Australian director Peter Bloomfield, based at Ridley and Tony Scott’s l.a. outfit rsa/usa, has wrapped his first jobs in Canada with International Shooters.

Although the Toronto shop has held exclusive Canadian representation of rsa’s roster for a year, a spot for Tim Horton’s through Enterprise Advertising and an Extra Strength Tylenol job with Saatchi & Saatchi brought Bloomfield to town for the first time, working with dop Peter Hartmann.

But International exec producer Peter Benson says the director may be back in another month. Not only is Benson bidding on a car spot as well as a Color Your World job for Bloomfield, he’s also discussing a feature film project for the director. All Benson will reveal is that it’s a Canadian developed and penned script about a Canadian hero to be shot here. Bloomfield is also looking to direct a pilot for a major series in the u.s., says Benson, adding that Fox is possibly the broadcaster.

The 40-year-old director moved from Australia to the u.s. in 1990 to work with Fred Peterman, shooting for German and French advertising agencies. He’s also directed for Harmony Pictures where he specialized in car spots, his Chevy Truck commercials the best known.

Working in Australia for 15 years, Bloomfield picked up a slew of awards: at Clemenger Australia, a part of bbdo, he won prizes on an in-house Pizza Hut spot; in 1986 his toy and retail spots at Zoetrope in Sydney garnered awards; and during a short stint at the Film Business in 1987 he won a Gold Pencil at the New York One Show and a Bronze Lion at Cannes for a pharmaceutical campaign.

Not bad for a guy whose first job was of quite a different calling – he spent a year and a half cloistered in a Benedictine monastery outside Sydney.

-Imported thanks clients, crews, decks halls

So nice when a production house breaks up February with Christmas. Huh? Go forward: spring, heat, bbqs, etc. Back is bad, especially when that pine tree tied precariously to the ceiling brings back family gathering memories we’ve been trying ever so hard to block out for two months.

But while the theme lacked, the rest of the evening, a veritable who’s who of the agency world packed into Imported Artists’ funky digs on Spadina and surrounded by excellent food, wine and music, more than made up for it.

Intended as a kind of thank-you to agency clients, crews and everyone lending a hand to Imported productions, the festivities drew a wide crowd, amongst them many men unafraid to hug. (Is there any other industry where it’s okay for men to be so genuinely affectionate? Just asking.)

Amongst the masses were v&b’s Bev Cornish, David Kelso, formerly MacLaren McCann but now in cahoots with Bill Durnan, Kessler Irish Films director Dale Heslip, and Gee Jeffery’s Peter Jeffery. Imported’s lovely new rep Shane Nakoneshny circulated, as did company principals Christina Ford, director Richard D’Alessio, and Clarence Square Pictures exec Jeff Berman. Peter Farager and Michael Rosen made music.

The only rather sad news coming out of the evening was word of the end of the Kelso/D’Alessio initiative to structure an international advertising showcase around the Toronto International Film Festival. The plan, which has been floating about for a couple of years, made noises of getting off the ground last year. It’s not dead, it’s just shelved while current projects take priority for both of them, says Kelso.

Meanwhile, the first project to come out of the new D’Alessio/ Ford/Berman long-form prodco, Clarence Square, wrapped shooting last week. 7-Gates, a planned 13-minute short, will be edited by Mark Hajek at Partners’ Post. Ted Rosnick is doing the music.

-Moving, shaking

The Partners’ Film Company has added a new cameraman to its dop ranks. Mike Andringa is the new staffer, who will also be available to Partners’ affiliates. On his way up through the camera echelons, Andringa has done some dop work on the side, building a reel which includes ‘Canadian Chicken’ (an intriguingly named cbc promo) and music video work for various luminaries, including the inimitable Arrogant Worms.

And on the topic of camera, a last word on the dop overtime debate via an ex-officio union source: ‘A flat is a flat.’ The alternate is going completely hourly since any hybrid flat-plus-overtime fee arrangement bumps into conceptual conundrums, such as: ‘Would they bill less for a short day?’

L.T.B. Productions and Spy Films have opened a Vancouver production office. Primary motivation was to carve out a base which will allow for ease of production in Vangroovy, where the weather co-operates most of the year.

Speaking of opening an office, rumor has it l.a.-based Citizen Film is thinking about opening a Toronto office.

Finally, questions persist this year again as Avion Films exec producer Michael Schwartz is spotted in full tuxedo at the Gemini Awards. Nothing mysterious, says Schwartz. It’s just the enjoyment factor and the [bad] cover band that brings him back every year.

-Correction

In the last issue, Commercial Directions wrongly credited Panic & Bob with a Winners post job that was in fact posted by Partners’ Post.

Also, in ‘b.c. shoots for high-end work,’ director/cameraman Hank Benson was credited with moving from Apple Box to Circle Productions, when in fact Benson has gone to Cactus Productions. Our apologies.