Los Angeles-based production company Yard Dog, led by partners/executive producers Joe Piccirillo and Beth Pearson, has formed an alliance with Elma Garcia Films for advertising projects. Yard Dog will act as executive producer and provide sales support for EGF, home to award-winning director/cinematographer Elma Garcia. The two companies will produce advertising assignments jointly.
The alliance adds further creative depth to the Yard Dog roster while providing Elma Garcia with access to a well-connected and highly-accomplished executive producer team and a national sales network. “Elma Garcia is a master of visual storytelling,” says Pearson. “Her work has an authenticity and emotional power. We look forward to doing great work together.”
Garcia says the opportunity to ally with Yard Dog came at a good time. “It allows me to return to my roots as a director,” she explains. “It’s a chance to branch out, to work with new agencies and explore different genres. I want to focus on shooting commercials and telling stories.”
In recent years, Garcia has directed several groundbreaking campaigns for companies in the health care and pharmaceutical sector. Among them is a spot for Gilead Sciences, maker of a treatment for hepatitis C, that, through a sequence of artfully-crafted vignettes, evokes the transition patients make from despair to hope. “We’ve done a lot of projects for Gilead and they’ve been effective because they are not like typical pharma spots,” Garcia says. “We took it to a new level.”
Other notable work includes the documentary-style Levi’s 501 commercial Jack Owens, about a legendary Mississippi blues musician; Jack Daniel’s’ Alaska, about an adventure pilot; and the Visa spot Ticket to Paris, where a man surprises his wife with a trip to Europe.
With Yard Dog’s help, Garcia hopes to direct spots from a wide range of product categories that offer an opportunity to tell substantive stories. “I’m interested in doing high-quality work,” she explains. “I want to do commercials with fantastic stories, and execute them well. Working with Beth and Joe has got me pumped up. I’m very glad to be doing this.”
“We’re huge fans of Elma,” says Piccirillo. “She brings so much passion and integrity to her work. That’s why it has such impact and rings so true.”
Garcia began her career as a still photographer before becoming a live action director. Encouraged by cinematographers Robert Richardson, Haskell Wexler and Conrad Hall, she eventually moved behind the camera and has now functioned almost exclusively as a director/cinematographer for 23 years. “I’ve always had a keen eye and a good sense for framing,” she says. “I began shooting because it was a way to feel intimate with my subject. I enjoy working with actors as well as real people. I just love telling a good story.”
Yard Dog is located at 2023 S. Westgate Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90025 Call 310.209.8992.
REPRESENTATION:
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Tracy Bernard @ tracy@tracybernard.com 312-203-9391
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Lisa Gimenez @ lisag@lisagandcoreps.tv 619-838-8868
