– Sulatycky on deck at LTB

Warren Sulatycky joins the roster at L.T.B. Productions, filling the local talent niche for the company’s new Comedy Stop division.

Prior to his return into the world of directing, Sulatycky was president of Palliser Media, a production company which created specific sponsored vignette programming run out of Avion Films.

Sulatycky says it was a friendly parting between himself and Avion president Michael Schwartz, and while Palliser is still carrying on with a number of projects, Sulatycky says he was ready for something different.

In other people news, Rave Films has added New York-based comedy specialist Billy Kent to its roster.

On the agency side, Leo Burnett head of production Ken Rodger has exited the agency.

Also, creative force Gary Prouk has reportedly moved to Anderson Advertising.

– Early celebration

The Players Film Company recently celebrated its 8th anniversary with a stylish shindig at the Great Hall including every necessary element from a jazz trio, never-ending spread, packed house and martini combos not found in nature. The event could also be a pre-party for a new venture; look for an expansion from the veteran shop.

– Dinomite

After much winter weather delay, Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio finally wrapped a mountaintop shoot for Kokanee Beer showcasing the most talked about sport at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Originally, the spot, through Bryant Fulton & Shee, Vancouver, was supposed to shoot before Christmas, but with 20 straight days of heavy Whistler snowfalls it was not completed until halfway through January.

The commercial features a daredevil snowboarder who rides off a 70-foot cliff, is popped into the mouth of a dinosaur and spat out, landing in the deep powdery snow.

The reason for the monster was to recreate the cheesy monster movies of the past and make fun of the Japanese connection. And if the oversized prehistoric reptile looks familiar, you may recognize his mug from Theadore Rex, a feature film starring Whoopi Goldberg.

Since there was not enough time or money in the budget to actually build a new animatronic monster, which would have cost around $200,000, the production team took the existing dinosaur and redesigned and augmented him with some brand-new latex skin.

Most effects in the 30-second spot were done in-camera, keeping it fairly simple; the dinosaur is standing in a mountain set built in a studio, the sky is painted, and the only blue-screen effects take place when the snowboarder gets shoved into the monster’s mouth and is then spit through the air.

Being a topnotch skier was a prerequisite to being part of the crew, as some of the filming took place from a not-so-safe precipice on Whistler. The small crew of D’Alessio, dop Bill Heath and two extreme skiers were helicoptered to the top of the mountain with their equipment

And if you haven’t had a chance to see the action-packed spot between Olympic competition, you can catch it on the big screen as a 60-second version is unspooling at some Cineplex Odeon Theatres.

– Granger does Jupiter

Here’s a mental picture; Avion Films director Marty Granger running around the city raiding every kitchen store in search of the last word in spatulas. Oh, the research involved in gearing up for a shoot. Granger was preparing for a trip to South Africa where he is shooting a spot out of creatively prodigious Johannesburg-based Jupiter Drawing Room. The spot is for client Voda World and its Spatula World chain of shops.

– NAB’s night out

The National Advertising Benevolent Society will hold its 14th Annual Gala Evening May 1 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The evening will feature the first Canadian performance of Cirque Eloise’s Excentricus show, music by Robbie Lane and the Disciples and will be emceed by Valerie Pringle. Final bidding will also take place on industry-donated and other goodies.

– McLaren series

The tv representation of the ad guy has evolved somewhat ungracefully from Bewitched’s do-it-all Darren Stevens, with the earnest thirtysomething years and the callow Ned & Stacy era to the ultra-realism of Melrose Place. But now the ad industry archetype is back, with man’s man Tom Selleck starring in The Closer, beginning this month on cbs.

The show is set in the world advertising hub of Denver and follows the exploits of Selleck as legendary ad exec Jack McLaren who, in a surprising twist for tv, finds there is more to life than busting heads in the industry and acts out the classic advertising struggle between being a real bastard and winning the affections of those around him.

Supporting Selleck are Ed Asner as the ‘brilliant and biting creative director,’ David Krumholt as the equivocating copywriter and Penelope Ann Miller as the ‘Ivy-League bean counter.’