Who’s gone where? From where? And when? As the Revolving Doors spin, we put the spotlight on spot-makers on-the-move.

The Players Film Company has forged a relationship with Coma Industries of Venice, CA that will see Philip Mellows’ Toronto spot shop repping Coma’s four directors exclusively in Canada. Coma is a division of Neue Sentimental Film, with branches in Frankfurt, Milan, Berlin, New York, Hamburg and elsewhere.

Agencies will now have access to directors Manu Coeman, Henning Winkelmann, Niels Grabol and Stein Leikanger through Players. Mellows believes the foursome will really appeal to Canadian creatives.

‘When I saw the various reels these folks represent I just thought it was really telling about our market and represents what I think creative people here are looking for,’ says Mellows. ‘The work has that weird sensibility of being naturally real.’

While being toured around Toronto by Players’ Amanda Cohen, Coma rep Babette Zilch told Playback Players is the logical place to sell their directors.

‘We like what Players does,’ says Zilch. ‘Their reel is a particular high-quality creative and reflects a high-quality creative approach. It’s the same approach we have. We’ve thought about representing ourselves in the Canadian market, but we feel more comfortable being represented by a company that knows the Canadian market that much better.’

The German-born Zilch says relationships with companies like Players are indicative of a much bigger picture that Coma, Players and most other production companies want to be a part of.

‘We see ourselves as global players,’ says Zilch. ‘We work in a business where this is possible. We are part of an international network. We also find that people like working with European directors because they bring something that is different. It’s a different look, although the differences are subtle.’

Of the fantastic four now at Players’ disposal, all are European and each has a large, and some may suggest quirky (by Canadian standards), collection of spots to their individual names.

Based in L.A., Winkelmann began his career in 1990 as a PA on short films. Since graduating to spots, his extensive client roster has grown to include Nike, Nestle, MTV, Mazda, Frico and others.

Zilch says Leikanger is very popular currently in his native Scandinavia. Spots on his reel include work for Tips and Tele-Danmark.

Coeman, a Belgian filmmaker, has spent five years in the director’s chair. Starting off as an AD to some of the top European commercial directors, Zilch says Coeman has become a ‘passionate storyteller.’

‘You can see it in his reel, especially in his older stuff,’ says Zilch. ‘His work is not so glossy or has that hyper-reality advertising look. He wants to concentrate on the essence of storytelling and I think he’ll eventually do that in a feature as well.’

Denmark-based Grabol is said to be hot all over Europe right now. Although he has been helming spots for just two years, Grabol made his mark with an incredibly successful campaign for a Danish chain of grocery stores known as Fakta that features some truly off-beat comedic work.

‘The shops weren’t doing very well in Denmark so the clients told him to do basically whatever he liked,’ says Zilch. ‘The creatives and Niels came up with this totally silly campaign, and it was so successful that not only did they win a Bronze Lion at Cannes, the shops flourished again. He recently did 22 more ads for them. They were just pumping out funny ideas and they are finishing them right now.’

Shot entirely on location in-store in Denmark, Zilch says the latest batch of 22 spots only took two days to shoot.

-www.playersfilm.com

-www.comaindustries.com

Vertigo dizzy with new additions

Toronto cinematographer rep house Vertigo is ‘reshaping and moving forward,’ according to company rep Barb Murphy. This reshaping comes in the form of three new DOPs and two new art director/production designers, a side of the Vertigo business that has recently started to flourish.

On the cinematographer side, Vertigo has begun repping Toronto-based shooter Robert MacDonald, who has worked the camera for Big Sisters, Kellogg, Vaseline and YTV. Ron Williams is on board from Vancouver. His reel includes spots for Ford, Sympatico and Compaq. Rounding out the DOPs is New York-based Glen Mordeci, who has shot for Wendy’s, Nike, ESPN, Canadian Club, Wal-Mart and others. Vertigo is repping Mordeci in Canada only.

The shop has also started repping art directors Benno Tutter and Brian Jones.

Based in Toronto, Tutter’s credits include various long-form jobs for Dufferin Gate and others. Vertigo will only be repping Tutter for commercial work.

Jones has had a remarkable career thus far in terms of having his name attached to big projects. In addition to commercials for Nike, GM, JC Penny, Miller and McDonald’s, Jones has worked on music videos for Iggy Pop, Michael Jackson and others. Some of his more outstanding clips include Madonna’s Material Girl, Don Henley’s Boys of Summer and Prince’s When Doves Cry. He also served as art director on Rob Reiner’s classic mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. *