STORY has signed director Kevin Smith for exclusive national representation. Smith, whose recent work includes campaigns for Home Depot, AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Carnation, is known for an intelligent, meticulously-crafted style of subtle, sometimes ironic humor.
Smith joins STORY following a long association with Backyard Productions through which he directed spots for many leading brands. The majority of his work involves performance-driven comedy centering on familiar life situations. In a recent ad for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a man mistakes his mother-in-law for his wife, surprising her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. That leads into a graphic promoting eye exams.
“I like to direct projects that take advantage of my comic sensibility,” Smith said. “Although I started out in advertising in a technical role, it’s performance that interests me most. Performance and human interaction. That’s what I love.”
The son of a Detroit advertising executive, Smith began his career as a director of photography and experimental filmmaker before focusing on comedy directing. “A big part of what I do is give the viewer credit for being intelligent,” he said. “I put the pieces out there so that viewers feel that they are putting them together, even though they’re being directed in a very specific way. The feel like they are involved in the story.”
Smith has already booked his first job with STORY, a two-spot package for a national pharmaceutical brand via Abelson Taylor, Chicago. He is currently bidding several other projects. “The response to Kevin’s work has been very strong,” noted STORY EP Mark Androw. “Kevin has many loyal clients who have learned to trust him to treat their scripts with care and to improve them in the very pleasant process.”
Smith explained his move to STORY was motivated by a desire to form new agency relationships and expand his creative horizons. “Mark has excellent connections to agencies in markets across the country and his company is very competitive in pursuing new work,” he observed. “He’s good at finding the kind of jobs that I like–with agencies that have strong creative environments.”
STORY is represented on the East Coast by Ilene Silberman; in the Midwest by Amy McIntyre; in the Southeast by Miller + Associates; and in the Southwest by Gossip!.
Director Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck” Wins People’s Choice Award At The Toronto Film Fest
The Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award went to “The Life of Chuck,” handing director-writer Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation one of the most-watched prizes of the fall film festival circuit.
The award for “The Life of Chuck” was announced Sunday (9/15) as North American’s largest film festival drew to a close. “The Life of Chuck,” based on King’s 2020 novella of the same name, stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, an ordinary man living through apocalyptic cataclysms. Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay co-star.
TIFF’s People’s Choice Award is regarded as a reliable Oscar harbinger. Since 2012, every winner of the festival’s top prize has gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” won, and went on to be a major awards contender.
But “The Life of Chuck” could test that track record. The film is up for sale and doesn’t yet have distribution. It could be acquired and quickly readied for release this fall, or it might end up a 2025 release. “The Life of Chuck” drew mixed — though mostly positive reviews — out of Toronto, though audiences were clearly charmed by the uplifting drama.
Runners-up for the People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by festival attendees, were both films that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The first was Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez.” The second runner-up was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes.
The audience award for top documentary went to Mike Downie’s “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.” In the festival’s Midnight Madness section, the prize went to... Read More