Andy Keen’s Toronto commercial production start-up, The Horse’s Mouth, must have had a line in the launch budget for carrots. To promote the new shop, Keen shipped fresh carrots all over Toronto along with the company’s demo reel.

The Horse’s Mouth describes itself as ‘a unique company specializing in independent commercial production with budgets under $40,000.’ The company’s doors opened in mid-March, coinciding with the mass shipment of carrots and reels. ‘The package went out to 45 or 50 agencies,’ Keen says.

Whether the carrots improve the vision of those viewing the company reel remains to be seen. However, Keen is confident there is a market for his new-style company.

‘In the last few months we’ve been setting this thing up and putting a reel together. I guess, in a nutshell, the idea came from experiences I have had working with the bigger houses and the bigger-budget stuff and realizing there is a space in there to design some kind of forum for making more original things, stuff that speaks with a new voice,’ Keen explains.

The catalyst for Keen’s idea was a series of bumpers he shot freelance last year for a small Toronto agency called Wilber Force. ‘The budget we were given was $30,000 and they wanted to make eight five-second bumpers, and we thought we could do it. We just created this character and had a blast doing it. [The bumpers] ended up being pretty funky and we got some good response. I guess it was that job that made us think ‘let’s see if there’s more of this stuff out there,’ ‘ says Keen.

Before embarking on his venture, Keen, who has a background as a director, spent some time looking for representation with established production houses in Toronto. The meetings made Keen think, ‘If there is no room for us here, let’s go straight to the agencies and see.’

Keen didn’t go into the agency meetings blindly. He positioned himself in a small-budget niche, hoping to garner jobs the larger production houses would not have much interest in.

‘These smaller projects are jobs [agencies] would have to almost ask favors of the bigger guys to do,’ Keen says. ‘And so it was, ‘Let’s get in touch with the broadcast producers at the agencies and show them what we have.’ ‘

Further differentiating itself, The Horse’s Mouth will also seek to creatively collaborate with agencies ‘on their great ideas.’ Says Keen: ‘We want to help visualize with them, to carry the passion from the creative side to the production side.’

Keen is acting as executive producer and as a director for The Horse’s Mouth. The shop also has two director/cinematographers on its roster, Andrew MacDonald and Chris Romeike. Negotiations are underway to bring a freelance producer on board.

In the meantime, The Horse’s Mouth, which also boasts an in-house Avid, continues to shoot promos for itself and market its services.

‘We want to prove we can make spots that are lasting and memorable,’ Keen says. ‘It’s just a matter of letting agencies know there are other people out there. They don’t have to go to the big guns.’ *