Director/ designer Ashley Beck has signed with Los Angeles-based Squeak Pictures for commercial and music video representation in the U.S. Beck comes to Squeak from now defunct Gas, Food & Lodging (GF&L), which he joined in June 2000.
Before that, Beck spent nine months at bicoastal/international The End, which closed earlier this year (SHOOT, 2/23, p. 1). At The End, he helmed three spots for MicroStrategy that he co-directed with David van Eyssen (now partnered in Los Angeles-based interactive shop iBelieve Media). One of the ads in the client-direct project aired during last year’s Super Bowl telecast; the other two debuted in pre-game. The spots marked Beck’s U.S. directing debut; in early 1999 he had helmed commercials for the Latin American and Mexican markets.
Recent directing credits for Beck include two Hyundai spots—"Birds" and "Carpet"—out of Bates USA West, Irvine, Calif. He also directed the :60 "The Fourth Dimension," for the Latin American market, promoting a partnership between HBO/ Latin America and DirecTV. GF&L teamed with Zohar Cinema, São Pãolo and Rio de Janeiro, on the spot, which combined live action with visual effects.
Before breaking into directing in 1999, Beck built his career as a visual effects artist/director. From 1992 to ’94, he served as creative director/effects artist at Post Logic, Hollywood. He proceeded to launch his own Beverly Hills-based visual effects design/supervision company, Fusebox, which he maintained until he signed with The End in ’99.
From an effects standpoint, Beck is primarily known for his work with director Mark Romanek of bicoastal/international Satellite. He handled visual effects for a number of Romanek-helmed music videos, such as "Devil’s Haircut," for recording artist Beck (no relation); "Jump They Say," for David Bowie; "Closer," for Nine Inch Nails; "Scream," for Michael and Janet Jackson; and "Bedtime Stories," for Madonna.
Squeak president/executive producer Pam Tarr told SHOOT she had known of Beck’s work as a visual effects designer, but was unfamiliar with his directorial credits. "I was blown away by the scope of a reel that he’s built in little more than a year," said Tarr, noting that she had contacted Beck in the wake of GF&L’s closure."Clearly he is a tremendously creative thinker," Tarr continued, "and with his background, there is a clear opportunity for him in our core business of spots and music videos. Recently, as a company we’ve found ourselves developing a lot of new business that takes us into a lot of other areas that Ashley has the tools and the creativity to work in." These include new media and Web-based jobs, as well as longform. Tarr said that Squeak has been pursuing longer-format work, and plans to announce developments in that arena in the near future.
Beck related that independently of Squeak he is in the process of launching Nerve Content, an R&D firm that will focus on visual design and effects for various media, such as spots, print, new media/Internet, film shorts and longform projects. Beck intends for Nerve Content to work as a creative resource in collaboration with agencies, ideally getting involved at the concept stage.
"I want to [offer] my visual design skills and streamline the process of working with agencies," explained Beck, who envisions his role as an "extended creative director position." He added, "As they have needs for associated media, such as Internet, we’ll be able to handle it."
At some point, Beck said, he expects Nerve Content to take on several partners from different areas of the industry. For now, the entity consists of him and several others whom he declines to name at this time. He is currently looking for space in the Santa Monica and Culver City areas.
RENFROE, BASS
In recent months, Squeak has also added directors Jeff Renfroe and Lenny Bass. Renfroe maintains his association for Canadian work with Toronto-based Revolver. He was formerly repped in the U.S. by H-Gun Labs, San Francisco, an affiliation which ended a year ago.
Renfroe’s credits include Canadian spots for Honeycomb cereal, Labatt’s beer and Reese’s. Among his music video projects are "Do the Freak," for Bootsy Collins; "I Will Come To Get You," for Crash Test Dummies; "I’m Moving On," for Ashley Mac Isaac; and "Before My Time," for Static in Stereo.
In addition to his solo directing credits, Renfroe has co-directed a handful of clips over the past year and a half with Icelandic director Marteinn Thorson, under the moniker Waterfall/Fjord. Tarr said that Squeak will represent Waterfall/Fjord for select projects.
Noted Tarr, "Jeff’s got some exciting music video work from Canada, as well as his commercial reel. He has been very effective at bringing his youthful, music video energy into the commercial work he does, and he’s amazingly diverse in terms of where he can go with his talent."
Up-and-coming director Bass has directed his first clip through Squeak, titled "What U Did 2 Me," for the band Rockell. The New York-based Bass has served in various roles in the music video industry, including casting director, electrician and grip. He also had occasion to direct several low-budget music videos for urban artists De La Soul, Medina Green and DV Alias Kryst.
While gaffing, Bass worked on a number of Squeak projects, through which he became acquainted with Squeak music video executive producer Roseanne Cunningham. "Lenny fits beautifully into the network of relationships that we’ve created as a music video company," Tarr observed. "We think he shows a lot of creative promise."
Beck, Renfroe and Bass join a Squeak directorial roster that includes Andy Dick, Hermann Lederle, Hugo Palette, co-directing team Honey (a.k.a. Laura Kelly and Nick Brooks), Gil Bauwens, Bobby G., Chris Robinson, Lawrence Carroll, Jeremy Rall, Dani Jacobs and Ulf Buddensieck.
Squeak is repped on the West Coast by San Francisco-based Mary Saxon and Los Angeles-based Rachel Finn of Finn/Saxon, and in the Midwest by Chicago-based Dan O’Brien. The shop is now seeking new East Coast representation. Additionally, the Squeak directors are repped in Europe by film/commercial production company Banana Split, based in Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, Madrid and Warsaw.
