Founded by longtime freelance commercial producer Goff Martin, Vancouver-based Quixote Films has been ramping up into full-force spot production since its launch last summer. In November, Martin brought Carmen Ruiz y Laza on board as producer and head of sales. Since then, the company has been hopping.

According to Ruiz y Laza, Quixote ‘has two parts to the company: one is the production arm, providing service work, and the other is representing directors.’ The producer goes on to explain that Martin’s established group of local and international clients has given the company a head start.

Indeed, Quixote will continue on Martin’s path of providing service work to international commercial producers wishing to shoot in scenic Vancouver. ‘We already have established contacts with a lot of European production companies and directors who want to shoot in Vancouver,’ Ruiz y Laza says.

The producer explains the mix of international work is about 50-50 U.S. and European. But they are not forgetting the Asian and South American markets, either. Already, Quixote has done spots with Argentina, Colombia and England.

Despite the international flavor, Quixote vows to ignore neither local jobs nor local talent.

Says Ruiz y Laza: ‘At the end of November we did a job for Ford with a director [Grant Harvey] that we brought in from Calgary. We’re doing another spot at the end of the month for the Western Canadian Lottery Corporation, again with Harvey.

‘That’s something I really want to do – get some of the local up-and-comers. They’ve done some wonderful work with features and they want to break into commercials. And that’s something we would very much like to work with them on. They have the talent to direct and we know how to market it for commercials,’ she says.

Quixote’s commitment to local business is also reflected in its dealings with the B.C. Film Commission, an organization Ruiz y Laza says helps in her bid to promote Vancouver as a first-class production destination.

Ruiz y Laza explains her dealings with the commission: ‘A director contact of ours in California was trying to get a job through an agency for a local client who was a friend of mine. He was trying to get clearance to shoot in the Vancouver Aquarium. For reasons I won’t get into, the production had to go and shoot in Florida. Really, the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. The local client wanted to keep all the money in Canada, in Vancouver specifically, because this is where his business has thrived. And he wanted to drop a quarter million dollars on another spot. He couldn’t do it here.

‘I talked to the film commission to say, ‘Look, we’re trying to keep business in Vancouver. Can you step up to the plate and help me? And they jumped to it. They didn’t get a resolution, but I can honestly say they came right to the forefront and were right there. It took two minutes for my call to get answered.’

‘Hands-on’ is a term Ruiz y Laza uses often when describing Quixote’s business style. Also, like other Vancouver spot producers, she says Quixote will specialize in the ‘extreme’ locations that have made Vancouver a special place to shoot spots.

With all her selling of Vancouver, Ruiz y Laza says she sometimes feels like she ‘belongs to the film commission.’ However, she is pleased to bring production work to the city, even if ‘they don’t end up being [a Quixote] client.’

To sum up, the producer and head of sales says at work, ‘basically we just love to have fun.’

The Quixote directors roster includes Canadians Howard Alstad (Palmolive, BC Hydro, Jaguar) and Rick Etkin (Canadian Direct Insurance, Manitoba Telephone). American-based directors include Jeff Eamer (Japan Camera, Reebok), Todd Korgan (Vancouver Grizzlies, Toyota), Walter Pawluk (BC Lottery, Coors Light, Twix) and Alan Vajda (Regions Bank, Levi’s). Carlos Rusansky (Doritos, Volkswagen), an Argentinean living in Mexico City, rounds out the roster. *

-www.quixotefilms.com