Stripes wound down at the end of last month, and the commercial operations of the low-end spot division of The Partners’ Film Company is now going under the new (but established) name of Revolver, its music video brethren. The change came Nov. 1, coinciding with the ‘repatriation’ of Partners’.

As the spot gang at Revolver have returned to Stripes’ (as in earning them) roots – and will therefore be using less established directors – other commercial production companies with young rosters just got a repurposed competitor.

Executive producers of Revolver, Dan Ford and Tom McLean, say the problem with Stripes was that it tended to blend in with Partners’ too much. ‘We wanted to be a little bit further down the road,’ says Ford.

Ford and McLean say the decision to retire the Stripes moniker was a tough one, but the general consensus (they had a vote) was that Revolver had a great reputation, and this was a way to signal a change without all the legwork of breaking a new name into the collective ad world psyche. Revolver was doing spot work under its own name before teaming with Stripes, at which point Revolver directors did commercials through Stripes.

Many of the original Stripesters, such as executive producers Ross McLean and John Smythe, are no longer with the company; director Alan Marr and director/dop Greg Hoey no longer have a guarantee. In the gradual scaling back (much done through attrition) some people have gone freelance, such as producer Joan Bell-Acosta. Ross McLean is currently at Partners’.

This addresses the fact that what became a significant source of Stripes’ work – the big weekly retail campaigns – is no more. The 40 or 50 days of K-Mart Stripes used to do are now replaced by five or six days of image work.

With their monthly overhead cut in half, new shop-runners Ford and Tom McLean are on the lookout for fresh talent to add to the current Revolver director pool, which includes Mitch Gabourie, Drew Jarvis, Sam Pecoraro and Clarence Ford. Freelancer Harry Lake also does a lot of work with the group formerly known as Stripes.

As the commercial agenda of Revolver is to return to the raison d’etre of the company started by Ross McLean – breaking new talent into the biz – Revolver’s spot strategy is to pull in entry-level commercial work. The risk typically associated with inexperience is tempered as the work comes with Partners’ money-back guarantee and draws on the parent company’s equipment and resources. And the focus on building new directors fills a gap in Partners’ commercial lineup – more affordable talent.

Although traveling from the freedom of the music video floor to the labyrinthine levels of structured creative at the agency boardroom level requires ‘a real learning curve,’ Ford says some agencies are starting to recognize the benefits of using raw talent, and are not content to stay with the corporate approach.

Tom McLean describes the ‘bouncing off the wall’ level of enthusiasm (‘you almost want to hit them’) new directors have for their first spot as a worthwhile payoff for taking a chance.

Recently Stripes (now Revolver) did a spot for $12,500 – everything except the mix. Ford says this is possible because everyone pitches in more. ‘If it’s decent creative, we can internalize costs, Tom and I can produce, we have our own Avid. We don’t need to make money on every project. A lot of our directors are on salary, the directors’ fees are zero.’

They’re quick to point out that this is not the norm – their average spot cost is in the $40,000 ball park – they’re also doing a $100,000 spot (which would normally cost $120,000). The planned volume is about $4 million, total production budgets for spots and music videos combined – with the lion’s share coming from commercials.

On the music side, which is run by Allan Weinrib, Revolver is doing about a video a week. Canada’s mv pioneer Don Allan is senior director and a profit participant in the company.