Director/ cameraman Lionel Coleman, formerly of 1/33 Productions, has joined Santa Monica-based production house Visitor.
Coleman left 1/33 when his contract expired in October. 1/33 officially shuttered earlier this month, at which point its Santa Monica-space was taken over by Cohn+Company (SHOOT, 2/11, p. 1). "1/33 was my first commercial production company, and it was good for me for two years. It was sort of my junior college education," Coleman said. "It was a little older than I was in terms of its thinking and positioning, so I wanted to find a place that was a little more progressive. It was time to move on."
Visitor partner/executive producer Olivier Katz related that Coleman was brought to his attention by Ellen Knable, the company’s West Coast rep. She had identified the director as a strong talent a while ago, said Katz, and believed that he and Visitor would be an ideal fit.
Once Katz met Coleman and viewed his work, he agreed. "He has a natural ability in creating raw emotion," said Katz, who attributed Coleman’s visual narrative skills in part to his background in documentary filmmaking. "I think being able to capture real events provides a very strong foundation to a director. Coleman can bring true emotion and honesty to his work."
One such example, Katz cited, was an AIDS prevention PSA which Coleman directed last fall for the non-profit Health Watch Information and Promotion Service out of BBDO Chicago. "Morgue" offers haunting visuals of bodies on gurneys and morgue detail shots, which Coleman filmed on location at a Toronto morgue. "It’s just so understated but so powerful," Katz said.
What attracted him to Visitor, explained Coleman, was that director/partner James Wahlberg, director Dave Merhar and Katz seemed like regular, down-to-earth men. "At other companies … there was always this air that the director was like the artist of the new world, or something. I felt I gelled with these guys."
Among Coleman’s recent credits are a Subway spot via Publicis & Hal Riney, Chicago (produced through Film Realite, Santa Monica); and a Philip Morris-sponsored anti-smoking ad via GCI New York (done through 1/33). He also helmed a spot for the American Society for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons via Sturm Rosenberg King & Co., Chicago (produced through bicoastal OneSuch Films). Coleman recently wrapped a live concert showcase performance of comedian Margaret Cho; it is slated to be released theatrically this year.
Before turning to spots, Coleman worked at the in-house production department at Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike, where he spent two and a half years as producer/director. There, he helmed projects for point-of-purchase venues, promotional sales and conventions and for Niketown stores worldwide. "It was basically the stuff that Wieden & Kennedy [Nike’s Portland, Ore.-based agency] couldn’t do," recalled Coleman. "We shot on film and worked with all the great athletes; we just didn’t have the huge budgets. I’d recommend that job to anybody; you get a chance to see the world quickly."
Coleman’s documentary résumé includes Female Dream Team, which featured the WNBA’s Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoops. He has also directed Last Call, a documentary on the calamitous results of teenage drinking and driving that won a local Emmy in Los Angeles for best documentary in ’93. Coleman was also part of the production team that, in ’87, won a Peabody Award for "Epidemic," an investigative report on the AIDS crisis by local CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, San Francisco, where he worked as a cameraman from ’86 to ’91.
Katz views Coleman’s Nike experience as another advantage, in that it has given him "a better understanding of corporate agendas and mandates, and branding. I think this diversified experience has allowed Lionel to mature very, very rapidly as a director." Katz added that Visitor, which opened in November ’98 with a directorial roster comprised of Wahlberg and Merhar, has been very selective in adding talent.
Visitor is now bidding Coleman on several projects for undisclosed clients. The company is repped by Chicago-based Hillary Herbst Represents in the Midwest; New York-based Michael Sitzer on the East Coast, and the aforementioned Knable of Los Angeles-based Ellen Knable & Associates on the West Coast.
