Donnybrook Production Services

Let’s face it…for the past year or two, it’s felt like we’ve all been living in the upside down! And with COVID hogging the spotlight, it’s easy for the average influenza to get relegated to the shadows. So when faced with the task of driving flu shot awareness, the Ad Council turned the whole Fear-Of-Missing-Out dilemma on its ear.

Teaming with multicultural agency fluent360, and the Conshohocken-based Bowstring Studios, the Ad Council added the FluFOMO campaign to its creative inventory. I was on board as Production Manager for all of the principal photography components of the job, and collaborating with Bowstring was a joy. Director/DP Enrique Mendoza, the head of the Bowstring machine, was efficient and capable while helming the days. He was joined by Andy Hayman for additional creative collusion, and the entire team was great. The positive culture extended to our set, and made for enjoyably productive days. Our crew, talent, and agency partners all walked away pleased, a rare but well-received win/win (win).

Here’s a link to one of several spots we filmed over multiple days.

Over the past month, I’ve been collaborating with one of my regular agency clients on a comprehensive re-branding effort for the American Red Cross.  With ARC looking to update all of their existing first-aid course materials, Donnybrook and Agency Producer Michael DelPolito have been prepping for a handful of shoots in the Greater Philly region in the coming weeks.

With the need for first-aid training so pervasive, the shoots will represent all walks of life.  Our casting selects have been keeping our friends over at Philadelphia Casting Co on their toes, and Susan and Sam have been great to work with as always.  When all is said and done we’ll have booked nearly two-hundred talent…not to mention dozens of locations, a fleet of semi’s, and a school bus or two for added measure.  And we’ve amassed a fantastic crew once again, with a number of familiar faces and vendors in the ranks.  Thank you to Expressway Grip, DP Tom Fanelle, and Production Designer Mike Crenshaw for yet another stellar cooperative effort.  And a big shout-out to Erin @ the GPFO for all of her assistance along the way.

The fruits of our collective labors should hit the streets early next year, but here’s the Donnybrook produced spot that kicked it all off for these varied Red Cross co-op’s.  Directed by Josh Mawer, this one still ranks as one of my favorites.

I recently partnered with one of my long standing agency clients, to produce the campaign spots for self-made real estate maestro Allan Domb‘s run at City Council.  The collaboration marked another successful foray in to the political production world for Donnybrook, and I’m happy to have been a part of the efforts.  Allan has a clear vision for the City of Brotherly Love, and one that could serve to right many of the educational woes that have plagued Philly in recent years.

The shoot also offered up a chance to work with Director Todd Wolfe, and both he and I were able to bring out our kids for a cameo opportunity.  His daughter Morgan is fantastic to have on set, and is a consummate professional already.  And my son Chase has been enlisted by me on more than one occasion, and has begun to develop an affinity for spending time on set.

There’s little chance I could have pulled things together without the support of Jeni Miller, local talent and casting aficionado.  Jeni’s call to action in support of the project yielded amazing results, and introduced me to a brand new pool of talent I’ll be sure to leverage in the future.  Here’s one of the finished spots, which features a bevy of tenacious tykes, Chase and Morgan among the bunch.  Also present is a coherent message for educational reform that has Allan putting his money where his mouth is.

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Closing on a highly productive stretch, I’ve been contemplating the perennial adage ‘no man is an island’ of late.  And while Donne’s sentiments at the time were likely far more rooted in the metaphysical, the statement nevertheless translates as effective business advice.  Cliché?  Well OK, perhaps a tad trite. Ill-founded?  Not by a long shot…and as a freelance professional, it’s stout wisdom worthy of adherence.

That said, when I first set out on my own back in 2011, after a long staff producing stint, the notion of avoiding ‘the island’  seemed daunting.  But over the course of my varied Donnybrook adventures, I’ve learned to adopt the cooperative spirit and embrace networking as a necessity.  I’m certainly better off, and thankfully busier, for it…maybe even a smidge less lonely in the process.

In recent months, I’ve been fortunate enough to kindle newfound CoOp’s with the likes of Philly pharma-force Evoke Health and respected ratings maven Nielsen.  I’ve also just wrapped another effective effort with Schott Productions, on behalf of Novo Nordisk, co-producing an inventive campaign for the Danish drug-makers.  So as I reflect on the first few years worth of freelance achievements, I’m grateful for the strategic partnerships forged along the way.  Collusion takes company, so here’s to many more creative undertakings as I continue to build Donnybrook’s diverse ‘setwork’.  Onwards…

I don’t golf.  I never have, and save for a foggy bachelor party recollection, years ago, my endeavors on the green have been solely of the ‘mini’ variety.  So when a regular agency client of mine came to me with a tight deadline, and a creative concept that necessitated marching a full film crew (and half a living room) on to an unsuspecting course, I rated the potential for success as anything but a ‘fore’gone conclusion…ba-dum-chh!  Hey, for what it’s worth, I almost chose that as the title of this post.  Mercifully, cooler (and less corny) heads prevailed.

At any rate, mission critical to a successful undertaking was finding a golf course that would even consider allowing this to take place.  Enter frame right the fine folks at Westwood Golf Club, in South Jersey.  Through a delicate combination of intentionally vague disclosure, and the locations lack of experience hosting film crews, the gig came together better than I’d hoped.  But the clincher was renowned sports network DCPN offering up their ace commentator Wes Heywood for the cause.  He may be a poor man’s Howard Cossel, but he was stroke perfect for our singular needs on this one.  And even though we were summarily shuttled to the club’s 19th hole (yup, count that, 18 plus one), a fairway typically reserved for practice swings and the occasional armchair politician, it all came together in the end.  So if all’s truly well that ends well, then score this one a success…no mulligan necessary.

While still in high school, I toiled for a short stint as an overnight stocker, courtesy of my local supermarket.  And while it’s not necessarily my pinnacle employment memory, there was something uniquely covert about having the run of a store that was completely off limits to the public.  Well in perfect #TBT, or more appropriately Wednesday in to Thursday, fashion, I recently had a chance to run amok once again during an overnight commercial shoot in the unassuming PA ‘burbs.  The obliging green grocer this time around was the Swarthmore CoOp, and the contemporary corner market proved to be an impeccable backdrop, and an extremely film friendly location.

This episode of Donnybrook After Dark was in support of the ‘Grow Up’ campaign, for non-profit Generation Opportunity.  Teaming once again with longstanding agency ally Jamestown Associates, my crew and I took to the aisles to produce a comedic commentary on the current state of the National Debt…frozen food, veggie, and organic aisles alike.  And Swarthmore’s tasteful and artistic end caps will make for a great place to vfx in a variety of GenOpp’s alarming stats to boot.

While the free-flowing caffeine, graciously sponsored by our hosts, certainly helped with the voluntary insomnia, so did the fact that the shoot ended up being a heck of a lot of fun.  Crew, client, and talent alike were energized for the duration, and by sun up we’d succeeded in capturing ample assets for an entertaining and informative spot.

A super-sized thanks to my good friend Ann Gillette, for yet another miraculous 11th hour casting assist.  May your miracle well never run dry.  And to the perpetual movers and shakers over at Expressway, many thanks for the provisioned grip heads and gear…especially given that it was none other than Philly’s own Starsky & Hutch team of Dave Greenplate & Phil Tartaglione.

OK, so to recap the summer thus far, I’ve basically been hanging out on a 100+ acre farm in the middle of Doylestown, PA, from the 18th-Century.  My ‘office’ is a tool shed, that I think was roughly constructed circa 1720, give or take…with WiFi, naturally, though it’s likely that was an add-on along the way.  I’ve got a bunch of coworkers just across the gravel driveway, in a farm house that was once the estate of a colonial governor.  And my good buddy Crenshaw, Production Designer extraordinaire, is just a stone’s throw away (no pun intended) in his barn down the road.  AKA his ‘scenic shop’, of course.  If all of this sounds like I’m suffering from heat exhaustion, fear not!  While it is indeed mighty hot ’round these here parts, I’m actually on board as the UPM for the supernatural indie ‘Remorse’, currently calling the Penrose Estate in Horsham Twp it’s home…away from home.

The thriller, starring femme fatale Katrina Law (of ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Legend of the Seeker’ fame) and leading lady Lili Bordan (from TV’s ‘Battlestar Galactica’), has been snuggly nestled amongst the fields, flowers, and fowl in this perpetual landmark for its month long stint of principal photography.  Director Quinn Saunders, a veteran TV Director, and Film Professor at Cal State, fell in love with the site instantly, and decided it to be the perfect backdrop for this eerie feature film foray.  To be honest, I’m not a super fan of being here once the lights go dark, but would be remiss if I didn’t cop to the fact that the place makes a pretty perfect setting for a spooky movie.  Bring on the spirits…no, not THOSE spirits, the ones for the wrap party 😉

With the Northeast Corridor still reeling from the impact of Superstorm Sandy, efforts of stalwart agencies like the Red Cross are paramount.  For more than a century, the American Red Cross has been coming to the aid of those in need.  As a way of giving back, and helping the communities where I live and work, I decided to push forward with a creative treatment that had been kicking around in my head for a while…one that seemed an all-too-perfect fit for the Red Cross.

Teaming once again with Director Josh Mawer, we created an ad that we branded for the non-profit’s vital emergency relief work in the aftermath of Sandy.  I wrote, produced, and co-edited the spot, with Josh taking up the directing reins once again. This teaming is quickly becoming one of the better creative collaborations I’ve formed over the years.  DP Steve Perrong brought his aesthetic prowess to the project, lensing the spot beautifully on his EPIC.  With the help of a pristine set of Cooke S4 Primes, courtesy of 1st AC Tom Fanelle, the spot takes full advantage of some great locations in and around the Philly area…not to mention a stunning eventide opener in Rittenhouse Square.

This was an extremely personal project, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way it all came together. Check it out here:

The spot is driven by a tremendously catchy tune, courtesy of the Brooklyn-based ‘American Authors’.  The band, who graciously offered up their hit track ‘Believer’ for the cause, is quickly catching fire…look for them to be big next year. My 8-year old niece, Frankie, lent her voice for the fitting VO. An additional shout-out of thanks to local Philadelphia vendors Videosmith, Get-Kinetic, Expressway Grip, and Location Lighting, who all donated equipment, personnel, and support, effectively rounding out one of my favorite projects on the year by far.

It’s just about this time each year that I grow a tad nostalgic, with Halloween just around the corner,  as I recall with fond memory the horror film ‘Of Darkness’ that I produced with my brother back in 2006.  The film was met with admirable success during its festival tour, screening at horror-con fav’s like the NYC Horror Film Festival and H.P. Lovecraft Festival, and later went on to secure distribution through FEARnet. I love a good horror flick anyway, so to have been a part of creating something that has endured in cult horror circles is great.

The film can be purchased on amazon, and is also available for instant download for just a few measly bucks.  But if you really want to immerse yourself into full-on ‘Darkness’, plunk down the cash for the DVD, and enjoy a bevy of goodies; like the far-too-serious behind the scenes snippet that I cut together.  Fond memories…

I’ll have a chance this weekend to check out the latest feature film offering from a good buddy of mine, and local Philly Philmmaker, Ben Hickernell. ‘Backwards’, the rowing inspired offering which makes expert aesthetic use of Philly’s own Boathouse Row, stars James Van Der Beek and Writer/Producer Sarah Megan Thomas in the lead roles.

The film, which opened locally last weekend to moderate reviews, offers a glimpse behind the curtain at the world of Women’s Olympic Rowing, and the sweat equity endured by athletes competing for spots on the official US Rowing Team.

While the reviews may be so/so, I’m confident that the rowing scenes themselves will look great.  DP Harlan Bosmajian was our Cinematographer on the film, and was assisted by Key Grip Nic Reader, of Expressway Grip fame.  The boat rigs, which were custom built for the project, were painstakingly crafted especially for the film by Nic and his Best Boy Zac Rubino…and they allowed for some fantastic camera placement that I look forward to watching on the big screen.  And who knows, maybe the ‘Beek himself will make an audience appearance.