. "We chose Dowad based on several phone conversations. He is a very experienced director and had some really strong ideas on how and where to shoot. And he did some very elaborate shooting boards," Dezen says.
Casting A Net
The production department is also involved in the casting process. "We don’t find people in our spots easily," Goodell says. "When you’re shooting in L.A., everybody has a ‘car conflict;’ all the same ‘car actors’ are working constantly. So when we cast in New York and L.A., we try to find people who look like your friends and relatives, people who are not too slick."
The shoot location is equally important. "Kangaroo," for The Hartford, represented Arnold’s first foray into Super Bowl advertising. The spot, which humorously explores the possible damage a runaway kangaroo could cause, was shot in Australia for a number of reasons. Since it was summer there, the days would be longer; a favorable exchange rate meant dollars would go further; and director Peter Cherry of New York’s Highway 61 was based Down Under. "Peter was very collaborative," Dezen notes, "and that was helpful, because the piece was so effects-heavy and he had to be willing to plan things out."
Another aspect of collaboration is the production department’s use of the cost plus system of budgeting to make dollars count. According to Dezen, under cost plus, "you don’t get additional fees charged on overages the way you do on a typical budget. With this, after a job is actualized, if you are under budget, you realize savings; if you are over budget, you pay for overages."
For instance, if a commercial is budgeted at $100,000 but comes in at $85,000, the client only pays $85,000. If the shoot runs over budget, the production company gets paid additional costs but agrees not to charge its markup on the additional expenses. "Cost plus keeps the agency producer involved in every category of the job," Dezen explains. "You know exactly what all the crews and equipment cost. In a firm bid job, if the production company did not bid the job correctly, they get hosed. If the agency has not changed the specs of what they want, the agency is not liable for the additional costs and the production company has to eat them if it runs over. There is more incentive on both the agency and production company sides to plan together. It basically allows you to put every dollar you are spending on the screen."
Cost-savings and experience go together on the increasing number of effects-oriented spots the agency handles. For "Dream," the Volkswagen commercial directed by Nick Lewin of bicoastal X-1 Films, the car had to change into its eight different available colors seamlessly. "That was technically very challenging," recalls Goodell. "For each shot, we had a laser alignment system that took an hour and a half to line up perfectly. It was important to get it right. We wanted the effects to feel organic."
Arnold chose Manhattan Transfer, a New York postproduction facility it had worked with in the past. "We liked their approach to solving a problem, and we liked their [staffers’] personalities. If you’re going to be locked in a Flame room for ten to twelve hours a day, it helps [that the operator has] a great personality. Otherwise, you end up hating each other." Arnold turned to Manhattan Transfer for VW’s "Turbonium," also directed by Lewin. That ad, which introduced the "new element turbonium," featured metallic green Beetles spinning around as if they were atoms.
"We like to work with nice people who have ideas," Goodell says, citing Andre Betz at Bug Editorial, New York, as an example. "We have a good personality fit. He is a smart, talented editor who brings a little bit of the unexpected to the job. We joke that when we send him the shooting boards and the script notes, he never seems to look at them. He cuts it differently to start with. Then when we start talking, it becomes collaborative."=
