Spot Filmworks is a privately owned production company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin that specializes in producing broadcast, interactive, and branded content work.
The production company's client list includes work for Miller Brewing Company, Canon Asia, AstraZeneca, Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches, Dow AgroSciences, Trek Bicycle Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Healthcare, Wisconsin Tourism, Dremel, Mayo Health System, Alzheimer's Association, and Harley-Davidson.
Their work has been featured in Communication Arts , [1] Shoot, [2] Screen Magazine [3] and InCamera. [4]
Spot Filmworks currently represents three directors – Michael Graf, Jay Torres, and Chris Neil – who reside in the Midwest and West Coast and work throughout the United States. The three directors are known for their directorial style in artful storytelling, healthcare, comedy, effects, and children.
Spot Filmworks was incorporated in 1994. [5] In 2000 they became the first production company in Wisconsin to become a member of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). [6]
Spot Filmworks has won numerous awards for their work in commercial production and scriptwriting, including: [7]
- Emmy Award for Best Public Service Announcement [8]
- AdCritic.com Top 10 list of best commercials worldwide
- Graf was named Director Of The Year by Screen magazine [9]
- American Advertising Federation Mosaic Award for Diversity in Advertising
- International Summit Creative Awards Best of Show
- Silver WorldMedal at New York Festivals
- CINE Golden Eagle Award
- Mobius Award
- Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival Gold Award [10]
- Over 30 National Telly Awards
Robert McKee is an author, lecturer and story consultant who is known for his "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the University of Southern California. McKee is the author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page and Screen, Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World and Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen. McKee also has the blog and online writers' resource "Storylogue".
The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, or Technology and Engineering Emmys, are one of two sets of Emmy Awards that are presented for outstanding achievement in engineering development in the television industry. The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), while the separate Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards are given by its sister organization the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS).
Samuel David Bayer is an American visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts in 1987 with a degree in Fine Arts. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1991, where he continues to live and work.
Lauren Greenfield is an American artist, documentary photographer, and documentary filmmaker. She has published four photographic monographs, directed four documentary features, produced four traveling exhibitions, and published in magazines throughout the world.
Jeff Lester is an American actor known for his television appearances. In 1996, Lester transitioned from acting to producing, writing and directing where he has created award-winning commercials and short films.
Laurence Paul Shanet is an American commercial director and film director, also known under his working moniker Kranky. He has also directed music videos, internet content and stage plays, and worked at various times as a writer and producer, in both the advertising and entertainment industries. His work has won the 2004 Young Director Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival, and is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Henry-Alex Rubin is an Academy Award-nominated American filmmaker and Emmy Award-winning commercial director.
Leanne Pooley ONZM is a Canadian filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. Pooley was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980s and began working in the New Zealand television and film industry before moving to England where she worked for many of the world's top broadcasters. She returned to New Zealand in 1997 and started the production company Spacific Films. Her career spans more than 25 years and she has won numerous international awards. Leanne Pooley was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate in 2011 and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's Honours List 2017. She is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Steven Thomas Fischer is an American film director, producer, and cartoonist. His work has been honored by the Directors Guild of America, The New York Festivals, the CINE Golden Eagle Awards, and Marquis Who's Who in Entertainment.
Bruce Kennedy is an American television producer, screenwriter, and director. He has won a News & Documentary Emmy Award and been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
J. J. Sedelmaier is an American animator, illustrator, designer, author and film director/producer, known for co-creating the "Saturday TV Funhouse" segment—including The Ambiguously Gay Duo and The X-Presidents—on the TV series Saturday Night Live; as well as the Tek Jansen series on The Colbert Report, the interstitial cartoons seen in the USA TV series Psych, and over 500 other TV and advertising projects.
The Association of Independent Commercial Producers, or AICP, is an American not for profit organization that represents the interests of United States companies that specialize in commercial production. Its members work in various media—film, video, digital—for advertisers and agencies. Founded in 1972, the association has national offices in New York City and Los Angeles as well as regional chapters.
Anthony Marinelli is an American musician, composer, synth programmer, record producer and conductor. In his early career, he composed and performed accompaniment on the synthesizer for albums including Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982). Marinelli has also recorded with Lionel Richie, Kenny Loggins, Herb Alpert, Supertramp, The Crystal Method, Billy Childs and James Brown.
Jason Zada is an American film director, music video director, screenwriter and digital marketeer, best known for Elf Yourself, an interactive viral holiday season campaign for OfficeMax, and for Take This Lollipop, an interactive horror short film created to raise awareness of the danger of placing too much personal information online.
Spencer Antle is an American fashion designer, film director and rum curator. He is also the founder of the Island Company lifestyle clothing brand and Island Company Rum. He is the CEO, creative director, designer, photographer, and advertiser at the firm.
Decker Watson is a multi-Emmy-winning showrunner, executive producer, writer and director who has built a career chronicling the world’s deadliest professions.
Steven Floyd Novak(born September 16, 1955) is an American television director and producer and is currently working at WGN-TV Chicago. Some highlights of Novak's career include two Emmys, Stories of Hope: Facing Breast Cancer and Overall directing of live and live to tape programming, and a Telly Award for WGN:Classics Bozo, Gar and Ray. Novak is currently the president of the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).
Stephen (Steve) Anthony Banks is an American photographer, artist, advertising art director, commercial film producer, director and co-owner of Wright-Banks Films, Los Angeles.
Once Films is a St. Louis, Missouri based commercial video production company that creates documentary-style short films, brand films and commercial video content. They are noted for the Emmy and Addy award winning short documentary film series The Spotlight Series. Spotlight is a collection of personal storytelling vignettes featuring craftsmen, artists, and entrepreneurs. Each story is a behind the scenes look at what it means to love what you do and do what you love.
Kerstin Emhoff is an American film producer and the co-founder and CEO of the commercial production company Prettybird and creative studio Ventureland. She is a member of the DGA, PGA, and Television Academy.