– Molson fetes tour

In another show of support for young Canadian directorial talent, Molson Breweries handed out its New Canadian Talent Showcase Awards to four up-and-comers from the film, video and ad industries at last month’s Marketing Awards. Mollies were awarded to David Cowdery, Andrew Hunt, Adam Massey and Patrick Sisam.

The showcase is derived from submissions sent from a panel of agencies and judged by a representative from Molson, from the Canadian Advertising Foundation and from Marketing magazine.

Cowdery was recently added to the roster of The Players Film Company and has a background in music videos, with two Canadian Music Video Awards to his credit. Cowdery’s reel piqued the interest of MacLaren McCann when it was sent for consideration for Molson Canadian.

Sisam was just signed by L.T.B. Productions and brings a background in short film as well as advertising, with a stint as copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi in London, Eng. Sisam moved from writing commercials to film with an mfa from New York University Film School and directed short films Thirty Below Zero and Love Child (with fellow Canadian star of that inexplicably popular Party of Five show Neve Campbell). Sisam also worked on the Global New Producers series with an adaptation of the Timothy Findley short story Dinner Along the Amazon, which was nominated for a Gemini this year.

Born in Toronto and with residences here and in New York, Sisam will be considered a local and will undertake to bring the dialogue and talent direction flair and contemporary edginess of his films to commercial work.

-New Players

The Players Film Company has added two new directors, Ken Nahoum and Charley Stadler, both out of New York.

And Chelsea Films is picking up representation in the u.s. for Avion Films’ Howard Alstad.

-Partners’ buying binge

The Partners’ Film Company will be bulking up its equipment lineup with a new truck for Affiliated Equipment as well as undertaking a major overhaul of control with new dubbing gear, time code dats and the like.

Partners’ has been a hub of activity lately, with lots of work, lots of American work, and lots of celebs including David Bowie and an impromptu visit by Robin Williams.

-They Aren’t

Word on the street is that neither Spy Films’ Pete Henderson nor Imported Artists’ Richard D’Alessio is on the short list for this year’s Molson ‘I Am’ campaign for its signature brand Molson Canadian.

The campaign may have a u.s. director behind the lens. Three names rumored to be making up the short list are Jeff Weinrich, l.a.-based Rocky Morton through The Directors Film Company, and Olivier Venturini represented by The Partners’ Film Company.

-Hunger pangs

Rave Films executive producer Chris Dalton has bid temporary adieu to the ad game, taking a three-month sabbatical to work on the tv series The Hunger. The show, from Scott Free Productions (Ridley and Tony Scott’s u.k.-based company), Telescene and Showtime is shot in Montreal and Dalton will act as series executive in charge of production. Dalton worked in the same capacity last year on The Arrow.

Exec producer Ken Eggett will hold down the Rave fort in Dalton’s absence.

-Cautionary tale

Days after the Marketing Awards and the March 23 judging for the Bessies, a little story about the award mania that has the commercial industry by the nose. The names have been obliterated to save egos.

It seems a creative type who shall be nameless came up with a brilliant idea for a one-off ad. His client, a big telephone company, wanted a little something for the program at a sports event it was sponsoring. So the creative guy dreamed up and landed one of those spanky visual masterpieces that works completely without text. The company logo was positioned clearly in the context of the ad. The client was over the moon; the agency’s creative heads equally so.

All was peaches, until a few days later when a head of creative took creative guy aside and asked him if he was really convinced the ad was the best it could be. Did he think it really worked without any text at all? Well, yes he did, the creative said, and by the way, so did the client. Well, said the head, I think we should put a ‘proud sponsor’ tag line at the bottom. Because? ‘Because what if we win an award and it’s not clear who the client is?’

-It’s a boy

You think you were having a good/bad day. Few were, at 4:30 a.m. March 20, giving birth to a 10-pound two-ounce baby boy. Drew Ingal Thomas is the newest addition to the Thomas family, with congratulations to jwt producer Nansi and her husband Kim.