BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-Clay Staub, a director with a fort in special effects, has signed with bicoastal/international The End. The signing represents a return to former stomping grounds, as Staub had been represented by The End from ’95 to ’97. From March ’98 to March ’99, Staub was repped in the U.S. by bicoastal HSI Productions.
Since ’95, Staub has been represented in Canada by Toronto-based The Partners’ Film Company. That continuing relationship was actually initiated by Luke Thornton, The End’s executive producer, after the director first signed with The End. Thornton wanted to help Staub build his reel and put the director in touch with Don McLean who heads Partners’. Staub’s credits at Partners’ include: Panasonic’s "Blow Out" via DDB Toronto; and "Hurdler" and "Discus," two spots promoting the Pan American Games, for Palmer Jarvis, Winnipeg.
Staub was first represented as a commercial director from ’91 to ’93 by now defunct Apogee Productions, a company started in Van Nuys, Calif., by special effects pioneer John Dykstra. At Apogee, Clay also supervised effects on spots and did some secondary effects work on features. Staub graduated in "90 from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif., with a film degree.
Staub signed with HSI in ’98 to work with director Zack Snyder, a longtime friend who is represented by the company. Staub noted that he left HSI on good terms but ultimately felt that at the time he was there, the company was not oriented towards the development of young directors.
Thornton said that he welcomed Staub’s return to The End and observed that the director is not simply an effects specialist. "The thing that attracts me to Clay is that he shoots very beautiful film, but he has such a brain for the post-production and the editorial process," Thornton said. "He molds his effects very organically-i.e., it doesn’t look like a special effects spot."
Staub explained that he returned to The End partially because of the working relationship he developed with Thornton over a number of years. That collaboration began in ’92 when Thornton helped Staub fund the post-production for "Air 180," a Nike spec spot which Staub shot while a student at the Pasadena Art Center. Once completed, the Nike spec won a Silver at the ’93 Telly Awards. Staub said that the relationship was further solidified upon his signing with The End and when Thornton provided the foundation for Staub’s ongoing tenure at Partners’.
Thornton said that one of Staub’s strengths was his ability to work on tight budgets while producing effects that look like they’re more expensive than they are. "Clay is really a great problem solver, particularly when it comes to fitting a finite budget within parameters that are sometimes very ambitious," Thornton said. "He can perform miracles for not a lot of money."
Staub agreed with Thornton’s assessment, noting that his experience working on tight budgets makes him inclined to find creative solutions to effects conundrums. Staub’s philosophy about effects is that they should evolve organically from the material.
"The storyline is all important," Staub said. "When you play the effects, the effects should be second nature. They shouldn’t come as, "Here comes the big effect.’ It should just feel like it’s the appropriate moment to have the effect … You use effects as a process to get the agency exactly what they’re trying to get." For his work, Staub primarily uses an Inferno but also employs other effects tools such as a Henry.
Staub just completed his first assignment produced during this chapter with The End. The two spots, via Earle Palmer Browne, Bethesda, Md., are for Pepco, an energy provider based in Washington, D.C. The spots use what Staub described as "speed morphs" to quickly transition through a range of settings. In "The Best Brand," the setting changes from a space-side view of the earth to a residential setting where the energy company’s electricity is being put to good use.
The End is represented on the East Coast by the New York-based Astrow Ziegler, on the West Coast by Reber Covington, San Francisco and Pacific Palisades, Calif., and in the Midwest by Deborah Marlowe.
