Apple Box Productions continues to make news with the recent signing of Toronto-based director Mitch Gabourie. A spot director of four years, Gabourie joins Apple Box from The Players Film Company, where he was represented for a year and a half.

‘The marketplace has changed quite dramatically in terms of the number of boards and the number of directors,’ says Gabourie, ‘and it was just time for a change.’

He says he wanted to join Apple Box because he sees the shop as having a more national focus than many of the production companies.

‘I think so many of the companies are really Toronto-focused,’ he says. ‘Everybody right now is starting to think about Europe and South America and other places so that they have a much broader market to work in. It is no secret that Apple Box has a really strong presence in the West and that was part of it – and the fact that I had a really good gut feeling about the vibe of the place.’

Apple Box executive producer Clare ‘Cash’ Cashman says Apple Box was eager to get Gabourie on board because of his impressive track record with Players and, prior to that, The Partners’ Film Company. She says Apple Box brass was very impressed by his reel, which includes spots for Sony Playstation, Pontiac and Bell Vista, and she believes he will fit well into the Apple Box roster.

‘We were looking for another local, Toronto director,’ says Cashman. ‘So he is local and we don’t have someone who fits into the same style category as him. He has got great performance and dialogue and our other local [Toronto-based] director, Randy Diplock, is very much into comedy dialogue. Mitch’s work is more stylized and more performance.’

Cashman says Apple Box is already bidding on jobs for this new director, while Gabourie says he is excited about the potential opportunities to be had with the company, including the chance to work out of Apple Box’s other locations in Alberta and British Columbia.

‘I think there is a lot of strong stuff out of the West, and with Randy [Diplock] here they are moving into an area where they are getting really great creative,’ says Gabourie. ‘There is Rethink out West and Palmer Jarvis ddb and a lot of places making really strong stuff. I have quirky [spots] on my reel so I am hoping I’ll be able to get some stuff out of the West that will push me in that direction.’

Gabourie’s final collection of spots with Players were for Kodak and are currently on air. *

– www.appleboxproductions.com