In the last two years, it seems, Apple Box Productions has really come in to its own. One of a handful of Canadian-based commercial houses with multiple locations across the country (in this case, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver), Apple Box has made clients, ad agencies and competitors sit up and take notice.

One competitor – or rather a director at a competitive company – certainly did. The result? Christopher Gentile left Toronto’s LTB Productions to join ABP in December, and is looking forward to a lucrative future at his new home base. Apple Box will represent Gentile across the country and in the U.S.

Gentile, a Toronto-based director with a terrific reputation here and in the States, largely in the toy/kids/Saturday morning commercial category, says Apple Box is ‘a perfect fit’ for him.

‘It seemed that Apple Box was doing a lot of the same sort of work that I was doing in [the kids advertising] area and it just made sense to join forces,’ says Gentile. ‘Everyone is trying to get at the same piece of business. I was losing work to them and they’d lose work to me, so we just thought the best idea was to join up.’

Gentile’s arrival is indicative of a bigger picture, and that is the continuing growth of Apple Box Productions. Over the course of the last few years, the company has stepped up to become a leader in the Canadian market by having solid directors that fill nearly every niche in commercial production, from comedy to cars and all points in between. Add a director the caliber of Gentile to the likes of Randy Diplock, Craig Worsham, Barry Meier, Mitch Gabourie and others on the ABP roster, and Apple Box has positioned itself to continue in its leadership role.

Cynthia Heyd, VP/director of broadcast production at BBDO Toronto, worked with Apple Box as recently as fall 2001 on a commercial for Pizza Hut. She says a lot of Apple Box’s success can be attributed to the fact that it has not only individual directors that fill niches, but the company has also found a niche itself as one that promotes and offers strong Canadian talent.

‘I think part of their success is due to the fact that they have solid Canadian talent,’ says Heyd. ‘The experience I’ve had with them is working with Randy Diplock, and it couldn’t have been better. It was very collaborative, very service-oriented and very creative. It’s one of those nice situations where you have it all in one place and it is all homegrown.’

She says she hopes other commercial production companies will follow suit and strongly get behind their Canadians first.

Apple Box Toronto executive producer JJ Lyons says the company’s strategy is a simple one.

‘Internally and externally we like to surround ourselves with nice people,’ says Lyons. ‘We have an internal rule here, sort of a motto, it’s a thing called the ‘no asshole rule.’ If you’re an asshole director or producer we don’t want to work with you.’

Despite Lyons’ humble analysis of the company’s success, Apple Box’s roster arguably fills every niche and genre, with Gentile’s reputation making its position in the Saturday morning/kids market stronger than ever.

‘Our roster is very well rounded,’ says Lyons. ‘We’ve got a couple of car directors, some comedy/dialogue directors, directors that shoot big pictures and a tabletop director. We’re kind of in every area.’

Before his arrival at ABP, Gentile directed for Wayne Fenske and LTB Productions.

-www.appleboxproductions.com