No word yet whether director Steve Chase will reconcile with his u.s. rep house Fahrenheit Films, but sources say that if Chase defects, Fahrenheit owner Michael Romersa is considering opening a Big Apple shop named Jolly Roger.

Fahrenheit and Chase had a falling out in January with Chase’s progressively limited availability thought the catalyst. At last report, the two were taking a 30-day hiatus and then going back to the table. Chase will shoot a 60-second spot in l.a. for BMP DDB Needham/ London for Volkswagen, u.k. this month, his last spot project before preproduction begins on his first feature for New Line Cinema.

Besides the name, the possible n.y. office will have no connection with the Toronto office, and there will be no change in the ownership of the t.o. office, according to parent The Partners’ Film Company.

Romersa, owner of Partners’ U.S.A. until last March, owns u.s. rep houses Fahrenheit Films, Bedford Falls, Petermann Moss, and Industrial Artists, and did not return phone calls. Jolly Roger executive producer James Davis says he can’t answer any questions at this time.

In the meantime, Chase, along with pytka’s Joe Pytka, Tony Kaye from Tony Kaye Films, Rob Lieberman of Harmony Pictures, and Kinka Usher of Smillie Films, has been nominated for the prestigious Director’s Guild of America awards. Previous winners include Pytka, Michael Bay, James Gartner, and Leslie Dektor. The ceremony takes place in l.a. March 2.

Shewchuk sets out

after 15 years at Leo Burnett, executive v-p, chief creative officer Martin Shewchuk has bowed to the joys of directing and the relentless Edie Weiss and will join Radke Films as full-time director May 1.

Shewchuk, just back from 22 hours directing the next in the Crispy Crunch couple series for Burnett client Cadbury Chocolate, nevertheless sounds excited to trade a high-profile position at the agency and be the new kid on the block.

Although his knack for comedy precedes him, Shewchuk and Weiss say his positioning as a director will lean more towards the warm, emotional and light-hearted creative rather than the one-dimensional comedy specialty.

‘Comedy is too hard,’ Shewchuk laughs. ‘It always sets up expectations: Okay, try and make me laugh. Be whimsical, charming or funny. I’ve done stuff I think is funny, but really I like anything with people, dialogue, storytelling.’

Shewchuk gave the Burnett powers that be notice just after Christmas that he would be joining Radke in the spring. There wasn’t a lot of wooing going on. ‘Edie just made a point of bringing it up every time we talked and eventually I thought I’d go back to the business of making commercials. I have an ear for dialogue and an eye for art direction and I was always very executional as a creative director which I think will serve me well as a director.’

Of the 20 in-house-directed spots under his belt, Buster the Cat is first among favorites. You know Buster, the Bell Canada spot circa 1992 which features a business woman who calls home and winds up communicating with Buster instead of the husband.

Shewchuk says he feels like he’s starting over, but Weiss says no sweat. ‘This isn’t going to be a difficult project. A half-dozen agency people have called wanting to start working with him already. I have the feeling this is going to be a very smooth transition.’

Adults only please

with the big summer beer campaigns in the works, one agency isn’t taking any chances that its hard-fought creative will suffer the same fate as Joel and last year’s spots for Labatt Genuine Draft.

Joel, you remember, was the lead cool beer guy in two spots created for Labatt by Ammirati & Puris (now Ammirati & Puris/Lintas) that ran last summer until the crtc raised a red flag five weeks into a six week campaign. Apparently wavy-haired, scrubbed-face, jean-clad Joel could be mistaken for someone not old enough to imbibe and the crtc invoked a rarely used clause in its Code for Broadcast Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages to yank the one spot off the air. (The other spot, although it featured the same talent, was allowed to finish its run.)

This time out, the crtc confirms that it is reviewing the creative for one beer campaign that is planning to incorporate a character or symbol traditionally associated with children. The agency is pulling out the stops to make sure there’s no surprise kerfuffle mid-summer when the pre-school crowd starts begging dad to take them to The Beer Store to pick up show and share fodder.

While we’re on the subject of big beer campaigns, MacLaren McCann’s Rick Davis writes to Word to stress this point: he am not one of the masterminds on the i am campaign for Molson’s flagship brand Canadian.

Last issue’s Word on the Street identified Davis, executive vice-president and chief creative officer, as one of the key brains on the highly-acclaimed spots. Mark Fitzgerald am a mastermind, as are creatives Bill Durnan, Howard Alstad, account people Dom Caruso and Dawn Alex, and producer Deborah Narine, says Davis. ‘I’m just here minding the store. Masterminding stretches the truth a wee bit.’

It does a body good

grow the Cookie Monster to mutant proportions. Give him neon green hair, eyes like a giant squid with insomnia, and a propensity for ripping off corner stores, and you’ve got The Milk Thing.

Mr. Thing is the star of Avion’s project for mamma, the Mid-Atlantic Milk Marketing Association. Directed with much enthusiasm by Martin Granger, Thing got to dance with cows at Pioneer Village, rip off the aforementioned Moo Juice from a convenience store on Toronto’s Gerrard St. and create a little mayhem at Harbourside Studios.

Thing’s been mamma’s mascot for the last year and a half, and he’s quite popular state-side. A Baltimore newspaper even followed the entourage up to t.o. to track the progress of the spot.

All the attention didn’t faze Granger. He seemed pretty calm about it all, particularly when the client was yukking it up over his footage of Thing crashing on his butt mid-dance.

Creative for the 30-second spot came from W.B. Doner & Company, and Karen Gold produced at Avion. Simon Mestel was behind the camera and Marc Ford was assistant director. ‘The Legend of the Milk Thing’ won’t air in Canada, but it’ll be on the airwaves in the u.s. within a week or two.

Too bad we won’t get it here. With his height and considerable girth, Milk Thing could take Doug and Amy Gilmour any day.

Speaking of Avion, there’s a new face on the roster equally unfazed by the big, the fuzzy, stars in funny suits. Dean Cundey, the cameraman on u.s. blockbusters including Apollo 13, Jurassic Park, Casper and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, has signed with Avion for his first Canadian representation.

After working on features for several years (most recently Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, the latest in the Honey, I Shrunk series), Cundey is looking for some shorter projects and is expanding his markets for spot work. Working with Spielberg and Howard leaves little time for commercials but Cundey has managed to squeeze five in over the last couple of years. But the representation deal with Avion was nailed the same day he turned down Spielberg’s upcoming Lost World and Cundey’s availability is excellent now that he’s focusing on smaller projects.

His day rate is no more than a lot of the u.s. directors and you’re getting an incredible director/ cameraman combination, says Avion’s Paola Lazzeri. ‘His reputation speaks for itself, but he has an uncanny ability to photograph beautifully and maintain the special effects magic.’

People

as of March 1, Sesler & Co. will represent Andre Pienaar in his capacity as a dop. Occasionally Pienaar works as director/dop, in which case Partners’ will continue to represent him.

The Artists Company Canada has signed its first Canada-based director, Christian Belpaire.

Dalton Films has signed Andrew Nisker for his first commercial representation. Nisker, who has a background in music videos, docs and some award-winning short films, will be specializing in dialogue pieces.

Also, to clarify last issue’s wots, Vancouver-based director Randy MacDonald is being represented by Apple Box Productions in all territories west of Manitoba. In Ontario and the eastern territories, he continues to be repped out of Toronto-based Dalton Films.