For the second year running, SPY Films’ Pete Henderson Am the Canadian director running this year’s signature pool for client Molson Breweries and its agency MacLaren McCann.

Competition ran heavy this time around for what is reported to be one of the biggest-budget campaigns north of the border. Questing after the ‘I Am’ assignment, the high-profile campaign for Molson’s flagship brand Canadian, were at one point as many as 30 directors.

In the end, Henderson, last year’s golden boy for the same pool, came out ahead of the final formidable competition that included Imported Artists’ Richard D’Alessio, Radke Films’ John Mastromonaco and The Partners’ Film Company’s Eric Yealand.

Like the two previous ‘I Am’ pools that have driven the Canadian brand image into the ’90s, this year’s group of either four or five spots is reportedly sticking with the lifestyle theme. Gloria Mann Casting is on board again, as is Third Floor Editing.

The travel itinerary is a little different, with the whole real-weather-hungry group flying to Arizona to shoot this month. A couple of the spots will shoot in Ontario and/or Vancouver and the rest in the u.s., with shooting running March and April. Tabletop is out this time round.

The ‘I Am’ announcement came on a bit of a red-letter day for Henderson, who also got word he was the man for Vickers & Benson and their piece of the Molson account, Molson Dry.

The shooting schedules had a couple of days’ overlap. v&b felt it was workable, but MacLaren reportedly didn’t want Henderson spread too thin and put the kibosh on the whole idea. Kessler Irish Films’ David Wellington is stepping in to take the Dry assignment.

Warren pizza

t’ain’t the ideal way to get your first directing stint, but

Redefining baptism by fire, Avion Films’ Warren Sulatycky directed his first bona fide commercial at the end of February with a solid 24-hours notice.

Sulatycky, the latest young talent being groomed by Avion, one of the few production houses in the city willing to invest in rookies, had been doing some spec work since joining Avion at the end of last year until a couple of weeks ago when he fielded a board for Pizza Hut through bbdo, Toronto.

A little more insane than your average spot production, Avion executive producer Paola Lazzeri got a phone call Tuesday night from bbdo producer Sasha Vokurka-Brown who was in need of a director for a low-budget spot advertising the client’s new triple-decker pie.

Sulatycky aced the interview over the phone, got scripts Wednesday morning, wrapped casting, wardrobe and props the same day, and shot Thursday.

‘We’re pretty proud of ourselves for pulling this off,’ laughs Vokurka-Brown. ‘Warren was lovely and very professional.’ He also brought some ideas to the table that were used in the spot, including under-cranking the camera so the film effect was faster, she adds.

No qualms about going with someone new. ‘We kind of went with our gut. There wasn’t a lot of time to think.’

Others playing beat the clock to get the piece on air six days after it was assigned include The Daily Post’s Chris Van Dyke, and Elizabeth Taylor at Tantrum Music. bbdo’s Bob Hawton was the senior writer and Richard Williams was the art director.

New Artist

After a 20-year career in stills and commercial photography, Christian Belpaire is on board at The Artists Company as its first Canadian director. A Belgian national born in Zaire, Belpaire has been a Canadian resident since ’87.

With a portfolio boasting his stills work for Bacardi’s ‘When in Lemon’ and Molson’s ‘I Am’ campaigns contrasting personal work capturing Venezuela’s native Yanomami, Belpaire is launching into full-motion commercial work for the first time.

His cue, says Belpaire, to move into the commercial direction realm came when he realized his photography style has come into vogue. His stills tend heavily towards a narrative style with an emphasis on people and faces.

Having just completed a 30-second spec featuring one roaming, continuous shot, Belpaire says he’s ready to take on all the challenges spot direction can throw at him. Besides, after traversing the Amazon and photographing Fidel Castro, how hard could it be?

Cut to The Chase

Jolly Roger, Santa Monica is a go with Steve Chase and Bedford Falls Group president Michael Romersa partnering up after the star director’s fallout with Fahrenheit Films.

Chase is in the midst of setting up shop with Romersa and scouting for three more directors and an executive producer to round out the roster.

The rest of March will be spent wrapping up some spot work before Chase heads into preproduction in April on his first feature, Money Talks (working title) through New Line Cinema. It’s an action/comedy style film which will monopolize his time for about six months.

Up against the best of the best including Joe Pytka and Tony Kaye, Chase lost this year’s Directors Guild of America Award to Harmony Pictures’ Rob Lieberman. If you have to lose, it’s not a bad way to go.

From soup to nuts

Armed with words of wisdom from creative director Chris Staples at Palmer Jarvis in last issue’s On the Spot, Stephen and Martin Markle, the new directing team at Kessler Irish, are making their way into the advertising business. Amongst the typical new kid on the block kinds of questions they’re fielding are perhaps two unique to the brothers: ‘Aren’t you the soup guy?’ or ‘Aren’t you the soup guy’s brother?’

The furor hasn’t altogether died down from Stephen’s trek to New York in January armed with a single mission from TMN-The Movie Network and its The Late Shift Contest: Get On The Dave Letterman Show.

The rest is history, with Markle somehow charming his way into serving the audience hot soup. What people might not know is his secret for becoming the star of the show (next to Dave, of course).

He offers this tidbit:

When The Dave comes out prior to taping he has time to meet the audience and answer only one question. Step one: leap to your feet and make eye contact. Step two: blurt out a ridiculous question. ‘Hey Dave, do you like to merengue?’ worked for a friend of Markle’s, a suggestion he forgot he made until one night, sipping tea and playing insomniac, Dave leapt into the tv screen.

‘Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is David Letterman and you knowI love to merengue. (applause, some silly dance steps). Just a few moments ago, a very nice young lady from Toronto stood up and asked me if I liked to merengue’ Merengue jokes for 60 more minutes plus several close-ups of friend grinning in the audience.

Consultations are available.

People

Imported Artists’ Richard D’Alessio has left u.s. production house The End to join A Band Apart.

In Montreal, Paul Auger has departed Auger Babeux fcb, following in the footsteps of agency cofounder Serge Babeux.

For the record, Mehdi Norowzian a director selected for one of last issue’s ‘Dream Teams,’ is represented in Canada by Avion through a corepresentation agreement with Chelsea Films in New York.