Initial, the independent production company which is part of the
Guardian Media Group, is setting up a commercials production arm headed
by Simon Wells, the ex-head of TV at WCRS.
Initial Commercials starts up with three directors on its roster - Dave
Stewart (formerly of the Eurythmics), Titus Ogilvy and Andrew Margetson.
All three are relatively new to commercials directing, although Stewart
has created a promotional film for BT and a press campaign for Russell
Athletic.
Wells, who left WCRS in January, is also planning to take the new
company into advertiser-funded programming. ’Once digital TV launches in
May, broadcasters will have to look even more seriously at the way they
fund programmes,’ he said. ’Ad agencies are the custodians of a brand
and, as things move forward, I can provide the bridge between TV
companies and agencies.’
Initial made its name with the 80s music programme, the Tube, and has
more recently been responsible for Channel 4’s the White Room and
television coverage of the Brit Awards and the British Fashion Awards.
The company is behind the Pepsi Chart Show, an advertiser-funded music
programme which is due to appear on Channel 5 early next year.
Since leaving WCRS, Wells has produced the fly-on-the-wall ’friends and
family’ series of commercials for BT with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, in
which BT competition winners are filmed enjoying themselves in exotic
locations. He started his career in the television department at J.
Walter Thompson, then worked at Lowe Howard-Spink for two years and,
after a short time at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, was poached to become head
of television at WCRS, where he remained for eight years.
Wells is looking to recruit someone to represent Initial’s three
directors.
He met Stewart when he created the music for WCRS’s BMW ’scales’
spot.
’Dave is an all-round artist. He is clever visually and is good at
bringing sound and vision together,’ Wells said. ’He is pragmatic and
easy to work with because he listens.’
Margetson’s TV credits include Big Breakfast, Hotel Babylon, Passengers
and the Rough Guide series. He has directed promos for artists such as
Sting and De La Soul and made commercials for Kellogg’s and
Nesquick.
Ogilvy was an assistant to John Lloyd at Limelight and has been
directing for television since early 1995.
Initial is part of the Guardian Media Group’s Broadcast Communications
division, which also houses Bazal, a production company responsible for
a range of lifestyle programmes.
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