Two Toronto-based commercial production companies are taking chances on a pair of new, virtually untested directors, as Kyle Davison signs with Sparks Productions and Park Bench signs with The Big Film Company.

With an already saturated directors market, Big and Sparks are both adopting a strategy of careful planning to get work for their new helmers. Reps from both have said they will ease the two directors into the commercial world, being very particular about their first jobs.

Vancouver-based Davison is perhaps best known for his indie short The Venus Pussytrap. He says he is ready to shake up the Canadian commercial production industry with controversial material.

Sparks executive producer Corinna Lehr applauds Davison for his daring and hopes creatives will offer up some of their edgier boards to the young director.

‘I think he will provide chances to sort of challenge agencies and clients to step up to their plate in the world of humor but also in keeping within the parameters of the slickness of advertising,’ says Lehr.

Davison, repped for work in the States by Oil Factory, first began to explore the idea of directing while in Hong Kong some years ago. He went there to produce music but found he enjoyed writing. He maneuvered himself into the Hong Kong production community and visited many sets. He was immediately impressed by their style of filmmaking and their never-let-them-say-you-can’t attitude.

In 1997, he returned to Vancouver, where he started experimenting with filmmaking and different film stocks to get a feel for the craft. He shot his own short film project, A Good Burn, on video, and ended up schooling himself as a filmmaker by way of a baptism-by-fire.

‘A lot of people don’t really go out there and do that to themselves,’ says Davison. ‘I think it is good to go out and shoot as much stuff as you can first and figure out the film language a little bit and how to compose a scene or give feeling with certain angles and looks.’

He took a job at Command Post/Toybox in Vancouver, where he met dop Eric Norby. The two quickly became a team and began playing with different post techniques and software, which led to The Venus Pussytrap. Davison says the film came to him in a vision while eating Indian food with some friends.

‘I was in the mind space to basically make a big splash while having some fun and hopefully pissing off a few people with the sexuality stuff,’ says Davison. ‘The people who get it realize that it is a joke, that it is tongue-in-cheek and I’m riffing on what is going on out there. I’ve had a few people that have been offended.’

Indeed. When looking for representation in Toronto, Davison presented his reel with the short intact to a number of commercial production houses. One exec was visibly upset by Davison’s imagery.

‘He tore a little bit of a strip out of me; he tried anyway,’ recalls Davison. ‘He was saying, ‘I don’t know what you are trying to do here or what you’re thinking with this stuff. We can’t really do anything with this.’ I thought it was great because if I didn’t piss at least one person off I didn’t do my job right.’

The Venus Pussytrap certainly got the attention of Sparks’ Lehr. She says she was amused by the reaction of the men in the room at the initial Sparks viewing of the film, who were reluctant to show their amusement in the presence of a lady.

‘I’m noticing a lot of men are a little hesitant to embrace it because they are afraid they shouldn’t like it,’ says Lehr. ‘The irony is I have yet to find a woman who has been offended by it.’

Davison says based on Sparks’ reaction to the film and his very funny Jones Soda spec work, he knew he’d found a home in Canada. He sees a lot of potential in certain genres of advertising (beer and footwear, for starters) Canada hasn’t exploited to the fullest.

‘There are cool things going on, but there could be cooler things going on,’ says Davison. ‘There are no rules, right? If there are no rules, why not actually have no rules?’

Lehr says Sparks is going to be very selective in choosing boards for Davison. His style, she says, doesn’t lend itself to just any cereal or shampoo ad. Davison says that suits him fine, and looks forward to getting a shot at the right commercial that can help put him on the map and elevate Canada’s standing in the international commercial production hierarchy.

‘I really want to work here in Canada and I think we can do some damage here,’ he says.

Elevator ride to the top

The short spot career of Big’s new director Park Bench was documented in the Jan. 8 issue of On The Spot, but can probably best be summarized with one word: ‘Elevator’. Under the banner of his theatre company Toothin Theatre, Bench and his partner Alex Appel put together the ‘Elevator’ psa for Mental Health Awareness and managed to place first in the London International Advertising Awards for best low-budget spot.

‘Elevator’ is also what he presented to Big executive producer Cindy Kemp, who passed the tape on to executive producer Angie Colgoni.

Through meetings between Big and Bench, they decided to take a similar approach as Sparks is taking with Davison, for similar reasons.

‘He is not sort of your run-of-the-mill director,’ says Colgoni. ‘Something we all decided right from day one was that we wouldn’t just get him jobs to start him out. But as soon as I saw that spot I knew he had something. It’s just a matter of letting him pick and choose the right spot.’

‘We sort of have an understanding that we are going to be picky and so forth and they are going to stand behind me,’ says Bench, who is repped for music video work by Hoodoo. ‘I enjoy working with talent and things with a certain offbeat humor. It doesn’t matter to me how many or whatever, it should just be a fun and enjoyable outing.’

Bench says he looks forward to the challenges of directing spots as a profession, but also hopes this endeavor will be lucrative enough to help Toothin financially.

Colgoni, like Lehr, is hopeful creatives will take notice of her new director.

‘I think there are a lot of young creatives around that will really dig him,’ says Colgoni. ‘They’ll be really foolish if they don’t bring him in to present.’

She says, though, she is acutely aware of the challenges of launching a new talent in today’s competitive market, and is ready for it with Bench.

‘It’s very difficult for the younger directors right now. Even the a-list guys are dropping their rates and taking jobs. It makes it very difficult for an upstart, but we didn’t have any reservations about taking him on. I think he’s got it. The big ‘it’.’ •

-www.sparksproductions.com