Competition is heating up for cinematographer representation with two new players on the scene challenging Sesler & Company. Karen Martin at KM Represents opened the dop doors at the beginning of November on the heels of Denis Kane and Kane Representation, which jumped into the fray in September after selling stills photographers and tv directors for seven years.

Both Martin and Kane say they got started because they felt there was room for more players in this end of the business, which in the past has been more or less dominated by Sesler.

Cinematographers are ideal for expanding the company because they never go out of style, says Martin. ‘You can’t date them like you can directors. Cinematographers are more stable and less at the mercy of whims in the market.’

Martin, who also represents Jungle Music in Canada and the u.s., has cinematographers Simon Mestel, Ryan McMaster, Paul Sarossy, George Willis and Alar Kivilo. Sarossy signed his first job with Imported Artists on a Bell Canada spot that begins shooting Nov. 29.

For his part, Kane says taking on dops is a natural extension of the company. So far, it’s a two-man roster of dops, Robbi Hinds and Brian Thomson, with Hinds, a newcomer to Toronto, scoring his first job alongside Cinelande director Francois Girard for Dunkin Donuts.

Move over, Elvis

Inquiring minds want to know what songs The Partners’ Film Company’s Carl Harvey will be crooning in the two hours of free karaoke he took home from this year’s Bereaved Families of Ontario fundraising auction.

Harvey, along with a massive showing of production and agency types, whooped it up at the Westin Harbour Castle earlier this month for the annual silent auction, organized in part by MacLaren McCann’s Lesley Parrott.

The event raised over $50,000 with the help of participants like Harvey, who anted up for the ‘Feelings’ prize, which includes a souvenir two-hour cd of his recordings. Other take-homes include a long weekend in Las Vegas where Spy Films’ Carlo Trulli will flex his blackjack muscles.

Those nearest and dearest to Spy’s William Cranor and his wife Mary may have already cracked his box of Montecristo #4 cigars. There was no word at press time, but the baby was due Monday, Nov. 13.

As for Partners’ John Smythe, inquiring minds also want to know what exactly his purchase, an anti-snooze pillow, is, how it works, and when he’s going to use it.

In other industry hooplas, Avion Films held its second annual end-of-the-year bash, with about 800 agency folk coming in and out through the night to hear Big Sugar and Hoodoo Films’ Michael Rosen on the horn. An appropriate blowout for what has been an incredible second year, says Michael Schwartz, executive producer at Avion.

Hot spots

The idea for a regular best and worst spot column went up like a lead balloon. A survey of agency and production house execs on their picks of the week brought a chorus of, ‘If you’re in the business, you don’t have time to watch tv.’

So call this the swan song, but when pressed, one squeezed out in the best category: ‘Tried, Tested and True,’ directed by Richard Picton out of Partners’ for General Motors of Canada’s Chevrolet brand through MacLaren McCann. Concensus is, you can’t get tired of the jingle and the casting is impeccable in what amounts to a silent testimonial for gm. The people are the focus while the cars play on a screen in the background. Kudos for an absence of blowing leaves and helicopter shots.

The spot is one in the newest pool for gm, an account the agency has held for 75 years. This batch, which includes spots for Geo, Pontiac and GMC Trucks, is ‘the best work we’ve ever done for gm,’ says Rick Davis, executive vp, chief creative officer.

There’s been a reorganization of the retail creative department so that about 10 out of 14 MacLaren McCann creative teams worked directly on the account. New blood, including copywriter Jane Murray and art director Rose Saquillo, too, has been good for the campaign, which celebrates the core values of gm and builds brand awareness, says Davis.

(For up-close and personal with the latest gm spot, see Storyboards p. 9.)

In other hot spot news, j&b is pushing the envelope with cinema advertising, co-ordinating a special screening of An American President with the launch of its new 60-second spot for J&B Rare. j&b hosted a special reception for the $350,000 spot at Cineplex Odeon on the same night as the premier of the Michael Douglas/Annette Bening blockbuster. Produced by Tholet Sieverre & Associates in South Africa, the spot will open on Cineplex screens in Ontario and Quebec through to Christmas.

Skipping town

Toronto has piqued Skip D’Amico’s sense of adventure, enough so that the Miami-based director is willing to leave the beach and brave the winters for a shot at the Canadian market.

The Artists Company’s newest director is moving here from Florida this month, setting up house in Cabbagetown with high hopes and high expectations. The quality of the work here was the main impetus to go North, he says.

‘It’s a well-kept secret, but the work I’ve seen coming out of Toronto is of the highest quality. Many times, the freshest work around is coming from Canada.’

From where he sits, Toronto creative tends to be ‘looser’ and ‘more fun-loving.’ (Quite likely cabin fever will hit mid-February in D’Amico’s first snowbound living experience.)

Another big motivation was the possibility of working as consistently, but on consistently better projects. ‘The kind of projects I like are here more often.’

Of his specialty, D’Amico says he’s developing a ‘hybrid – it’s combining narrative, art direction and a certain style of developing character.’

His recent projects have included a spot to push the revival of Ain’t Misbehaving with The Pointer Sisters on Broadway.

On The Spot Ad-vice

Calling all up-and-coming commercial producers.

Given the rising trend towards hiring freelance producers, a group of established agency producers are offering their services to newer contract workers who don’t have established in-house support networks to rely on.

Beginning next issue, Playback will launch a new column in the commercial section, On The Spot, a space for discussion of various and sundry industry-related topics written by a wide range of agency and commercial types over the next few months.

The producers’ segment will be first. Producers are invited to fax any job-related questions c/o Allison Vale at Playback, 416-408-0870. They will be fielded out to participating execs including Marie Robertson, executive producer at bbdo; Lesley Parrott, executive producer at MacLaren McCann; Bev Cornish, executive producer at Vickers & Benson; and Second Unit/Institute of Canadian Advertising executive Winnie Alford.

Sources will remain anonymous. Although the sender of the questions must be identified on the fax, those producers posing questions will not be identified either to the executive producers or in the column.

Top Spot credit omissions

Copywriters are used to working behind the scenes, but Dean Hore from Bozell Palmer Bonner should have been front and center on the credits for Labatt Budweiser’s ‘Mountain Biking,’ the third place winner in last issue’s Top Spots results. Pontiac ‘Design Team’ copywriter Brad Riddoch at MacLaren McCann, too, should have also been included on the GM Pontiac Sunfire credits. And Rosnick MacKinnon did music on the winning Hudson’s Bay and Coffeemate spots.