Stephen Yeates, a veteran of Canadian commercial directing, has joined up with Philip Mellows and will now be represented in Canada by the Players Film Company.

Making the jump from the Toronto chapter of Circle Productions, Yeates says he was attracted to Players because of the overall energy and positive vibe of the Toronto spot shop.

‘One of the things about Players is that it is a very proactive, marketing-oriented company,’ says Yeates. ‘The interaction between the creative people and the producers here is very direct and encouraging. I’ve liked that about Players ever since I started talking with Phil [Mellows].’

Mellows says he has been aware of his new director’s talents for many years, dating back to the time when ex-Player David McNally was repped by Mellows. At the time, McNally was one of the more popular Canadian directors, but he always had stiff competition from Yeates.

Mellows adds, however, his personal relationship with Yeates dates back to the early to mid-1980s, when Mellows was a production assistant on a Molson Canadian spot being helmed by Yeates.

‘Stephen has a beautiful eye for composition,’ says Mellows. ‘Stephen works with different people as directors of photography, but when you look at his work, you don’t ask, ‘Who shot that?’ It’s all one look.’

Yeates, a director of 16 years, began as a stills photographer in 1979, with his directing debut coming in 1984. He lives in Toronto, despite having shot much of his work in New York in the early to mid-1990s.

‘I have done a very wide range of commercials,’ says Yeates. ‘I started out essentially doing tabletop, but evolved into people and humanity.’

Because of his background as a stills photographer, Yeates, who often serves as his own cinematographer, developed a portrait style of shooting people that has served him well, he says.

Doing more of his own cinematography is something Yeates is looking forward to with Players. He estimates over the last six years he has shot 70% of his own spots, but a little less over the last couple of years, utilizing the talents of cinematographers like Doug Koch and Andre Pienaar.

‘I believe in shooting certain projects myself in order to keep a direct line between the agency and the image with no translation,’ says Yeates. ‘But in many cases, bringing on a cinematographer can add a lot in terms of what they interpret themselves. I tend to reserve the smaller shoots [to shoot myself] where I can control all of the elements of it, particularly with tabletop.

‘On bigger-scale things,’ Yeates continues, ‘especially if [the job] involves actors, I like to spend my directing time effectively with the actors and looking at camera moves instead of being distracted by lighting setups, which can take a lot of time and focus away.’

‘What we are going to do is give Stephen the camera more often,’ says Mellows. ‘He will have the ability to shoot his own stuff and develop and grow that as his career.’

Some of the more recent work on Yeates’ reel includes Molson Dry (which he shot as well), United Way, Scotia Bank (which demonstrates his portrait shooting abilities), the Co-operators and Telus. No word at press time if Players has any work lined up for Yeates, but both he and Mellows are anxious to get started at his new production company home.