Imported Artists has added New York-based Stan Schofield to its roster. With 20 years’ experience on the agency side, Schofield began directing in 1984 and established a body of work specializing in dialogue and storytelling, with credits including Nike, at&t, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. In 1990, Schofield opened his eponymous company in New York and later l.a.

The director’s first project with Imported was for Canada Trust.

Speaking of Imported, the deeply paranoid among us (and we know who we are) got quite a start not too long ago upon receiving a letter marked from the Ministry of the Attorney General.

As the ghosts of stacks of unpaid parking fines, buried bodies and ill-advisedly issued death threats swirled above heads across the city, the ultimate horror of the letter’s contents wasn’t fully realized until its actual contents were revealed: ‘Summons to juror.’

Just as excuses of racial bias or mental illness were being concocted, one noticed the stamp across the bottom of the page reading, ‘Looks like you could use a drink.’ Further inspection reveals additional references to alcohol consumption and other non-jurist behavior.

Kudos to Imported for party invite of the year (so far).

-NABS bash

The 13th annual National Advertising Benevolent Society Gala Evening is being held Friday April 18 at the Inn on the Park in Toronto. It’s a chance to look fine and have fun while helping those who need it. The evening features music, dancing and laughs as well as a silent auction and presentation of the aca 1997 Gold Medal. Tickets are $275 per person or $2,500 for a table of partiers.

-Time and again

In the ongoing struggle between shrinking margins and sane working hours, the recurring issue of overtime has reared up again as a series of debates has been taking place on cameraman overtime between The Partners’ Film Company head Don McLean and dop rep Dora Sesler.

Sesler, whose roster includes high-demand lensers like Sean Valentini and Andre Pienaar, instituted an overtime policy about 10 months ago. At a day rate of $3,500, dops earn time-and-a-half of $375/hour after a 14-hour shoot day, remaining at time-and-a-half regardless of surplus hours. Currently, only crew members on a commercial shoot receive overtime.

While 12- to 14-hour days are standard, tight budgets have meant that in order to deliver the core creative idea in addition to unplanned slowdowns, some shoots last into the 16- to 20-hour range, the only alternative to a prohibitively expensive additional shooting day.

McLean says Partners’ has never accepted the dop overtime concept and points out that a production company absorbs the cost of a long day with no additional funding from agency or client.

‘The theory that this will stop the 20-hour day is incorrect,’ says McLean. ‘We never set out to do 18-hour days; they are horrible for everyone. I don’t know why dops should be the only ones to profit from them. Directors, assistant directors, producers, production assistants don’t get overtime.’

Sesler says most production companies haven’t had major problems with the overtime policy. ‘This was implemented to create a structure and to create a guideline and standard that is in everyone’s best interest,’ she says.

Using in-house cameramen Miroslaw Baszak and Chris Soos, as well as freelancer James Gardiner and the roster of Karen Martin’s dop rep shop KM Represents, which has not instituted an overtime policy, McLean says Partners’ will make every effort to avoid using Sesler’s talent.

‘If we are forced to use one of her cameramen we will pay the overtime, but we won’t sign the contract,’ says McLean, saying there are any number of reasons a shoot is prolonged, reasons which at times are related to the cameraman on the job.

Martin says she will not institute a similar policy. ‘At this point I don’t think the market can bear it,’ says Martin. ‘We have to try and keep our home-base advantage.’

-Wads of work

From famous wads to famous competition, Avion Films director Jean Marc Piche has been busy lately. Piche recently spent a day at the SkyDome chewing mouthfuls of bubble gum and shooting the tastefully named ‘Famous Wads’ spot for client Bubblicious through Bates Canada.

The spot features the masticated mounds of gum of various sports heroes with their statistical achievements superimposed over them. The camera surveys the lineup of wads, then reveals their position under chairs at the Dome as they’re being scraped off by a custodian.

Piche and dop Simon Mestel used a Fraser lens system on the shoot to capture the integrity of the wads from a tight perspective, and no one on set was spared chewing duty. The spot was edited by Wendy Linton at Daily Post.

Moving from one big-league shoot to another, Piche also recently snatched a commercial job out of the expectantly waiting maw of filmmaker Gus Van Sant, of My Own Private Idaho and To Die For fame.

-Dilbert spotted

You may have noticed the lovably disgruntled mouthless wonder Dilbert moving about on your tv screen in an ad for Avery Dennison office supplies. Toronto agency Artis and Montreal-based animation shop Michael Mills Productions lent the little man movement and a voice (of sorts) for the pair of spots which began airing this month.

-New additions

Partners’ Post has added the other half of the amazing Corindias as editor Anthony Corindia joins the shop. In other post happenings, Tara Law has moved from assistant editor to editor at Partners’.

– Sesler & Company will now be representing award-winning dop Rene Ohashi for commercials and music videos.

– Saatchi & Saatchi has promoted senior writer Henry Wong to associate creative director. Wong, who has been at the agency for just over a year, will remain partnered with art director and associate creative director Bruce McKay.