Lisa Francilia and Dan Scherk, cocreative directors at Bryant Fulton & Shee, have etched themselves on the Vancouver commercial market with quality spots most production and post houses are anxious to work on.

Many of their boards go through Vancouver’s Circle Productions. In fact, their Lotus Award-winning ad for the Vancouver International Film Festival was produced by Circle, with Rick Stevenson directing and DOP Christian Loubek behind the camera.

‘They had only $5,000, but the creative was really cute,’ says Circle executive producer Chris Bowell in reference to the then junior BBDO creative team. ‘It had Barbie dolls, and the dolls were doing the lines of the film stars. That was their first real hit. As far as their credibility as creatives, and as far as the general community is concerned, winning the big award like that with a little spot was a big deal.’

Last year, Circle produced another VIFF spot for the team, this time with Loubek at the helm, and it picked up a Lotus merit award.

Bowell says the team is very hands-on throughout the production process.

‘I find them to be very actively involved in their creative,’ he says. ‘They have a very clear vision of what they want, and they are fairly strong on what their vision is and hang on to it.’

He says, too, the quality is always evident in their work.

‘They generally come up with very interesting creative,’ says Bowell. ‘Even though we didn’t do it, I really like their Shaw Cable stuff that is on the air right now. All of the work we’ve done for them has had a good creative hook. It is pretty consistently interesting work. As a result, their work is really becoming sought after by the production companies.’

Deb Tregale of Vancouver post shop Coast Mountain says she looks forward to working with Scherk and Francilia. Having cut many of the BFS team’s Kokanee spots, Tregale says she enjoys a very collaborative process when the team has work in her shop.

‘What I personally like best about working with BFS and Dan and Lisa is that it is a real team thing,’ says Tregale, speaking from her Vancouver home after giving birth to triplets the week prior. ‘We feel like we are part of their team. With some agencies it is a ‘Do what we want you to do’ kind of thing and you’re not part of the process. With them, we feel we are really part of their process. I think it makes for a better product in the end because everybody is working toward the same goal and everybody knows what the goal is.’

She says the team is usually very receptive to different ideas in the editing suite.

‘They want to see what they want to see, but they are also very open to everyone else’s idea,’ says Tregale. ‘It’s their concept. They were there for the shoot and it is their baby so they have a vision that maybe as an editor and having not been a part of the whole process you don’t see exactly the way they do. I think that is also a good thing, because not having been part of the whole process you [as the editor] can bring something to it they maybe didn’t think of. It’s good to have both.’

Tregale says there are certain advantages to having a creative team that happens to be cocreative directors in the suite. She says it usually results in a more balanced product.

‘As cocreative directors, you have a writer and an art director, so you’ve got both sides of it as opposed to just one creative director being in the room,’ says Tregale. ‘They are just such a blast to work with. They are fun people, which makes for a far more enjoyable workday.’ *

– www.coastmtnpost.com