CoMPANY Films, the boutique production house headed by executive producers Robin Benson and Richard Goldstein, has signed director Paul Fox for commercials and branded content. Fox has helmed the majority of episodes for the comedy Schitt’s Creek, starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara. The Canadian network (CBC) sitcom has found an audience in the U.S. on POP TV.
Additionally Fox is currently directing the new CBC comedy series Workin’ Moms, created by and starring Catherine Reitman.
Both Benson and Goldstein were drawn to the comedic touches that director Fox brought to Schitt’s Creek. “We find Paul’s work filled with gems, whether the lines and moments are scripted or improvisational,” said Benson. “Paul has a unique ability to bring out the loopiness and warmth of the characters without making them seem eccentric just for the sake of being eccentric. His reel feels free and interesting to us, and we love getting commercials for a director that hasn’t done them before. His ‘newness’ is exciting to us. As for Schitt’s Creek, it’s a masters class in awkward, ironic comedic that finds its way to meaningful places.”
For his part, Fox is looking forward to a new directorial challenge. “Commercials are an area that I wanted to explore, but it had to be through the right company,” he said. “Robin and Richard feel my type of direction/storytelling has a ‘commercial’ style that will appeal to clients. CoMPANY also has an enviable track record of taking feature and TV directors and keeping them active in commercial projects.”
On the strength of Schitt’s Creek, Fox won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Comedy Program, as well as a pair of Directors Guild of Canada Award nominations. Of Schitt’s Creek, Fox said, “They’re funny, but they’re also wonderful stories.” Fox is also currently in development on several feature projects, including a comedy titled The Great Perhaps.
Fox graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts, where his student film Last Round Up got an invite from the Sundance Film Festival. His first feature, The Dark Hours, received numerous awards from festivals in his native Canada and around the world. His follow-up coming-of-age comedy titled Everything’s Gone Green (written by Generation X author Douglas Coupland) was well received at the Toronto Film Festival where it premiered.
