By KATHY DeSALVO
Dan Zigulich, a former account executive and producer at Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), Chicago, has launched his own commercial production company, Z Group Films.
The Chicago startup opens with a directorial roster comprised of Seth Henrikson and Bryan Papierski. The latter will be represented in the Midwest only. Director/DP Papierski maintains his affiliations with Denville, NH-based Big Light Pictures for East Coast work and Woodland Hills, Calif.-based based Admit One Productions for West Coast jobs.
A 16-year FCB veteran, Zigulich most recently spent a year as executive producer at Line 9, a Chicago-based production services company. "I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and about eight years ago, I identified production as the business I wanted to get into," said Zigulich.
Zigulich initially joined FCB as an account executive, a position he held for seven years before moving over to the production department. He spent six years producing and then returned to the account side for his three final years at FCB, which he left in Sept. ’98 in order to join Line 9. After nine months, Zigulich said, he realized that while Line 9 provided a great opportunity to learn the infrastructure of a production company, he really wanted to be "completely on my own."
Once he’d decided to form a shop, Zigulich searched for directors. His first signing was Papierski, whom Zigulich brought into Line 9 earlier this year to direct two spots. One was a test spot for a S.C. Johnson corporate campaign that hasn’t yet aired, and the other was a commercial called "Alternatives" for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, both out of FCB/Chicago.
"Bryan’s reel is gorgeous and impactful," said Zigulich. "He reminds me a lot of the beautiful director/cameramen’s reels that I used to look at while at FCB, like Gil Cope [of bicoastal Original Film] and Leslie Dektor [of Hollywood-based Dektor Film], earlier on in their careers."
Among Papierski’s other recent credits are a pair of spots, "Individual Digital" and "Individual Analog," for Frontier Cellular via Mark Russell & Associates, New York; and two ads in a heart surgeons campaign for the New England Heart Institute via OGB Communications, Manchester, NH.
After graduating with a B.A. in fine arts/film from Pasadena, Calif.-based Art Center College of Design in ’91, Papierski launched his career, working both as a director and as an occasional DP. He struck up affiliations for directorial projects with several shops: Studio City-based The Directors Network; Miami-based AFI (now AFI/Filmworks); Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton-based Apple Box Productions; and Whitewater Productions, North Hampton, N.H.
After several years, Papierski took a hiatus from commercialmaking and spent two years working as a freelance graphic designer/art director and director on CD-ROM projects. Among his credits are the CD-ROM titles "Babysitters Club" for Phillips, and "Sci-Fi Movie Machine" and "Mug-o-matic," both for TDC Interactive Publishing.
Papierski subsequently moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he struck up a working relationship with Jim Hanon, co-founder of ad agency Hanon McKendry, also in Grand Rapids. Papierski related that he art directed, graphic designed and directed a number of spots for Hanon McKendry and its nonprofit subsidiary, Compass Arts. His directorial credits included the spot "Pray" for Prayer for the Persecuted Church; "Beauty Queen" for Mel Trotter Ministries; "Piano" for the Arthritis Foundation, and campaigns for the Michigan Right To Life organization.
Papierski related, "I loved doing the non-profit stuff but I wanted to prove myself to everyone else, and [decided] to go out in the real world." At Z Group Films, Papierski intends to concentrate on pretty pictures and lifestyle projects. "I love taking people’s ideas and using visual images—like the way a little girl looks up or a little boy turns his head—to convey an emotion."
While Henrikson has never been represented for spot directing, he has helmed several documentaries. Most notably, he helmed Goreville, U.S.A. (’97), which chronicled the story of Goreville, a small town in southern Illinois whose residents are required by law to own a gun. The film won a Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the ’98 Slamdance Film Festival, as well as a Hollywood Discovery Award for best documentary that same year.
Zigulich said he discerned a lot of promise in Henrikson’s work and believes he’ll be an attractive prospect to agencies. "Seth is truly a project," said Zigulich. "But we think he’s a really talented guy. His work is very well thought out; before we shot some spec spots, I asked him to write up treatments, which were more detailed than [those of] most directors I’ve ever worked with. I think agencies will respond to his effort. He’s passionate and I think anyone would enjoy working with him."
Henrikson recently wrapped production on the aforementioned spec spots, and the company intends to start sending his reel out in the next four to six weeks.
Z Group Films has also hired director of marketing and sales Wendy Robbins, who most recently worked as a sales rep for Chicago-based commercial music houses Scandal Music and, before that, Moore Music Group. Z Group is rounded out by production manager Donny Williams. Zigulich said he is in discussions with several other directors.
Tim Burton Discusses His Dread Of AI As An Exhibition of His Work Opens In London
The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits — all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween.
But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence.
Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me."
"It wasn't an intellectual thought — it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' … (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside."
Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work.
"To take over the world?" he laughed.
The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home.
"I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself."
Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen.
London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in... Read More