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apr/may 2013

contents

Visit us on the web at www.ozmagazine.com, www.ozonline.tv, www.facebook.com/ozpublishing

Oz Magazine is published bi-monthly by Oz Publishing, Inc • 2566 Shallowford Road • #302, Suite 104 • Atlanta, GA 30345 • (404) 633-1779

Copyright 2013 Oz Publishing Incorporated, all rights reserved. Reproductions in whole or in part without express written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

This magazine is printed on recyclable paper.

oz magazine staffPublishers:

Editorial:

Group PublisherPublisherAssistant to Group Publisher

Tia PowellGary Powell

Mukari Butler

Ozcetera EditorResearch

Gary PowellSue-Ellen Chitunya

Erin Greer, Keith Brooks, Diane Lasek, Nicole Bazemore, Andrew Duncan.

Contributors:

Diane Lasek, Monique McGlockton

Sales:

John Cleveland Sherman, III

IT/Database Administrator

Design:

Production Artist & DesignerOz Logo Design

Sarah MedinaTed Fabella

Cover Design:

Dorothea Taylor, ©2013, tpdesigninc.com

features

Love, Life & Family Behind the Scenes ............................................ 18

Don’t Mess with Moose .........................................................................26

Atlanta-mation Domination ...............................................................30

columnsOzcetera ...................................................................................................... 6

Behind the Camera w/ Drewprops:The Art Department ...................................................16

Voices: An Actor’s Life for Me ............................................................... 24

How I Got into the Business ................................................................ 34

Oz Scene ....................................................................................................36

Distribution Partners .............................................................................40

Let Me Give You My Card ......................................................................41

Ad Campaigns ..........................................................................................42

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contributors

Diane Lasek has been involved in the film and television industry for 20+ years, most of that time as a marketing and salesper-son. She is currently working as a sales consultant on the Oz Publishing team and enjoys getting to know all of the hard-working creative folks working across Georgia. In her spare time she is a beekeeper, master gardener and has a little organic soil amendment company for your garden-ing needs. This issue, Diane contributes the article: Atlanta-mation Domination, p.30.smartdirtorganics.com

Tori LaConsay (mostly) lives without regret. She designs, illustrates, writes, and collaborates with her co-producer (and favorite dude) Ramsey Yount to produce creative and com-pelling video content for some of the best dadgum clients around. Buyer beware: she’s fast and loose with hugs and hi-fives. This issue, Tori contributes design for: Behind the Camera w/ Drewprops, p. 16; An Actor’s Life for Me, p 24; Don’t Mess with Moose, p. 26.; and Atlanta-mation Domination, p. 30.Facebook: /2600productionstori@2600productions.com

Keith Brooks is a super cool diabetic actor/nunchuck enthusiast who enjoys all things nerdy. He likes long walks on the beach, Fresca, and you. So you should like him too. This issue, Keith writes the Voices column: An Actor’s Life for Me, p. 24. keithbrooksishere@yahoo.com

Dorothea Taylor is one of the founders and current owner of T.P. Design Inc.–a. design/illustration studio providing every-thing from logos and typographic treatments to corporate print and design media including institutional and service brochures, marketing collateral, signage and displays, information graphics, web concepts, surface design/illustra-tion, product packaging and point-of-sale merchandise. Dorothea contributes the cover illustration. tpdesigninc.com

Andrew Duncan, known in the motion picture industry as “Drewprops”, has been writing about the craft of filmmaking from the inside out since the mid-1990’s. His confusing and often embarrassing stories from behind the scenes provide a unique insight into the craft of filmmaking from the perspec-tive of the shooting crew, artists, and designers who bring your favorite films to life on the big screen. Andrew writes the Oz column, Behind the Camera w/ Drewprops, p 16. drewprops.com

Nichole Bazemore is a freelance writer and blogger. She is also the host of the show, “Say It With Style,” on Blog Talk Radio. Her company, Simply Stated Solutions, provides marketing materials for coaches, consultants, and small businesses. This issue, Nichole contributes the article Love, Life & Family Behind the Scenes, p. 18.simplystatedsolutions.comFacebook: /simplystatedsolutionsTwitter: @nicholebazemore

Erin Greer works in many facets in the industry, vacillating between screenwrit-ing, producing and acting depending on project. She is the managing editor of American City & County magazine. This issue, Erin contributes the article: Don’t Mess with Moose, p. 26.

Josh Gary is a passionate graphic and web designer from Athens Georgia currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. He has a huge appreciation for art and loves designing a piece of the inter-net one pixel at a time. This issue, Josh contributes design for ove, Life & Family Behind the Scenes, p. 18..joshgary.com

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Crawford Media Services, Inc. has ac-quired assets and assumes the manage-ment of CineFilm Lab Services. Beginning February 1, 2013, CineFilm will operate un-der the Crawford Media corporate um-brella as Crawford/CineFilm.

CineFilm, which opened in 1977, an-nounced in December 2012 that it would be closing. Closing the lab would have had a negative impact on the produc-tion community not only in Georgia but also throughout the Southeast. Crawford

Media Services felt that there is still a need for film processing. Local productions like The Walking Dead benefit

by keeping their film processing logis-tics local. Other features and episodic TV that are shooting film in the Southeast still have a trusted source for processing and dailies. Crawford and CineFilm worked dil-igently on an agreement where Crawford would assume operations and manage-ment of the laboratory facility and contin-ue to offer the same high caliber of film processing that CineFilm has been known for.

Combining the capabilities of both Crawford and CineFilm offers the produc-tion community a full range of services including 35mm & 16mm negative pro-cessing and printing, film transfer, color correction, dailies, and physical or elec-tronic distribution for a complete post production solution. “CineFilm now being managed by Crawford just makes sense.”

says Jim Ogburn, General Manager of the Crawford/CineFilm lab, “It’s important that we continue to be the trusted partner for anyone shooting film, and the strength of the two entities will ensure that we are.”

Crawford Media Services and One Billion Rising recently joined forces to create a PSA that raises awareness for the move-ment to end violence against women and girls. The PSA aired on WXIA-TV as part of the national campaign also known as V-Day. Crawford’s creative services team worked with One Billion Rising Atlanta di-rector, Nikki Noto, to script, shoot, edit and compose an original score for the :30 spot. Troy Bieser, Crawford’s associate creative director, said, “We felt genuinely honored to add our voice, get the word out, and reflect both the gravity and excitement of this momentous day.”

Jim Ogburn, General Manager, Crawford/CineFilm

Crawford Saves the Dailies Day

New to the music licensing world is Atlanta startup Tunefruit. Tunefruit is an Atlanta based music licensing startup. Tunefruit offers a professionally curated, globally sourced music catalog of non-exclusive tracks that are being used for student projects, feature films and every-thing in-between including commercials and corporate videos.

Tunefruit sets itself apart from the compe-tition with their Deep Tagging™ process and proprietary algorithms that allow cus-tomers to find specific tracks in minutes

instead of hours. They also pride them-selves on having a streaming mouse-over feature to preview tracks instantly, with no login requirement to browse and license tracks. Just enter your email and a credit card, pick from one of the five license tiers, and you can move on with your project.

Tunefruit was founded by two veterans of the music licensing industry who set out to make music search easy and fun for filmmakers. 50% of each sale goes directly to the artist.

Music Made Fruity For two days Ground Floor Video host-ed the Atlanta and New York offices of the Definition 6 Advertising Agency in GFV’s new studio. Actors from four dif-ferent Atlanta talent agencies participat-ed in the green screen shoot which fea-tured an animated town and park where business owners meet new customers in the “Get Connected” campaign for Cox Media. Utilizing the RED camera and un-der the direction of Luke Livingston, cli-ent and agency felt right at home in the Woodstock facility.

Definition 6 Hits Ground Floor

Local Indy Sells Out!Will Dove’s indie feature, No Soliciting was a sellout at its Plaza Theater premiere.

Congrats to Will Dove, writer/director/pro-ducer of the feature film, No Soliciting. It premiered January 3rd to a sold out stand-ing room only crowd of 400 people at The Plaza Theater. On the spot, the theater of-fered the film a week run because not only were there no seats left, the venue had to turn away another fifty or so people trying

to catch the film. The film then ran from January 18th-24th with one showing every night. Combining the opening night and the week-long run, the film grossed above all expectations, which resulted in another week at The Plaza. The official gross can be seen on Rentrak. In addition, on IMDB No Soliciting went from 1,168,621 in ranking to 191,915, jumping close to a million titles in popularity.

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Industry The

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1973 2013

Industry The

Yearbook

40 years of Georgia Filmmaking & the people who made it happen

1973 2013

Industry The

Yearbook

40 years of Georgia Filmmaking & the people who made it happen

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Atlanta advertising agency breensmith has hired Matt Hayes as Director of Client Services to oversee the management of their growing client roster and lead new business efforts. Hayes previously spent 10 years at The Weather Channel, where he was Vice President of Sales Strategy & Trade Marketing for national cable, digital and mobile platforms.

breensmith Hires Matt Hayes

Conway Data Inc. has redesigned its on-line properties and its corporate real es-tate and economic development maga-zine, Site Selection. The redesign includes a new logo and new look for the maga-zine. For the web site, Conway is re-tool-ing their digital platforms with updated presentation and content.

For almost 60 years, Site Selection Magazine has been the most highly re-garded industry publication covering the corporate real estate and economic de-velopment industries. “To remain best-in-class you have to challenge the norms and reinvent the way you do things,” added Ron Starner, General Manager of Conway Data.

Same Great Data, New Great Look

Partnering with Crazy Legs Productions, Eclipse Post created another series that is appearing on the Travel Channel. For Armed and Ready, Eclipse is credited with editing, audio, color correction and even producing. In the series, Kevin Michael Connolly, who was born without legs, creates new rigs to travel anywhere, con-quer anything and push the limits of the world around him. With his impressive arm strength, his skateboard, the help of backyard engineers and real scientists - and without a wheelchair or prosthetics–Connolly tackles adventure after adven-ture. The first of the six half-hour episodes premiered in February.

Eclipse Post Armed and Ready

The POP Shop and North Point Community Church were recognized for their collaboration on their MarriedLife Great Date Experience project, receiving a Gold Pyramid Award in the Goodwill cat-egory at the 2013 PPAI Awards Ceremony held in Las Vegas, Nevada. MarriedLife Great Date Experience encourages mar-ried couples to preserve date night. Themed content creates connections through fun and intimate conversation. In collaboration with MarriedLife, The POP Shop developed a red Frisbee with the

Great Date Experience logo in white. The flip side contained a two-sided pop out paper disc that featured two date nights: Perfect Summer Day and Hot Summer Night.

At the same ceremony, Sonya Beam, MAS+ and Brian Beam, CAS also received two Image Awards for their own POP Shop marketing materials, and a silver award for their e-catalog and for a multi-piece direct mail sales campaign.

Put a Little POP in Your Marriage

The New WIFTA Board

Members of the 2013 Women in Film/Television Atlanta (WIFTA) Board of Directors: Front row (L to R) BJ Arnett, Kay Butler, Vanessa Arment and Deborah Gonzalez. Back Row (L to R) Alissa Symmons, Karen Ceesay, Autumn Bailey, Cheryl Jenkins, Tanisha Coffey and Glenda Giles

Most people in the production biz start-ed as production assistants . . . the erst-while PA. How does one become a PA? The 2013 PA Academy, brought to you by The Georgia Production Partnership (GPP) and The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF), took place in January at PC&E. The two-day boot camp, run by Linda Burns, education chair for GPP and industry chair for ATLFF, attracted 49 students, 43 of which attend-ed both days. The PA Academy recruited local DGA ADs Angela Gomes, Jerry Pece, Jessie Daniel, Paul Lindsay, Mark Apen and Danielle King, as well as APOC Tara Ansley, office PA Kody Wynne and set PA Trevor McNure. PC&E’s Garrett Murck also gave

an equipment show and tell tour through the warehouse and studios.

Boot camp topics included: terminology; crew positions and hierarchy; duties and responsibilities; how to read a call sheet; lock-ups; runs; kits; realities of being a free-lancer; setting background; confidentiali-ty; pay; pet peeves; common mistakes; types of PAs; a typical day on set; do’s and don’ts: set, cast and walkie-talkie et-iquette; how to clean up and closeout a stage; and a three hour course for resume creation to help attendees get that first job.

Potential PAs Spend Days with Burns

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The Black Women Film Network (BWFN) hosted its Untold Stories Awards and Scholarship Luncheon in March at Atlanta’s Marriot Marquis. This year’s event shined a special spotlight on talented writers who used their works to tell the “untold stories” of the black community. It is also an opportunity to recognize an in-dustry executive with the power to green light these kinds of stories.

“Historically, the portrayal of African Americans have been limited and stories projected on the small and big screen of-ten present stereotypical characteriza-tions,” says BWFN Board Chair Tomika DePriest. “It is an honor to recognize each of these individuals who are working to present an array of African American char-acters on television and in films.”

“We are also proud to host this event as part of our efforts to provide scholar-ships to students pursuing careers in the television and film industry,” adds Sheryl Gripper, Founder. “BWFN is cultivating the next generation of writers, producers, di-rectors, actors and executives to ensure there is a pipeline of talent entering the business.”

BWFN also presented its first-ever Chairman’s Award at the 2013 Untold Stories Awards, given to long-serving board members who have made signifi-cant contributions to the Atlanta-based non-profit. WXIA-11 Alive’s Evelyn Mims and Pat Johnson, former director of alum-nae affairs at Spelman College are this year’s recipients. Both are founding board members of the 16-year old organization.

Awards for Untold Stories, Scholarships for Those Who Will Tell Them

Black Women Film Network honorees (L-R): Tananarive Due, Connie Orlando, Pat Johnson, Erica Qualls, Evelyn Mims, Myra J, Yolanda Howsie and Steven Barnes. Photography by: Afif M. Cherif

Jaw dropping. Stop the Presses! A sign of the apocalypse. An ad agency is actu-ally practicing what it preaches . . . Ames Scullin O’Haire (ASO) launched an inter-active media advertising campaign that includes three unique video concepts to tell the agency story. “We were recently hired by a large international corporation,” explains Patrick Scullin, ASO’s Managing Partner-Creative, “and at our presentation, the CMO said that we were ‘the best ad agency no one’s ever heard of.’ That got us thinking that we need to do something that 99% of ad agencies never do–adver-tise.”

The primary purpose of the campaign is raising awareness and driving traffic to their re-vamped website.” To do that, the agency is testing three different concepts. One features sperms vying to get inside the circular logo of ASO, positioning the agency as “a perfect place for clients who want to grow.” In another execu-tion, a metaphor is used as the word “tri-cycle” races against the word “Ferrari”–– and wins, thanks to marketing help from ASO. In a third video, visuals of clients be-ing frustrated are shown as a voiceover reports that two-thirds of CMOs say that they are unhappy with their ad agencies.

ASO is positioned as a solution for those frustrated clients since the agency is “a better place to be.” The digital ads will ap-pear on a variety of well-known websites, including LinkedIn, as traditional banners ads, banners with pre-roll and video dis-play. The media team tapped a mix of strategies to reach decision makers, in-cluding look-alike targeting, audience profiling and contextual targeting. The audience-profiling portion of the cam-paign will reach CEOs, VPs of advertising, marketing managers and others on the websites they visit throughout the day.

Stop the Presses!

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The Georgia Department of Revenue for-mally adopted its prior round of proposed entertainment tax credit regulations and issued new proposed regulations. The ad-opted regulations fleshed out the defini-tion of a “loan out company” (relating to the new withholding requirement on pay-ments to loan-outs). Based on the exam-ples provided in the adopted regulations, the implication is that a loan out compa-ny is a personal services company (where-in the owner-employees own a material portion of the entity) that provides servic-es related to artistic or “core” production activities. Non-artistic activities (e.g., se-curity or catering) likely do not constitute loan out companies even when provided by closely held business entities. The ad-opted regulations also recognized that

loan-out withholding could be made by a production company or its payroll ser-vice provider.

The new proposed regulations go even farther and allow payroll service providers to use entertainment tax credits generat-ed by the production activity against their employer withholding taxes. Prior to this proposed changed, not many production companies took advantage of the fact that entertainment credits can be claimed against employer withholding taxes be-cause they did not have any employees (such employees being at least nominal-ly employed by the payroll services com-pany). Under the proposed change, such credits can now either be used against the production company’s or its affiliates’

income taxes, used against the produc-tion company’s or the payroll provider’s employer withholding taxes (in effect a cash grant), or sold to a third party buyer for a discounted sales price.

The new proposed regulations also elimi-nate the $100,000 minimum sales rule for production companies selling their tax credits in multiple installments. Prior to this change, each sale of credits report-ed on an IT-TRANS had to be for at least $100,000, except for the final installment.

-Peter Stathopoulos, Esq. -Shareholder, State and Local Tax

Consulting, Bennett Thrasher

Entertainment Tax Credit Rules Adopted

The Dalton Agency promoted Karie Hayden to account executive. Hayden will take a larger role in strategic planning and execution on marketing plans for agen-cy clients Lonza/HTH Pool Care Products, NYCM Insurance and SouthernLINC Wireless.

To Execute the Account

Karie Hayden of The Dalton Agency.

StreetLevel Sound owner Greg Shearer was a featured panelist and speaker at the recent inaugural Atlanta Television Festival Fest held at SCAD Atlanta. Speaking on the topic “Music in Television,” Shearer ad-dressed a capacity crowd about his recent music credits for the ABC show Revenge, the Fox show Raising Hope and his recent trailer work for Lionsgate Films. Other re-cent credits include 10 Things I Hate About You and In Plain Sight. The 90-min-ute panel discussion covered a range of topics from breaking into the business to intellectual property issues. In other StreetLevel news, composer/pro-ducers and father/son duo Paul and Kyle Shearer were recently in the studio working

o n new tracks for the Nashville based pop band Hot Chelle Rae for their third album release later this year. This marks the sec-ond recent foray into pop collaboration for the Shearer duo. They also worked to-gether on Adam Lambert’s pop debut “Trespassing.”

How-To at StreetLevel

The father/son duo of Greg and Kyle Shearer recently worked together on pop music releases.

First quarter was busy for camera, grip, sound and crew company Get-a-Grip. Projects included: The Atlanta Food Truck Cooking Show Challenge, NBC Dateline with Lester Holt, and Oprah Winfrey’s in-terview with pop icon and Atlanta native, Usher.

Brushes with Fame

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When he’s not whipping out music for productions and electronic games, composer Curtis Bryant is a . . . composer. The Secret Agent is a newly completed opera based upon the classic 1907 novel “The Secret Agent” by Joseph Conrad. It features a libretto by New York forensic psychiatrist Allen Reichman to go with Bryant’s music composition. Atlanta’s Capitol City Opera Company gave the world premiere performance of the entire two act opera with chamber orchestra in three performances in March at Oglethorpe University’s Conant Center. Bryant and Reichman shaped the classic Conrad story into a modern music drama that hits home in an era fraught with fears of terrorism and political dissent.

Music Giant Curtis Bryant and His Secret Agent

Librettist Allen Reichman and composer Curtis Bryant. Their work, The Secret Agent, premiered at Atlanta’s Capitol City Opera.

Biscardi Creative Media owner and prin-ciple Walter Biscardi, Jr. was recently se-lected as a broadcast judge for the James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards. Covering all aspects of the in-dustry; from chefs and restaurateurs, to cookbook authors and food journalists, to restaurant designers and architects; the James Beard Foundation Awards are among the highest honors for food and beverage professionals in North America.

The newest member of the Biscardi Creative team is Nicole “The Hair” Wright. She will be overseeing BCM’s marketing & business development initiatives. You are encouraged to ask about her hair.

Lanier High School has a program called the Center for Design and Technology (CDAT) to prepare students for work in engineering, simulation and entertain-ment. Biscardi Creative has been work-ing with this talented group of students and teacher, Mike Reilly, over the past few months. After touring the BCM facility, Walter Biscardi turned the kids loose on a current project. Instead of just working on a class assignment, the students were creating something that will be part of a documentary premiering on PBS in the fall of 2013.

Biscardi . . . Isn’t That a Food?

Nicole Wright, Marketing and Business Development, Biscardi Creative Media.

Have news for Oz Magazine?Send your PR and relevant high-resolution photos to ozcetera@ozonline.tv.

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Fizz City Films has hired Michael Tillman as an executive producer. Tillman joins Fizz City Films after having freelance pro-duced for many of Hollywood’s A-list commercial directors. He has worked with almost all the automotive companies and for agencies like TBWA Chiat Day, Deutsch, Inc. and Team Detroit. Producing jobs have taken him to virtually all 50 states, Canada and Europe, and even landed

him in the boardroom of Kuhmo Tires in Seoul, South Korea pitching storyboard ideas to be produced in Spain. As the business shifted, Tillman expanded his producing skill set to include digital for cli-ents like Sony PlayStation and Direct TV. Additionally, he is versed in the area of live streaming, a field he maintains has yet to be creatively exploited by agencies.

Tillman Brings Sizzle to Fizz

Artistic Image welcomes newest hire, 3D artist Vladamir Streltsov. Streltsov has worked at the Mill, HUSH, Speedshape, First Avenue Machine and many others. His specialties include character anima-tion, automotive lighting and rendering, and commercial compositing. Streltsov enjoys The Chronicles of Narnia and ponies.

In work news, AI created a series of videos for Home Depot’s company conference in Las Vegas. Using green screen footage, the AI team worked in Adobe Premiere and After Effects to build and animate five social media sites, which were the focal point of each video.

Who Doesn’t Like Ponies?

Vladamir Streltsov, 3D artist, Artistic Image.

Merit Mile, a creative and consulting agen-cy headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, has established an Atlanta office. Atlanta advertising veteran Pete Galbiati has joined Merit Mile and will lead account service and business development initia-tives in Atlanta, currently the ninth-largest media market in the country according to Arbitron. Merit Mile also maintains cre-ative and consulting staff in Seattle.

Galbiati brings over fifteen years of mar-keting experience to Merit Mile. With an extensive background in sports marketing and the automotive marketing industry, Galbiati has worked directly with national media properties at the highest level in-cluding NASCAR, ESPN Outdoors and CBS

Sports. His experience also includes sev-eral years spent in branding, ad creation, web development, experiential market-ing, public relations and product devel-opment within a variety of industries.

Recently ranked as the fourteenth-largest advertising agency in South Florida – one of the top media markets in the U.S. – the agency will leverage its new presence to amplify a growing roster of consumer and business-to-business brands in the areas of technology, automotive, hospitality, ecommerce, financial services, retail and real estate development, primarily.

Galbiati Brings Merit Mile to Atlanta

Salter Entertainment Group LLC pre-miered a new short film, Thank You Dr. King, in honor of Black History month. The 10-minute documentary film was writ-ten, produced and directed by SEG’s pres-ident and executive producer, Erika Salter. The film pays homage to the legendary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with commen-tary from native Atlantans. It showcases raw live action shots from the historic and new Ebenezer Baptist church and features the city’s annual march on historic Auburn

Avenue. The piece has multiple purposes as it educates, uplifts and sheds light on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in the com-munity today.

Thank You Dr. King was shot using the handheld Canon Vixia HFR10 and edited on Final Cut Pro 7 using Apple MacOS X. Vidaurre Savice acted as production assis-tant and Richerthn Richi created an origi-nal score for the film.

Thank You Dr. King and Salter Group

Tube has been filming several projects on location and across the United States. Since January, Tube has filmed in the Black Foothills of Colorado Springs, at Turner Field, at the residence of legend-ary third-baseman Chipper Jones, at the Kansas City Royal’s stadium, and on loca-tion at The Weather Channel. A number of shoots have also taken place within Tube’s insert stage. In late February, Greg Gumbel hit the Tube stage for a project with Melt, Coke Zero, and Kroger for NCAA March Madness. Tube lensed a quick project with The Weather Channel’s Maria LaRosa in early March. The stage has also been rented out over the past few months for Dad’s Garage and for the new Purveyors of Pop show Married to Medicine.

High and Low, Here and There

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As a nerd who grew up watching be-hind-the-scenes featurettes about the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” fran-chises, I had always assumed that the typical motion picture director was in absolute control of everything that ap-peared on-screen. I was convinced that they had every single shot storyboard-ed out and that nothing went into the camera that the director hadn’t pains-takingly engineered well ahead of time. The truth is, most scenes are not sto-ryboarded, and every department on a motion picture project (from art to wardrobe) have an effect on what you see onscreen, down to the moment that the cameras start rolling. Most direc-tors gladly rely on the expertise of their

department heads and defer to those people’s judgment. But in many ways, the final look of a film still comes down to three positions which have tradition-ally wielded enormous influence over the look of a project: the director, the di-rector of photography, and the produc-tion designer. The director’s primary con-cern is to elicit compelling performances from his actors and to get the shots the editor will need to cut the scenes. The di-rector of photography controls the audi-ence’s view into the director’s world and has the unique ability to tell a story with-in the story using lighting and camera techniques. The production designer lit-erally designs the world within which the story takes place.

Directors become famous outside of the industry while production de-signers generally only become “well-known” inside the business. The simple reason for this difference is celebrity; di-rectors work with famous actors while production designers work with talent-ed nobodies. Despite being doomed to historical obscurity, the production designer has a remarkably important job, with as many (if not more) people working un-der them as the film’s director. Let’s now refer to the organizational chart! This is perhaps the most typical or-ganization for an art department in the world of motion pictures. And even though one of these departments is named “the Art Department,” it is stan-dard practice to lump ALL of the depart-ments under the production designer’s control into something that is also called “the art department”. Confusing, no?

The Art Department is responsible for the design of the show, from sets to photography to major graphic pieces.

behind the camera with drewprops

THE ART DEPARTMENT

PROP DEPARTMENT SET DECORATION ART DEPARTMENT

SET DECORATOR

LEADMAN

BUYER

SET DRESSER

ON-SET DRESSER

ART DIRECTOR

ASST. ART DIRECTOR

SET DESIGNER

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

STORYBOARD ARTIST

ILLUSTRATOR

PROPMASTER

ASST. PROPMASTER

PROP ASSISTANT

ART DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

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The art director tends to act as the pro-duction designer’s right hand and is re-sponsible for logistics, schedule, and often manage the budget for each set. They may help manage the other cre-atives within the department, depend-ing on the production designer’s work-ing style. Other departments take their cues from the art department. The Construction Department are is-sued construction drawings by the art department. The construction coordi-nator works with his foreman (construc-tion) and lead scenic (paint) to have their crews create sets that meet the pro-duction designer’s vision. Construction craftsmen include carpenters, welders and specialty prop makers who create oversized set elements that should not be confused with the props used by the props department. While The Scenic Department in this diagram is tucked under the construc-tion coordinator, in most people’s minds the scenics are their own entity, reporting to the lead scenic (also known as the “paint charge”). Scenics can turn plywood walls into lavish bird’s-eye ma-ple paneling using nothing more than paint and secret techniques handed down over the years.

After the sets have been built and the paint is on its way to being dry The Set Decoration Department steps in to work its magic. While they do move a lot of furniture, it’s entirely wrong to think of the people in “set dec” as mere “mov-ers.” They’re responsible for making spaces look inhabited, and it’s always fun to walk into a freshly decorated set to find all the special touches their crew has left behind. The department head, known simply as “the decorator,” usu-ally has an encyclopedic knowledge of furnishings and decor, as do the shop-pers/buyers who have relationships with antique stores in their region. The production designer usually pays spe-cial care to consult with the decorator because they realize that the final layer of human habitation is what will “sell” their sets to the camera. The people in The Greens Department are often thought of as mere landscap-ers, but they’re actually craftspeople who happen to work with plants. Greens crews may find themselves painting lawns to look winter-dead in the sum-mer, then tying spring leaves to trees in the dead of winter. Greens are especial-ly useful for screening out real world el-ements that the filmmakers don’t want

to see, from other buildings to their own crew’s equipment. Next up is The Props Department, which I’ve referred to as the “redhead-ed stepchild” of the art department in previous articles, because the props de-partment works embedded with the shooting crew and identifies more with the film’s director than the produc-tion designer. The people in props are responsible for anything that the ac-tors will touch or use in a scene, from a glass of milk to a spring-driven, heli-cal fed 9mm Calico carbine submachine gun. These props are either purchased, rented from a props warehouse (or else-where), or fabricated to order. Finally, there’s The Art Department Coordinator, who functions essential-ly as an office manager for the entire art department. This position is frequently underpaid and underappreciated.

CONSTRUCTION FOREMAN

CARPENTERS

WELDERS

PROPMAKERS

ON-SET CARPENTER

CONSTRUCTION, SCENICS & GREENS DEPARTMENTS

LEAD SCENIC

PAINT GANG BOSS

SCENIC

ON-SET PAINTER

CONSTRUCTION COORDINATOR

GREENSMEN

ON-SET GREENS

LEAD GREENSMAN

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SYNERGETiC DUOA GEORGE AND CHAD WATKINS, SYNERGY FILMS

I n the 1970s, George Watkins was a freelance producer and director work-ing for big, corporate clients, like Rich’s Department Store. When he needed fresh talent for one of his shoots, he didn’t have to look any further than his backyard. “Whenever Dad needed the cutest kid on the block, he drafted me,” says his son and business partner, Chad Watkins. “It was always a fun, interesting day, and I got to get out of school.” George says that giving his son the chance to learn something new — and have fun doing it —was really the goal all along. He didn’t realize he was grooming his son to follow in his foot-steps. “It never really was intentional,” George says. But Chad did stay in the business…

well, ultimately. After graduating with a degree in Communications from the University of Colorado, he went to work for Atlanta Olympic Broadcasters and the International Olympic Committee as an archivist for two years. He then entered the commercial production world as a freelancer. “I thought I’d be an

Olympics nomad and go on to the next broadcasting gig, whatever that would be. I needed work,” he says. Chad worked as a freelancer for four years, working with his father — now co-founder with Lynne Toll of the pro-duction company Synergy Films — on projects from time to time. Before long,

those sporadic projects became more frequent. “I called Dad looking for day work to make rent and all of a sudden, I’m in business for five years until Lynne left, and he asked me to come on.” Father and son became business part-ners in 2000 — George as director/pro-ducer and Chad as executive produc-er. “It was great from the get-go,” says George. But like any new partnership, it wasn’t without its bumps. To help make the transition easier and mutual-ly beneficial, the men enlisted the help of a coach, who shared ways they could communicate as business partners, rather than as parent and child.

“I WAS TRYING TO SHARE MY PASSION AND ENTHUSIASM FOR THE BUSINESS. IT WAS JUST A FATHER SHARING EXPERIENCES WITH HIS SON. I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD STAY IN THE BUSINESS.”

GEORGE WATKINS AND CHAD WATKINS

BY NICHOLE BAZEMORE

DESIGNED BY JOSH GARYLOVE, LIFE & FAMILY BEHIND THE SCENES

First order of business — finding a way to smooth out the men’s divergent working styles: Chad was a bottom-line businessman who wanted the facts, while George was more empathetic, a diplomat who relied on soft skills. Chad had the ability to get right down to business; something that often con-tradicted his father’s more laid back approach. “I have a more fact-finding bent,” Chad says. “I was asking Dad busi-ness questions, but I wasn’t going to get what I needed through that route. There was a realization that I was going to have to run the business, make it profit-able. Dad always had a partner who was the more business part of things.” Nevertheless, while Chad may have wanted to simply get down to business, George was teaching him that doing business was about more than mone-tary transactions: it was about develop-ing and fortifying human relationships. “Dad taught me to always complement folks on board and scripts that some-times weren’t always the best. It was about the camaraderie on and off the

“CHAD IS A VERY, VERY CREATIVE PRODUCER. IT WORKS TO HIS ADVANTAGE. HE KNOWS WHAT HE’S DEALING WITH. HE’S NOT LACKING ANY CREATIVITY.”

set. It was delightful because of what he wanted to create. I wasn’t there just to produce a commercial. It was an event and there was something unique about what we were striving to do.” And even though Chad is bottom line oriented, his dad says,

What this father-son team managed to create over the past twelve years is nothing short of remarkable. Chad has used his business acumen—and the people skills his father helped him to re-fine — to secure a number of projects for Turner Sports, including an Emmy award-winning promo featuring bas-ketball star Shaquille O’Neal that aired for the “NBA on TNT.” His work has also taken him internationally to Berlin, Cancun, and Prague. Not too shabby for a man, who, as a kid, just wanted to get out of school for the day and have some fun. “As a partner, much less a father, it’s great to see what he’s accomplished,” says George.

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If you wanted to argue that a having a creative bent is in one’s DNA, all you’d have to do is look at the family of Bart Patton and Judy Ponder to lend cre-dence to your claim. Bart, a director, producer, actor, play-wright, novelist, and screenwriter (did we miss anything?) is a third-generation creative. Born in Culver City, CA, Patton’s grandmother was an actress, his grand-father acted on Broadway, and his fa-ther was a drummer for a big band. With so much creative talent around him, it didn’t take long for Patton to get bitten by the bug. By the age of ten, he was do-ing live TV in Chicago. Later, he enrolled at UCLA, where he made a student film with the Francis Ford Coppolla (not yet an Oscar-winning director). From there, Patton went into producing, eventual-ly producing Coppolla’s 1969 film “The Rain People.” In 2000, he made his di-rectorial debut with “Unshackled,” a film about a reformed convict starring Stacy Keach and Morgan Fairchild. In 1975, on a set where they were working together, Patton met Judy Ponder, a makeup artist who would be-come his wife. Unlike Patton, Ponder didn’t have a creative media pedigree. A single mother of three, Ponder was looking for ways to support her fam-ily. Over time, she began to form asso-ciations with people who were involved with the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It was in this way that she quite literally,

got pulled into the business. “A few film companies from out of town, New York and L.A. companies, would come here and do productions, and there were no resources for them. They would call the Alliance to see if they could get employ-ees — lighting, riggers, etc. Through the people I knew at the Alliance, I was rec-ommended to them.” Then, while she was working as a pro-duction assistant (PA) on the set of the movie “Remember Those Poker Playing Monkeys” (later renamed “The Great Bank Hoax”), Ponder met the man who would set her career in a completely

different direction. Famed New York City-based makeup artist David Forrest, who was also working on the film, pulled Ponder aside one day during shooting.

MAKEUP ARTiSTS,DiRECTORS, MUSiCiANS, OH MY! CREATIVE CLAN OF BART

& JUDY PATTONTHE

“HE GRABBED ME ONE DAY AND SAID, ‘LOOK, YOU DO YOUR MAKEUP BEAUTIFULLY.”

You’re gonna be my assistant.’ After that, I never stopped working as a makeup artist. I never had to take a part-time job, never had to worry about not hav-ing an idea of what I was gonna do with my life.” In fact, like her husband, Ponder has worked consistently over the decades, even during extremely slow times for the film and TV production industries in Georgia. She has served as makeup art-ist on dozens of films, including “Walk the Line,” “The Notebook,” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” Family did not take a back seat. Ponder says whenever she was on a movie set, she always brought her children along. “They grew up on the set with me,” she says. “We had a huge circle on the set by the time they were teenagers.”

YOUNG BART PATTON AND BOB HOPE

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Between the two of them in their com-bined family, Patton and Ponder have 5 children, four of whom work in the cre-ative industry. There are Judy’s chil-dren: Stephanie Ponder, a makeup art-ist; Drew Ponder, a boom operator; and Marlon Patton, a musician. Bart’s son, Tyler Patton, is a production design-er and prop master who has propped the TV series “House” for seven seasons. Judy’s oldest daughter, Robbie, is the only child who’s not in the creative me-dia: she works as a special education teacher. Both Bart and Judy say they’re not surprised their children decided to work in the creative media.

says Bart. “You have time off to travel and lots of time to spend with them.” In fact, many of those trips and times together were the makings of great memories for the couple’s children.

For Stephanie, the most memorable trip was to Colorado, where her parents were working on a film. “I learned how to ride a snowmobile and snow ski. I’d never seen anything like that,” she says. For Drew, two summers spent in New York City while his parents were on proj-ects were especially fun and memo-rable. For Marlon, who learned to play the drums while toying with the grand-father’s drum set from the big band, a trip to Richmond, VA, was the best. His mother, Judy, was working on set, and Bart, his father, was writing a screen-play. But Marlon remembers Bart would take time off during the day to hang out with him. “Marlon learned to drive a diesel en-gine on that trip,” Bart adds. “That was a defining moment of my childhood,” Marlon quips, causing his parents to burst into laughter. Ultimately for Stephanie, Drew, and Marlon, perhaps even better than get-ting to see different places and spend-ing long stretches of uninterrupted time with their parents was having the freedom to take the time to really ex-plore the different ways they could make a career as creative professionals. “[The producer] would say, ‘We need a teenager in this scene,” so I would be in the shoot,” says Stephanie. “I started try-ing out a lot of different departments — props, art department, makeup, and then finally decided makeup was what I wanted to do.” Like his sister, Drew tried different de-partments on set and never felt pres-sured to choose. “It was being there and being available. Just being available when they needed a PA. It just sort of evolved. At 18 or 19, I started thinking, ‘Where do I want to go?”

“THEY ADORED OUR LIFESTYLE,”

Marlon, an award-winning musician who plays with a number of bands, has toured with world-renowned jazz pia-nist Takana Miyamoto, and will begin a tour with the band Larkin Poe in April, says, “Having a family of freelancers, I never doubted I could be in a freelance outlet. Growing up around freelanc-ers and supportive parents was huge. They’re super supportive. I’ve heard so many stories about kids having to fight tooth and nail to support their passions. I never had to do that.” As for Bart and Judy, they say they couldn’t be happier that their children not only took on creative careers, but that they’re thriving in their respec-tive fields. Judy says she initially wor-ried about kids making a living during the recession, but no more. “That lasted about a minute. They have such great reputations. That’s a pretty amazing thing for parents not to have to worry about if their kids are going to survive.” Bart adds, “I’ve been very lucky, espe-cially with Drew and Steph and Robbie to have a feeling of love for me as a stepfather. They always seemed to like me. It’s a fantastic thing to be loved by stepchildren. I always considered them my children. How can you not be proud of kids who do their job well? We’re the luckiest parents on the earth.”

MARLON PATTON PLAYING THE DRUMS

STEPHANIE AND DREW PONDER TYLER PATTON BART PATTON AND JUDY PONDER

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ELECTRiC ENERGYFOR ELECTRICIANSBENNY GASKIN, RODRICK GASKIN, AND BEN N. GASKIN, ELECTRICIANS

For all the joy George Watkins has in seeing what his son has achieved in the creative media, electrician Benny Gaskin has double: both of his sons are film industry electricians. If you add in the grandson who sometimes accom-panies him on film sets and the untold numbers of young men and women he’s mentored or inspired to get into the in-dustry, well, that joy just might be im-measurable. “I’ve got more ‘nieces’ and ‘nephews’ than I know,” says the semi-retired Gaskin, who is affectionately known as “Uncle Benny” to many tech-nicians on Georgia film sets.

Gaskin got his start in the industry driving trucks on local film sets. He got his first shot as an electrician on the set of “Glory” in 1989. In 1990, he went full-scale freelance, serving as electrician for the film, “Freejack,” with Emilio Estevez and Rene Russo. “From that point, I took an interest in it,” he recalls.

Over the next several years, Gaskin worked as electrician for several ep-isodes of “In the Heat of the Night.” Often, he’d bring along company—his oldest son, Rodrick.

says the elder Gaskin. “He was working on ‘In the Heat of the Night’ with us when he was 17 years old. From that point on, he’s been working pretty steadily.” But Gaskin’s younger son, Ben, wasn’t sold on the industry. “Ben, Jr. didn’t want any part of it,” Gaskin says. “He was 25 or 26 when he came into it as a means of working and making a living.”

“I came out a few times with my dad, cousins, and my brother. I started once and I left and came back,” Ben, Jr. ex-plains. Actually, the East Point, GA na-tive moved away, to South Georgia, where he met his wife. After Gaskin got married, he came back to Atlanta, work-ing on music videos, commercials, and feature films. One film in particular — 2004’s “Motives,” directed by Craig Ross, Jr. and starring Vivica A. Fox and Shemar Moore — convinced the youngest

“HE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO ANYTHING I DID,”

BENNY GASKIN AND ACTRESS REAGAN GOMEZ PRESTON

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Gaskin that maybe he should seriously consider going into the family business.

“MY DAD, MY BROTHER, AND I ALL WORKED AS ELECTRICIANS ON THE FILM. IT WAS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES THE THREE OF US WERE TOGETHER.”

A lot of times, I was working on oth-er things. Today, all the Gaskin men are balancing a full roster of projects. Benny, Sr. is semi-retired and works on smaller shoots. But when he does work, he’s ever mindful that a member of the upcoming generation — namely, his grandson — isn’t far behind him. “He’s been on several jobs with me. I bring him out on shoots so he can familiarize himself with the equipment and learn how to operate it safely,” he says.

His sons, meantime, have full rosters of their own. Rodrick, whose film credits include “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Get on the Bus,” and “Two Can Play That Game,” is currently working on “The Have and the Have Nots,” Tyler Perry’s first script-ed series for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and “For Better or For Worse,” Perry’s sitcom that is moving from TBS to OWN.

Ben, the youngest, is currently work-ing “Being Mary Jane,” the BET movie starring Gabrielle Union that will air this spring. Ben, who has two daughters, says he’s not sure if they’ll follow his and their grandfather’s paths or blaze their own trails. Regardless of what they de-cide, Ben says he’ll pass on to them the greatest gift his father gave him and his brother when they started out in the business: confidence. “He always said, ‘Anything anyone else can do, you can do it, too.’”

Older brother Rodrick adds, “Knowing how much he loved us, that he brought us and other kids into the business…I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

BEN GASKIN

RODRICK GASKIN & CARL JOHNSON

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When I was young, I dreamed that one day I would be on an awards stage ac-cepting a golden statue and the praise of my peers. I imagined that eventually I’d be able to use my imagination to inspire oth-ers the same way the actors of my youth had inspired me. As an outcast child I imagined that one day I’d be famous and as a result I’d get all the chicks.

I’m just being honest.

But now as an adult, in the pursuit of an acting career, I’m more satisfied with, well–just working. I’m an artist at heart (regardless of how pretentious that sounds), and the greatest joy I receive from my path of industry is the ability to create something new everyday. But in honest terms, everyday often becomes every once in a while–and every once in a while quickly becomes, “Someone please hire me for something because I’m tired of eating ramen noodles!” In those desperate moments between the rich and in-depth character piec-es, any job seems like a “good” job. With that mentality, you never run short of cra-zy and interesting experiences. I could write an article a week about all the stu-pid stuff I have to deal with as an actor (seriously I could do that, just ask, I’m very wanting of acceptance). Within the past 24 hours my schedule has been the following: 1) a dramatic, dialogue-heavy piece where I played a guy from the south side of Boston who is begging for salva-tion from a higher power; 2) an absurdist piece where, at times, I am a spaced out, beaten down husband who has smoked too much wacky weed but in truth is ac-tually a very grounded actor who realizes he’s in a play; and 3) an exercising chicken. That’s the role of an actor, ever changing. At least for the character actor it is. But some people don’t realize that. Some people don’t get that we’re only do-ing our job…. Granted, this type of disconnect also of-ten comes with a disconnect from more general reality. For example, I did this film

for the YouTube. It’s a comic book super hero fan film sort of thing. The super hero has a nice little following and has really propelled the video into that sort of “vi-ral” status. But in a promo for the movie itself, I have an interaction with the super-hero where I make fun of him; I call him a baby and make fun of his swords or some-thing silly like that. It was a line that the actor playing said hero had actually come up with. We thought it was funny; let’s go with it on a take. And people laughed . . . and they laughed and then . . .. I received a Facebook message. Not an email via YouTube, but a Facebook mes-sage where a lady tells me “if you ever treat (ACTOR’S actual name, not character name) like that again I will find you and destroy everything you love.” That’s the actual quote. So I thought, maybe it’s a friend of said actor playing a prank on me. NOPE. No mutual friends or anything. It was just a crazy person that took an association with what happened on screen too far. But this isn’t limited to internet insanity. I worked on another show, a satirical commentary about the Trayvon Martin sit-uation. In the sketch I played the George Zimmerman part, acting like I thought an African-American gentleman in a clown costume was suspicious looking. Edgy, perhaps too soon, and some might even say poor taste, but it was my job. So I did it. I’m not a person that’s easily offended and I knew the director and writer’s in-tent (both were African-American gentle-men). So I was cool with the presentation. Seeing the scene, it even made me laugh a little bit. The show airs and the response is di-vided. Some people giggle about it, and some people state it’s uncalled for. That’s the way these things work out some-times. I keep going to auditions, landing some parts, doing my best at the job, and moving on so that the cycle never ends. And then I had an audition with a fair-ly well known casting agency. I walk in for my reading, handing my resume and headshot in, stating my name and

preparing myself to go into character when the casting director says, “You look familiar.” “Oh….” I respond. Because as an actor that’s always an odd thing to hear some-one say. You feel like a douche bag if you then verbally go over your resume, it feels like braggadocio or some other smarmy word. Luckily enough, she had a copy of my credentials in hand. Her eyes scan it quickly and then they light up. “You were that George Zimmerman guy!” Unsure of her feelings on the subject matter I respond, “Yes ma’am. I was,” in a sort of neutral tone.“Well thank you for your time,” she retorts, “But we don’t hire racists.” Now hearing that statement, from a person within the business, I thought surely she was joking. I laughed. She didn’t. “Are you serious…?” “I am.” “But you know . . . I’m not racist–I’m just an actor.” “Thank you for your time.” And with that, I sulked away. I’ve played murderers, rapists, bank robbers, God, The Devil, superhero mu-tants and the taxman. But I am none of those things. I’m a guy that likes to play dress up and use funny voices. Yet, even within portions of the show business community, often times you are asso-ciated and categorized by what you’ve played. These things should prove your range and not your limitations. But don’t let the misunderstandings of some hinder your choices and path. The truth is, some people just aren’t going to get you. They’re not going to understand your art, your career, or your choices. But they’re yours. “They” don’t really need to understand. And if people are trying to pi-geonhole or generalize you based on pre-vious performances, you must have done a hell of a job to make the part so believ-able. Or at least that’s what I tell myself to help me sleep at night.

26 | ozmagazine.com Brass Knuckle designed by mathies janssen from The Noun Project

By Erin Greer

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Prior to December 2012, commercial co-writer Steve Colby had never purchased a bag of Doritos.

Never. He has an aversion to the sound. “I have a neurosis,”

Colby admits. “Human beings who crunch things, it drives me

insane. A crunchy, slurpy apple is like my biggest nightmare.”

But as is so often the case, be-haviors in others that drive you crazy

can somehow be “cute” when done by your kids. It just so happens that Colby’s kids are, well, kids . . . in the animal sense. They’re goats. “One day I was eating chips in my back-yard – I don’t even really eat chips, but I was eating chips – and my pet goats, Kudzu and Moose, just started going cra-zy for them,” Colby recalls. “And the way they were eating them just made me laugh. I thought it was funny, which was really odd.” Like any proud parent, Colby incessant-ly annoyed his coworkers at Pogo Pictures with tales of his kids’ exploits, and what began as a simple story soon became a plea for belief: “You guys don’t under-stand. It’s really funny. I swear.” Half harassed, half placatory, fellow Pogo director Ben Callner agreed to ob-serve the hilarity. A few videos of goat chews and goat screams later, Callner, tears of laughter streaming down his face, was sold. He agreed to co-write with Colby what ultimately became “Goat 4 Sale,” the spec commercial that crashed the Super Bowl. But, it was December. And the deadline for the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl con-test? That was in three weeks.

PRODUCTION What ensued was a mad dash of brain-storming, solicitation (the legal kind), and bad ideas. “We were really pressed for deadline, and I wrote down some really awful ideas,” Callner admits. “It’s just part of the process.” Out of time and mired in writer’s block, Callner finally had what he calls his “epiphany.” One sleepless night later, “Goat 4 Sale,” the :30 tale of forged friendship and ultimate betrayal was born. At least on paper. “There was a lot going on. I storyboard-ed and edited to fit a 30-second time-line. A lot [both on and off-screen] had to

happen in a short amount of time,” Callner said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if we can do this.’” Callner and Colby still needed a cast and crew. Fortunately, good goes around, and crew came easy. Callner and Colby would be on-hand, of course, and Pogo had an established team of talent from which to pull. “Any time you do anything like this, it’s a lot of favors, it’s a lot of work, and there are no guarantees,” says Callner. With no time to stage a casting session, Callner tapped actor Mark Ashworth, whom he had seen read for a lead on a fertilizer commercial. Ashworth agreed, but his acceptance came with a cave-at: “Ben I must warn you, I do have a

beard.” “We got his picture and both Steve [Colby] and I were like, ‘That beard is per-fect’,” Callner laughingly recalls. “Anyone who buys a goat and that many Doritos has to be a little quirky. The beard was definitely quirky.” With the lead confirmed, preparations were made for a 14-hour shoot that would stretch over two days. Day one would be 12 hours and include all indoor shots. Day

two would be the exteriors on the lawn. To save on time and cost, Colby agreed to shoot everything at his house. Armed with 200 bags of Doritos and a great cast and crew, Colby set his sights on Moose. Dubbed “the goat wrangler,” Colby devised a plan to use the friend-ship between Kudzu and Moose to en-sure a million-dollar prize-winning per-formance. Moose would star, and Kudzu would be used to direct Moose’s line of sight. Kudzu would also help with captur-ing the commercial’s hysterical, “scream heard ‘round the world” finale. “If one leaves the room,” Colby says, “one or the other will start screaming for the other.”

Colby admits he worried about Moose’s potential conduct on set, but his con-cerns were soon put to rest. Moose was a pro. “I’ve worked with every kind of ani-mal, and I have to say, Moose was abso-lutely perfect,” Colby said. “He actually en-joyed it.”

• Contestants submit Doritos com-mercials, on spec, for a chance at being selected to air during the telecast of the Super Bowl.

• Doritos and producer/director Michael Bay (“Transformers,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Friday the 13th”) narrowed the entrants to five finalists. Each finalist re-ceives $25,000 and an all-expens-es paid trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

• Two spots are selected to air during the Super Bowl. Doritos selects one spot; online vot-ers select the other spot. These two commercials are the Grand Finalists.

• If a Grand Finalist ranked as one of the top three most popular commercials to run during the Super Bowl, as ranked by the USA Today ad meter, it would have earned bonus money: $400,000 for third, $600,000 for second and $1,000,000 for first.

• The Grand Finalist that ranked highest in the ad meter earned the chance to work with Michael Bay on the next “Transformers” movie.

High Stakes for a Creative Binge: The Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest

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Even the actors felt the pressure to live up to Moose’s performance. Joe Przedwiecki, associate produc-er at Pogo (and media manager and as-sistant camera and actor with the neck brace on the front lawn . . . remember: this was a small production), said he only had one scene in the spot. But Moose still managed to show him up. “We had to change my eye line for the opening shot,” Przedwiecki recalls. “I didn’t know we were rolling, Ben [Callner] was giv-ing me direction, so I was looking at him, and miraculously Moose did everything perfect while this was happening. So, we had Method [post house] use their mag-ic to replace my eyeballs from a previous shot where I was actually looking at Mark [Ashworth], not the camera. My bad.” Human eye lines aside, Colby said the time on set went more smoothly than anyone could have anticipated. “We all were laughing. We all were having a good time. We all were chasing goats, and the house was a disaster. But I always feel like things happen for a reason, and [this pro-cess] just seemed to all come together.” Many memories were made on the two-day shoot, but Przedwiecki said that the most “magical moment” on set oc-curred when “we got Moose to look to-wards the camera and create the scream heard around the world. That shot with him opening his mouth to ‘bwaaaaah’ was when we knew we had accomplished what we thought was going to be the hardest thing to do all day.” But it wasn’t really that simple. There’s always a hitch (thus the indus-try stand-by of “we’ll fix it in post.”). Sure, Moose brought his “A” game by scream-ing on command . . . but it turns out the Nigerian miniature goat just couldn’t pro-vide the necessary pitch. With two days until deadline, Callner was getting des-perate to find the perfect scream. So, he called an expert: long-time buddy Keith Baum who, armed only with an iPhone, recorded himself screaming at the top of his lungs. That scream is in the com-mercial today. “We plugged [it] in and it worked perfect,” Callner laughs. “At that point, we’d been working on it for so long and I’d seen the spot so many times that nothing was funny anymore, but when I plugged in the scream, I actually smiled a little bit.” Weeks passed and the team moved on to other projects. A little back-story here . . . the director of the best Doritos commercial to air, as judged by a USA Today ad meter, would get a chance to work with acclaimed fea-ture director, Michael Bay. About a month after submitting the project, Callner

received what he thought was a prank call . . . from famous director Michael Bay. “Doritos tricked me in the best way pos-sible to tell me that we were finalists,” Callner said, explaining that the company had called and, in serious tones, inquired about how Moose was treated on set. Callner was expecting a return phone call from some sort of animal-rights lawyer, so when Bay greeted him with “Hey! This is Michael Bay,” Callner responded with, “No it’s not.” The pair went back and forth like this for a bit before Callner finally relented. It was Michael Bay. He was calling on behalf of Doritos. “Goat 4 Sale” was a finalist. Callner and Colby were headed to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

THE SUPER BOWL February found Callner, Colby and the other four finalist teams on an all-expens-es paid trip, culminating in a Doritos-sponsored corporate suite for the game. Finalists were told ahead of time that two of the five spots would air during the game, but exactly which spots would play was a tightly guarded secret. The result? Five teams of extremely nervous filmmak-ers. “We were just on pins and needles,” Colby recalls. “And when the spot came up, the entire room just erupted. After that, I just don’t remember much about the game. We screamed the entire 30 sec-onds. We didn’t even hear the spot.” Meanwhile, at The Marlay House in Decatur, Przedwiecki, Ashworth and the rest of the crowd experienced much the same euphoria. “When the spot aired, I was standing next to Mark [Ashworth] at the time, and the bar erupted in total ela-tion. Everyone cheered and clapped, it was pretty deafening,” Przedwiecki said. “It is pretty hard to describe how I felt. Like I just went down the first big hill of a roller coaster. Adrenaline rushing I guess? Mark and I immediately hugged, and within minutes a reporter from FOX 5 was interviewing me, and I do believe I said some pretty incoherent things. I couldn’t think straight!”

GRITTY TO BE GIDDY Colby and Callner have endlessly posi-tive things to say about the process that took their fledgling idea, laughingly con-ceived over lunch at No. 246 in Decatur, and catapulted it into more than 100 mil-lion living rooms. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges. For starters, the contest relied heavily on internet

campaigning, which meant a few people had to take on what amounted to anoth-er full-time job. “It was a campaign, it re-ally was,” Callner recalls. “Every day I was on Facebook. I was on Facebook so much, I literally popped a blood vessel in my eye, I was staring at my screen so much!” Callner admits he practically lived on so-cial media sites for weeks. He became so adept at responding quickly, he began re-ceiving warning messages from different sites. “I got a message from Facebook that said I needed to slow down. Facebook thought I was an automated ‘bot’ scam-ming people.” According to Przedwiecki, the paper-work was a bit of a nightmare as well. “There was a pile of paperwork to do…as if we were adopting a child or some-thing, and it all had to be filled out and notarized by everyone involved quickly,” Przedwiecki said, adding, “One of those was a non-disclosure agreement, saying

Moose Stats:

• His birthday is March 17, 2012.

• He is a Nigerian miniature or “dwarf” goat.

• His favorite food is salted corn chips. Really.

• He and Kudzu like to “car surf” on Colby’s vehicle. Colby does not approve of this.

• Moose and Kudzu enjoy chas-ing Colby down the driveway, sometimes into the street. Colby does not approve of this either.

ozmagazine.com | 29

if we told anyone - anyone - that we were finalists before it was publicly announced in January, that our first born child would be taken from us, and onions would be chopped inches from our eyes daily for all of eternity.” Somewhat disappointing was the an-nouncement by USA Today that the media giant was changing its traditional polling procedure for measuring the populari-ty of Super Bowl ads. The new procedure likely accounts for why USA Today ‘s num-bers contradicted those of Nielsen and Hulu, both of which ranked “Goat 4 Sale” in the top three. USA Today ranked it fourth. And while fourth place overall is defi-nitely a point of pride, a top three finish would have insured a cash prize of up to a million dollars. Fourth place? It gets nada. Disappointed, Colby and Callner sucked it up and accepted the ratings snub with grace, but apparently Moose was pretty upset. “I was going to get Moose to sue,” laughs Colby, verbalizing his mental im-ages of the dwarf goat standing before a judge. “I think he’d really have a shot [to win the case.]”

GOATS UNLEASHED It was produced in three weeks at a cost of $5,000, but “Goat 4 Sale” has tak-en television, print, and the internet by storm. Even before the Super Bowl pre-miere, the commercial received national

attention from media outlets includ-ing CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, Fast Company, Jezebel and The Huffington Post. It has spawned five YouTube pages (hits num-ber more than 70,000), and Facebook sports several “fan” pages with more than 2,000 “likes.” Suffice it to say the commer-cial has brought the quirky brainchild of the core Pogo creatives to an internation-al audience. That kind of attention usu-ally brings work. “Pogo doesn’t comment on pending projects, but we did have quite an uptick in interest in our directors in the days and weeks after the game,” Przedwiecki said. “We’ve been quite busy. Stay tuned!” With the additional interest and the $25,000 prize Doritos gave all the contest finalists (money went to reimburse the cast and crew), the endeavor is proving financially fruitful, though not necessari-ly in the ways one might imagine. Colby jokes that he hopes to parlay Moose’s

fame into some lucrative side businesses. “I did design a goat t-shirt, and I’m think-ing about making a goat doll. If you pinch it, it makes different noises. I seriously am. I’m designing this doll.” While Colby plays with dolls, Przedwiecki is pursuing additional work, and Callner said he hopes the commer-cial will help him in his goal to eventu-ally make a feature film with his broth-er, Adam. One project the trio will not be pursuing, though, is a return to the Crash the Super Bowl contest. The response to the question was nothing short of a sur-round-sound “No!” “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s so much work,” said. Callner. “Just thinking about all the stuff we did from the voting side. It’s so exhausting.” Not even the promise of another shot at the million will sway Colby and Callner. But Moose? Moose is a different story. Moose is having trouble letting go of the loss. He’s not happy. He’s ready to scream.

Survey Says . . . Even though “Goat 4 Sale” missed the big money (the USA Today ad me-ter ranked it 7th), the production team was very enthused about all of the other measurables. The spot was in the top five of all other rankings. The Nielsen ratings had it ranked number one in two categories: Most Likeable and Most Memorable. TIVO, using a random sampling of 30,000 machines,

measured the spot as the second most replayed. A study of 20,000 middle school students ranked the spot nu-mero uno! And, if you start searching for goat screaming videos, you will get way more results than you would have before the commercial aired. Maybe we are seeing the next Aflac Duck or GEICO Gecko?

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archer

ozmagazine.com | 31

There’s buzz in Atlanta animation, with new companies setting up stu-dios and actively hiring. by diane lasek

ack in the day, some 75 years ago, when Warner Bros. and Disney gave us the likes of master cartoonists Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, the magic they and

others created was time-consuming: single-frame, hand-drawn cel animation. Now it seems anything is possible in animation. Folks can cre-ate in whatever medium suits their desires, and small teams can now mix things together to cre-ate images that we’ve never seen before. They can combine single hand-drawn, 3D, puppetry, CG, motion graphics and stop-motion to name a few.

2D hand-drawn is making a comeback after some animators tired of the limitations of 3D. And the creative tools are always becoming less expensive and much more accessible. Motion graphics artists now work in pro-grade 3D us-ing After Effects, and it is now possible to capture and create stop-motion animation with an iPad. All of this makes for a very interesting and lucra-tive time to be involved in animation production.

There’s buzz in Atlanta animation, with new companies setting up studios and actively hir-ing. The film and television tax incentives are the main draw, along with the excellent talent pool coming out of Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), The Art Institute and other schools in the area. Tina O’Hailey, Dean of SCAD’s School of Digital Media, reports that many of their stu-dents are pursuing a career in animation and are

enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts four year pro-gram, with some going on to pursue the one to two year graduate level program. Says O’Hailey, “SCAD teaches all of the various animation medi-ums, and our students have internships and full-time gigs working with Turner Creative Services, Cartoon Network, Floyd County Productions, Bento Box and other companies in town.”

Atlanta and animation really took off with the creation of The Cartoon Network, Turner Broadcasting’s 24-hour animation station, which recently celebrated its 20th birthday. It now reaches an audience of more than 360 million homes worldwide. Two of their top rated shows are produced right here in Atlanta: “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” which debuted in December 2000 and is going into its 12th season, and “Squidbillies,” which first aired in March 2005 and is going into it’s 7th season. “Atlanta is becoming a hub for an-imation,” said Asante Bradford, a project man-ager with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. He said that a range of animation companies are looking to set up shop in Georgia. “It’s exciting. After four or five years of advertis-ing, they’re [animation companies] calling me now,” Bradford said of animation studios and oth-er potential suitors.

Bento Box Entertainment, a California-based company opened their studio in Atlanta in June 2012 and expects it to grow substantially. “We really see Atlanta as a great place to engage the archer

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talent in Georgia,” said Scott Greenberg, the company’s co-founder. “We’ll be a part of the community, and we intend to do a lot more work down there.” Bento Box Entertainment is a leading producer of primetime animation for broadcast and cable networks, along with home entertainment and multi-media platforms. They have worked with FOX, Sony Television, Adult Swim, MTV, Comedy Central, HBO, Lionsgate, Konami, and other major studios and networks. They have studios in Burbank and North Hollywood, California, and now Atlanta, Georgia.

As spending on TV and film produc-tion in the state has more than quadru-pled over the past four years, anima-tion studios are being drawn to Atlanta for its proximity to behemoths such as Turner Broadcasting and access to a trained workforce. Bento Box credited the state’s rich talent pool — legions of students trained at local art schools — as well as a tax break of up to 30 percent of a production’s budget for film and TV companies that spend at least $500,000 on a project. Industry officials say there are at least 700 animators who work in Georgia employed in jobs that typically pay about $60,000.

An animation company that has been in Atlanta for awhile is Awesome Inc., a multi-disciplinary creative studio spe-cializing in 2D/3D animation, broadcast design, motion graphics, live action and mixed media production. Founded in 2005 by Drew Tyndell and Ashley Kohler, Awesome Inc. began as a commercial production company and added a se-ries division in 2011. They currently pro-vide animation and composite servic-es for two infamous Adult Swim series: “Squidbillies” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” They also create award-winning promos, show packaging and commer-cials. Awesome Inc.’s client roster in-cludes Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Fuel TV, Saatchi & Saatchi, CNN, mun2, Fitzgerald & Co, The Weather Channel and Discovery Networks. They have twelve full time employees, including numerous SCAD graduates.

Ashley Kohler is the president and executive producer at Awesome Inc. and also serves as executive in charge of production at Bento Box. The Bento Box executive partners were looking

for local Atlanta talent to partner with. They approached Awesome Inc. be-cause of their experience and leader-ship team, especially Awesome’s Craig Hartin. “After several meetings and dis-cussions, we all felt that it would be a great fit to all move forward together,” says Kohler.

Bento Box currently has a staff of 60 at the Bento Atlanta studio working with the 12 employees at Awesome Inc. “It is fantastic to be able to utilize staff and re-sources across the two studio partners in times of need,” says Kohler. Bento Atlanta is working with Bento Box LA on a series called “Out There” for IFC, and another series called “The Awesomes” for Hulu working with Broadway Video and Seth Meyers. They are also work-ing on several prime time animated pi-lots for 20th TV and FOX. “Out There” premiered in February. Greenberg said that, but before the production tax in-centives, the work for these two pro-grams would have been bid out to Korea, China or another internation-al locale. He was convinced Atlanta is a better alternative, thanks in part to its vibrant arts community. “Instead of putting work overseas, we’re keeping it here,” he said. “We had to wait for the right time for us, the right project. And this is it.”

The Bento series are comprised of both traditional 2D animation and oth-er animation techniques, both executed in ToonBoom Harmony, an enterprise software program. The two series pro-duced at Awesome Inc. are created us-ing Flash, After Effects and Photoshop, resulting in a unique and interesting style of animation. “The talented peo-ple that work on these series have used ever-changing technology to help the series evolve over the last eight years for “Squidbillies” and for more than a de-cade for ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force,’” says Hartin. Kohler ads, “You always want your animation to stand out and feel

new, but we don’t think ‘trend’ is nec-essarily the word. Animators have been blending techniques for ages. We do think finding new ways of using the technology available is key to creating a unique final product.” Bento Box has four main departments: backgrounds, characters, animation, composite and effects. The production pipeline, sched-ule and staff changes, depends on the series and even the episode. Awesome and Bento Box hope to grow and add new employees and projects.

Floyd County Productions has about 100 employees based in offic-es in Virginia-Highlands. The creator of FX’s wildly popular “Archer” series opened its doors in 2009 to create the “Archer” pilot. Before FCP was around, Matt Thompson and Adam Reed flew the 70/30 Productions flag and pro-duced several shows for Adult Swim including “SeaLab 2021,” “Frisky Dingo” and “THE Xtacles.” The crew has been producing animation in Atlanta since 2000. Floyd County also produced a show that had a 13 episode run in 2012 called “Unsupervised.” It was written by David Hornsby, Scott Marder, and Rob Rossell, writers and producers for FX’s “Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” They are also currently making a pilot for FX, pro-duced by David Gordon Green, Jody Hill and Danny McBride’s company, Rough House Pictures. Floyd County has many talented artists from all over the place. However, with two SCAD campuses fair-ly close, their crew has around 50-55% SCAD graduates. They also have several people from The Art Institute of Atlanta as well as a fair amount from Atlanta College of Art (before the merger with SCAD). Before Floyd County, when they were 70/30, they were producing cartoons for Adult Swim and Cartoon Network. Being in the same town as Cartoon Network also worked out great for them.

After Floyd County Productions pro-duced the “Archer” pilot for the FX Network, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, the crew, being already rooted in Atlanta, felt no need to move. “Technology and the internet allow us to easily communicate daily with FX on the other side of the country. Time dif-ferences can sometimes make things a little difficult. There have definitely been times where we’re here at 8:00 at

“Instead of put-ting work overseas, we’re keeping it here.”

-Scott GREENBERG, BENTO BOX

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night recording actors at 5:00 in L.A.,” says Branham.

For season one of “Archer,” FX origi-nally picked it up for 6 episodes. Mid-season, they bumped the order to 10. From season 2 until now they have been producing 13 episode seasons. “Archer” is created using several different pro-grams. The characters are drawn in Adobe Illustrator. The backgrounds are painted in Adobe Photoshop. It’s then composited together and animated in Adobe After Effects. Season 3 saw the introduction of their very own 3D de-partment. They animate in Cinema 4D and use 3D Studio Max for modeling. They also have an Adobe Flash team that has made some great looking stuff for them. “I believe many studios these days are trying new programs and new ways to blend them together. Every pro-gram seems to have its specialty. When you combine all of these great looking things together, you can pull off a great looking final product,” says Branham.

Most people haven’t got a clue about the depth of work that goes into pro-ducing animation, and producing a top rated animated show for a major cable network involves a big team and a big vision. Here’s a break down of the work-flow for creating an episode of “Archer.” First, they get a script from Adam Reed. The script goes first to the art direction team lead by Neal Holman. Holman and his team figure out the designs for the environments, props, characters, etc. They begin directing the storyboard-ing team and putting together boards, shot-by-shot, for the entire show. While the boards are happening, they’re get-ting in touch with actors and booking

them in studios to begin recording. Sometimes there are casting calls if a script calls for new characters, but it’s very common for Thompson and Reed to have an actor in mind when writing. They can usually record everyone for an episode in about two days. These ac-tors are scattered all over the country, so it’s basically Reed, Thompson, and their line producer, Casey Willis, spend-ing two days locked away in their office directing actors over the phone. Once they get all of the audio recorded, they hand it over to their editor. He cuts up the audio and sifts through mountains of takes and creates an episode with no picture, just voice-overs and sound ef-fects.

As boards are completed and ap-proved, they get distributed to various departments. The editor cuts them to-gether with his audio and creates an an-imatic. The illustration team takes the boards and starts drawing the charac-ters and props. Backgrounds depart-ment starts drawing backgrounds and environments. The 3D team starts build-ing assets they will need, such as cars, backgrounds, helicopters, etc.

About this time is when they’d be getting a new script from Reed, and the art direction team would begin work-ing on the next episode. When they’re in full swing, they have three episodes in production at one time. Once all of the assets start coming together, their After Effects team comps them and makes everything come to life. Once the show is in its final stages they send it off for sound design. Michael Kohler at Bluetube Productions does a great job for them. After their sound designer

completes his mix, they’ll take the final audio and final picture and lay them off to tapes that are overnighted to FX. Basically, they have about three weeks in the beginning for boards, records, and edits. Three weeks being drawn, and three weeks being animated. However, each department has overlap. Meaning a week or so in, once the department has built enough for the next depart-ment to begin working, they’ll hand off what they have and then finish up. When they’re in full swing, they’ll be de-livering episodes about every three and half weeks. They have about four peo-ple creating storyboards, and the illus-tration team for “Archer” utilizes about 30 people. They have 20 animators and a 3D team of five. Lastly, there are about 10 artists working on backgrounds. The “Archer” team, per episode, hovers around a count of 70 people.

Going forward, Floyd County sees it-self growing. They have many new proj-ects in development with FX. Some have progressed to the script phase but have not been greenlit to pilot yet. Others are still trying to find their voice. It takes time. However, they fully antic-ipate having three shows on the air by mid-2014.

This is all very exciting on the anima-tion front for Atlanta. It harkens back to a time in Hollywood when animation factories were pumping out real mag-ic. And now, with so many of these tools readily available, the big studios no lon-ger rule. Small and nimble rules the day, a world where anyone can try their hand at producing great animation and have some fun in the process!

animation studios are being drawn to Atlanta for its proxim-ity to behemoths such as Turner Broadcasting and access to a trained workforce.

squidbillies aqua teen hunger force

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DEIDRE MCDONALDFounding Artistic DirectorBronzeLens Film Festivalwww.bronzelens.com

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?When I was in college, I never considered the op-tion of television or film. I was an English ma-jor. After graduate school I got an internship as a production assistant at 11 Alive where where I learned interviewing, producing, writing for tele-vision and editing. I absolutely loved it. The posi-tion was supposed to last for only three month, but I stayed for over twenty years.

I went on to teach at Clark Atlanta University and later became Project Leader for the Georgia Entertainment Media (GEM) Work Ready Region, a six county economic development project fo-cusing on skill enhancement for those in music, television, film, radio and digital gaming.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?I’m the artistic director of the BronzeLens Film Festival, a multicultural event that features great films and dynamic panels. BLFF brings together people from all facets of the entertainment in-dustry. We’re creating synergy and coming up with new projects and collaborations. This is truly a dream job!

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT THUS FAR?I am especially touched when someone says that what I’ve done has made a positive difference in their life, and they are inspired to make their dream a reality.

SHANNON NASHAttorney/CPA/ProducerPresident, Nash Management GroupCo-Owner, The Green Room

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?At a holiday party, I met Norman Nixon, who is married to Debbie Allen. After a few conversa-tions, I was the executive director for the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Working for Ms. Allen led me to network with others in the entertainment industry, allowing me to expand my business to where it is today.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB?Some of the most brilliant and creative people are in the entertainment industry. I am always work-ing with someone new, which keeps things fun and lively.

DO YOU HAVE A WORD THAT YOU LIVE BY?Determination. Through determination, I light that fire under myself to achieve my accomplish-ments.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT MAKING MOVIES?I love telling a story through film and images. I have three young boys, so being able to paint a story that may potentially impact how they view this world is priceless.

BEST ADVICE?The entertainment industry is similar to high school and it’s imperative to treat it accordingly. My advice to others entering the industry is to network with the right people and to not burn any bridges.

CLAUDIA ARKUSHOwner / Graphic DesignerCA Graphic Designwww.cagraphicdesign.biz

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GRAPHIC DESIGN?My father is a very good artist. When he had a family, he gave up painting for textile design and sales. When I was ready to go to college, he gave me a copy of “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” a book about Michelangelo. After reading it, I decided commercial art would be a better career choice for me than fine arts.

Graphic design is a combination of fine art prin-ciples and problem solving. This double challenge is what I find so intriguing.

WHAT WAS YOUR JOURNEY TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?My first few jobs were in-house with several small agencies and design firms in Philadelphia. I later received a better paying job freelancing for a studio and quickly fell into freelancing. Working in so many different environments prepared me for running my own business. When I moved to Atlanta in 2000, I decided to devote myself full-time to growing my own business. It’s hard work building a steady client base but it has taken off and I love it!

WHAT ARE YOUR LATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS?I have shifted my business focus from solely print to a balance of print and web, including: branding and website design for Gilbert Tweed; logo devel-opment and website for PFI Brand It Grow It; and logo development for Brand Sprout Advisors.

how i got into the business

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JAY MARSHDesigner & IllustratorTraditional & Digital Media (3D & Adobe)

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?I remember drawing in kindergarten and realiz-ing half the class was standing behind me watch-ing. After high school, I attended Ringling School of Art, majoring in illustration with a minor in photography. Out of school I dived into my new talents and skills with color and design by explor-ing sculptural lighting, molding and casting, body painting and fine art–eventually landing in cor-porate photography for several years. Meanwhile, I was learning the Adobe Creative Suite and start-ed picking up graphic design jobs by networking with family, friends and mentors.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? I never know what project may be proposed when the phone rings. It could be a black light mural for Royal Caribbean, brainstorming advertising ideas with Coke executives, designing or building a time machine prop, or body painting Aztec war-riors for Heineken.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE THE MOST ABOUT ILLUSTRATING?I love illustration with traditional media, but have found a whole new world working in 3D. Before, if an art director said “I’d like to see this from a birds eye view,” I’d have to redraw everything. Now it’s just raising a virtual camera. Illustration demands my full range of abilities, knowledge of materials and tools. It’s Play + Work = Plork.

LORETTA BILLINGSLEYEditor and Motion Graphics ArtistOwner: Billingsley Post & Graphics

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?I got into the business by learning how to type–true story! In 1980, Rhonda Tanton was head of the Film and Tape Department at Wilding in Detroit. She was also my teacher at St. Mary’s College. She told me that she would give me a job if I went back to school and learned how to type. I think Rhonda got a little tired of my en-thusiasm to get into the business and she got me a job as a production coordinator at the Wilding editing facility.

I was hired as a scheduling coordinator at Producers Color Service in Southfield, Michigan. I climbed the ladder to become an editor in 1984. Since then, I have worked at VTA, Editworks (Todd/AO, Riot Atlanta and now Beast) and opened Billingsley Post & Graphics in 2008. Jim Abramson and Jon Lesser of Bramson Productions, NYC are my partners . . . God bless them!

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR CAREER?The most important aspect of my career has been never giving up. I never gave up in the 80’s to re-alize my dream of becoming an editor. It was a daunting task because women had little presence in technical fields. My company is a certified WBE (woman owned business). We are also a preferred vendor of The Coca-Cola Company. It was through The Greater Women’s Business Council that we were able to get that distinction, and I strongly suggest that if you are a woman owned business, you look into this certification.

AVRIL ST LOUISArt Director and Creative DirectorOwner: AM Creative Group

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BUSINESS?I am originally from the Caribbean. I went to New York to attend College at Pratt Institute major-ing in computer graphics and graphic design. Brooklyn has a large Caribbean diaspora with many small businesses that were in dire need of marketing. I saw this as a way to get my feet wet while in college, as well as a way to make weekend cash. My first client was a travel agen-cy (Carifta Travel), and word spread quickly after that.

WHAT DO YO LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB?Freedom to create and freedom of time.

DO YOU HAVE A PRINCIPLE YOU LIVE BY?Handle paying clients first.

HOW DID YOU BECOME ART AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR?27 years of experience.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM JOB?Acquiring at least least two Fortune 500 companies.

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 MOST RECENT PROJECTS?Restaurant concept architectural rendering, a media kit for a TV network and a concept propos-al for a Broadway musical.

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oz scene | atlanta film festival

365wired’s Jasmine Akakpo interviews Ray McKinnon

Atlanta’s own Plaza Theatre

Slamdance Co-Founder and Between Us Director Dan Mirvish

Atlanta Film Festival Artistic Director Charles Judson and The Great Chicken Wing Hunt Director Matthew Reynolds

Photo Credit: Soweto Bosia

Photo Credit: Doobious

Photo Credit: Soweto Bosia

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Chris Escobar, Festival Executive Director

Iceberg Slim director Jorge Hinojosa Programmer of Education Christopher Sailor & Wolf Director Ya’ke Smith

Actress Mary Kay Place and Claire’s Cambodia Director Stacy Sherman Cast of Sundance Channel’s Rectify

Comedian Chaunte Wayans and Julissa Bermudez (co-host of NuvoTV’s Stand Up & Deliver)

Photo Credit: Doobious

Photo Credit: Doobious

Photo Credit: Soweto Bosia

Photo Credit: Soweto Bosia

Photo Credit: Doobious

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oz scene | georgia production partnership oscar party

Statuettes donated by Susan Moss Michelle Kabashinski exercises her chops in the screen test.

Gabriela Rowland prepares all of the prizes

Brandon Keever works his screen test garb.

PC&E projected the Oscars live on a 50-foot wide screen.

Memberclicks Crew Ducan McCreery, Kinsey Mahan and Richie Ward with Trish Taylor (in red).

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Folks enjoy the food from LowCountry Barbecue

Aubrey DeVaney, Elizabeth DeVaney, Dennis Basarab, Steve Mensch and Bill Chapman chat about the good old days of Turner.

Tia Powell, Jennifer Engles and John Kabashinski enter PC&E’s red carpet.

Sketchworks friends reunite (L-R): Sandi Scheier, Jeffrey Umberger, Bob Harter, Della Cole, Jyn Hall, Ashlee Heath, Cris Gray, Melissa Diane Paul

Leanna Adams and Jeffrey Umberger’s rehearse for the screen test.

All Georgia Production Partnership Oscar Night Party photos provided by Katie Morris Photography.

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NORTH HIGHLANDS

Diesel870 N. Highland Ave. NEAtlanta, GA. 30306

Manuel’s Tavern602 North Highland Ave.Atlanta, GAwww.manuelstavern.com Plaza Theatre1049 Ponce De Leon Ave.Atlanta, GA 30306 www.plazaatlanta.com

Youngblood Gallery636 N Highland Ave.Atlanta, GA 30306www.youngbloodgallery.com

Righteous Room 1051 Ponce De Leon Ave.Atlanta, GA 30306

Videodrome617 N. Highland Ave.Atlanta, GA. 30306

PERIMETER NORTH

Art Institute Of Atlanta 6600 Peachtree Dunwoody Road100 Embassy RowAtlanta, GA 30328www.aia.aii.edu

American Intercontinental University - Dunwoody6600 Peachtree Dunwoody Road500 Embassy RowAtlanta, GA 30328dunwoody.aiuniv.edu

Mellow Mushroom-Vinings2950 New Paces Ferry Rd SE #BAtlanta, GA 30339www.mellowmushroom.com/vinings

NORTH DEKALB

Beer Growler38A N. Avondale Rd. Avondale States, GA. 30002

Chocolate’-Shallowford2566 Shallowford Road - Publix Shopping CenterAtlanta, GA 30345www.mychocolatecoffee.com

Crawford Media 5 West Druid Hills DriveAtlanta, GA 30329www.crawford.com

Showcase Video2323 Cheshire Bridge Road, NEAtlanta, GA 30324www.showcaseinc.com

EMORY

COMMUNITY BBQ1361 Clairmont RoadDecatur, GA. 30033

Everybody’s Pizza 1593 N Decatur RoadAtlanta, GA, 30307www.everybody’spizza.com

Chocolate’-North Decatur 2094 N Decatur RoadDecatur, GA, 30033www.mychocolatecoffee.com

SOUTH ATLANTA

Clark-Atlanta University Library 111 James P. Brawley Dr., SW,Atlanta, Ga 30314 Community BBQ1361 Clairmont Rd.Decatur, GA. 30033

EUE/Screen Gems 175 Lakewood Way, SEAtlanta, Ga 30315www.screengemsstudios.com/atl

Raleigh Studios-Senoia600 Chestlehurst RoadSenoia, Ga 30276www.raleighstudios.com

MIDTOWN WEST

E-Six Lab 678 10th Street NWAtlanta, GA, 30318www.e-sixlab.com

Elliott Street Pub51 Elliott St., SWAtlanta, GA 30313

Six Feet Under-11th 685 11th Street NWAtlanta, GA 30318 www.sixfeetunder.net

Panavision 1250 Menlo Drive NWAtlanta, GA 30318www.panavision.com

PPR - Professional Photo Resources 667 11th Street NWAtlanta, Ga 30318www.ppratlanta.com

Imagers 1575 Northside DriveBldg 400, Suite 490Atlanta, GA 30318www.imagers.com

Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge1009 Marietta Street NWAtlanta, GA, 30318www.octanecoffee.com

PC & E 2235 DeFoor Hills Road NWAtlanta, GA 30318www.PC&E-Atlanta.com

King Plow Arts Center 887 West Marietta StreetAtlanta, GA, 30318www.kingplow.com C-TOWN/G. PARK/EAST ATL

97 Estoria 727 Wylie Street Atlanta, GA 30316www.97estoria.com

Homegrown968 Memorial Dr. SEAtlanta, GA. 30316

Mailing Avenue Stageworks1144 Mailing AvenueAtlanta, GA 30315www.mailingavenuestageworks.com

Stoveworks 112 Krog St.Atlanta, GA 30307www.officeloftsatlanta.com Six Feet Under-Memorial 437 Memorial Dr SEAtlanta, GA 30312

Smoothie Studio925 Hamilton St. SE Atlanta, GA. 30316

Stoveworks112 Krog St. NEAtlanta, GA. 30312

Studioplex 659 Auburn Avenue NEAtlanta, GA 30312www.studioplexlofts.com Tomatillo’s1242 Glenwood Ave. SEAtlanta, GA. 30315

Little’s Food Store 198 Carroll St.Atlanta, GA 30316www.littlesfoodstore.com

529529 Flat Shoals Ave.Atlanta, GA 30318www.529atl.com MIDTOWN-ish

Georgia Film CommissionSpring St. NEAtlanta, GA 30309

Paris On Ponce716 Ponce De Leon Pl. NEAtlanta, GA. 30306

SLICE85 Poplar St. NWAtlanta, GA. 30303

Sam Flax 1745 Peachtree Stat Brookwood PlaceAtlanta, GA 30309www.samflaxsouth.com

Turner Studios 1020 Techwood DriveAtlanta, Ga 30318www.turnerstudios.com

Utrecht Art Supplies878 Peachtree StreetAtlanta, GA 30309www.utrechtart.com/stores

Portfolio Center125 Bennett StreetAtlanta, Ga 30309www.portfoliocenter.com S.C.A.D.- Atlanta1600 Peachtree StAtlanta, GA 30309www.scad.edu INMAN PARK/LITTLE 5 POINTS

Brewhouse Pub401 Moreland Ave. NEAtlanta, GA. 30307

Corner Tavern1174 Moreland Ave. NE Atlanta, GA. 30307

Criminal Records1154 Euclid Ave. NE Atlanta, GA. 30307

Jack’s Pizza 676 Highland Avenue NEAtlanta, GAwww.jackspizzaandwings.com

Inman Perk Coffee240 N Highland Ave NE # H Atlanta, GA 30307 www.inmanperkcoffee.com

Java Lords1105 Euclid Ave. NEAtlanta, GA. 30307

Moog Gallery1653 McClendon Ave. NE Atlanta, GA. 30307

Savi Urban Market 287 Elizabeth Street NEAtlanta, GA 30307www.saviurbanmarket.com

Parish 240 N Highland Avenue NEAtlanta, GA 30307 www.parishatl.com El Myr 1091 Euclid Avenue NEAtlanta, GA 30307 elmyr.com

Star Community Bar437 Moreland Ave. NE Atlanta, GA. 30307

Aurora Coffee 468 Moreland AvenueAtlanta, GA 30307www.auroracoffee.com

distribution partners

ozmagazine.com | 41

American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)Atlanta Ad ClubAtlanta Macintosh Users GroupAmerican Marketing Association-AtlantaMedia Communications Association International (MCAI)Women In Film & Television Atlanta (WIFTA)Business Marketing Association-Atlanta (BMA-Atlanta)

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Southeast (NATAS)Atlanta Press Club (APC)Georgia Production Partnership (GPP)The Freelance ForumAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Arts (AFTRA)Cable & Telecommunications Association (CTAM)American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)Society for Technical Communication (STC)

association partners

let me give you my card

42 | ozmagazine.com

thepubfinder.com

ad agency campaigns

Campaign Title : PubFinder - Binoculars

Client: Guinness

Description: The ultimate in beer goggles, this is the first ad in a series of print ads for Guinness launching their PubFinder app. Simple, powerful visual icons pay off the benefit of the app in true Guinness fashion.

Credits: Art Directors: Adam Millman, Austin RidlingWriter: Michael PalmaCreative Director: Chris BreenRetouching: SlipVisual

Campaign Title : The “Fish More Deck Challenge”

Client:Ecolife – Viance Treated Wood Solutions Description:The “Fish More Deck Challenge” is an Integrated Marketing Campaign consisting of consumer and trade advertising, website and landing pages with interactive banners as well as collateral, social media and trade show experiential marketing. The creative hosts a novel, branded decking board background graphic as the prominent product “hero” and the grand prize of a full feature bass tracker boat that solicits a compelling call-to-action. The headlines utilize clever fishing-related themes help drive the contest benefits. As a contest, the campaign was fully measurable–generating significant audience engagement analytics, while exceeding its targeted sales and revenue goals.

Credits:Art Director: Sean Dickinson Copywriter: Frank Pringham

Kleber and Associates

breensmith advertising

ozmagazine.com | 43

May 3, 20137 pm - 11 pm

an exclusive reunion by invitation only

tickets on sale now at Ticket Alternative

May 4, 20137 pm - midnight

40 years of film & TV production in

thenextcoolevent.com

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