One of the best kept secrets on the West Coast commercial production scene is ready to emerge into the wider public eye and become a major player in the Canadian spot trade. Says who? Actually – Sezwho.

Sezwho is the moniker under which president Michael Terry and executive producer Greg Bosworth are running their newish Vancouver-based spot shop. Terry and Bosworth have quietly put together a small-but-impressive roster of four directors for representation in various parts of the country.

Sezwho is a wholly owned subsidiary of West Coast Films, over which Terry also reigns as president. Although he has spent the last few years working on longer-format projects in Los Angeles, he began to miss the excitement and headaches only the commercial production scene can provide. He called on Bosworth, who had helped Terry when he first began producing commercial projects in Vancouver roughly a decade ago, and he agreed to come aboard.

Although Terry spends the bulk of his days in l.a., he is confident Bosworth can run Sezwho in Vancouver. Despite the saturation in the Canadian commercial market, Terry says he is sure his shop will make a splash and keep busy.

‘Some people may say we are crazy trying to tackle the commercial production arena considering how competitive it is these days,’ says Terry, from his cell phone, while driving through l.a. during an unseasonable downpour. ‘We just say, ‘Says who?”

Sezwho has managed to wrangle an eclectic group of helmers, including l.a.-based Kerry Brown, who recently left a cushy job as executive creative director of Detroit ad agency Campbell-Ewald to become a full-time spot director. Brown has already completed a number of jobs for Sezwho, including two :30s for White Spot, currently on air. The ads will be added to a number of well-produced spots and spec pieces.

‘His reel is the inaugural, coming-out-of-the-blocks reel. For a first-time director it really opens a lot of eyes given the quality and level of work,’ says Bosworth.

l.a.-based director Marlene Rhein is next on the roster. Rhein has been named by Film Maker Magazine as one of the 25 top directors to watch and is represented by Sezwho for work in Canada.

Through Sezwho, Rhein recently shot a Caboodles spot for air in Australia through the heavy-hitting Vancouver chapter of Palmer Jarvis ddb.

On the Caboodles job, Sezwho was able to show just how far it will go to make a shoot happen, even if it is at its own expense when the clients’ budget is limited.

‘We as a company invested in that commercial in an effort to help develop Marlene,’ says Bosworth. ‘It was such a good little piece of creative and [putting money into a spot] is something we are not adverse to doing. We recognized the up side both from the standpoint of Marlene’s career, and getting to work with an agency such as Palmer Jarvis.’

Sezwho will also be repping director Bobby Sheehan on the West Coast (read more about Sheehan in Revolving Doors, p. 8).

Rounding out the roster is Playback/Saatchi & Saatchi First Cut Award-winner Wayne Craig. Sezwho will only represent Craig for work on the West Coast, as he is still on the untitled roster for the rest of the country.

Terry says he and Craig got on very well when they first met at a Toronto ad awards show last year, and neither of them has looked back since.

‘Wayne just finished doing a :30 spot out here for Wasserman & Partners for the Nurses Union of b.c.,’ says Bosworth. ‘It was the first chance I’ve had to see Wayne in action, both in the boardroom and on the set. He is very much a collaborative guy.’ •