I used to work quite a bit with a creative team, Hy and Tony. Old pros, they'd been doing it forever, and there was no bullshit with these two. No prima donna attitudes, just a great couple of guys. I walked into their office one day and they tossed me a picture of a motorcycle designed by Philippe Starck (http://megadeluxe.com/design/aprilia-...). "What's this?" I said. "It's the new Canon commercial," they replied. "Is there a script or a storyboard?" "Nope, just that. Find somebody who can bring it to life." So, with just a picture of a motorcycle, I went director shopping. And I found George Jecel, an Austrian director/DP with an exquisitely gorgeous reel and an eye for detail. He took the photograph and came back with a treatment in which he'd invented a sport with uniforms and gear and rules. He really wanted the job. He got it and he delivered. Andre Agassi, the Canon pitchman at the time, hated this spot. He was not interested in riding motorcycles. He just wanted to show up, smack a tennis ball around, and go home.

At one time, our agency's office in Mexico City had the Gatorade account for South America and they reached out to the NY office for some creative assistance. Thus I found myself in Argentina working on this gem. This was my second outing with George Jecel who was so detail oriented, and a superb cinematographer. This spot is one of my all time personal favorites, for both the end result, and everything we experienced making it.

Here's a hint... shoot the actors from young to old, not old to young. That make up takes a long time to put on, but even longer to pull off. Hurts like hell, too, apparently.

Here's a great example of that late '90's commercial look... super saturated color with some swing and tilt lens thrown in for good measure. We worked with Danny Ducovny quite a bit back then and while the look might be dated now, Danny's eye for casting, performance, and great shotmaking always elevated the end product. Plus, working with Danny got us access to his brother David (the X Files Duchovny) as an AVO for the campaign. The trip across the pond to London didn't suck either.

Craig Snyder always provided fantastic music for us, when I asked him to pen a schmaltzy "Love Story"-like track for this spot, he absolutely nailed it.

Constructed on the premise of what happens inside one of the little green houses on the Monopoly board, this spot takes the viewer on a non-stop ride through some of the most familiar Monopoly iconography. CGI is commonplace now, but in the early '90s it was difficult, time consuming, and expensive. The art direction on this spot is killer, utilizing all the familiar Monopoly icons, and that was all thanks to agency art director Glen Batkin.

We spent a lot of time in Canada in the '90's, when the American dollar was king and talent was cheap. Here we turned an empty warehouse into a tax prep purgatory with the help of director Nick Piper. AVO actor Doug Preis does his best Sir John Gielgud impersonation.