Production affiliations: US - Partizan / UK - 2AM Films
Years directing: 8
Shoot days in 2001: "35. It wasn't my busiest year but it was my most satisfying creatively. If you can get three good spots for your reel in a year, it's a great year. I got six for my reel last year. Plus I took time out last year to have a baby."
Geography: American, based in New York
Favorite spot: Air Lingus "Manwatcher."
On the death of irony: "Now, irony is the mainstream voice, you can watch pretty good Kellogg's commercials using irony. If that's the mainstream voice, there's room for something more sincere, but not cheesy."

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Partizan mainman Steve Dickstein calls Paul Goldman "quite possibly the most underrated director in North America." Not just idle chatter - Partizan has signed Goldman for US representation.

Goldman is best known for Lynx "Ideal Woman" for BBH London, and many of this American director's finest clips originated in Europe. A reason, perhaps, for his recent decision to trade bicoastal Cohn + Co for Partizan?

"Partizan is more amenable to me dividing my time internationally, which was understandably sticky with Cohn," says Goldman. "Europeans book jobs six weeks in advance, Americans two weeks in advance, so if I take a European job I can't work in the States for at least six weeks!"

Case in point is "Gourd," a recent Land Rover spot out of London's Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R which took Goldman to Brazil. The spot features a young man who mistakes a tribal codpiece for a mouthpiece, with suitably embarrassing consequences. Goldman cast tribal people in Brazil, and dealt with competition between two tribes wanting the plum, well-paying commercial gig.

"During the casting session I tried to be real polite. With women's tits hanging out and guys with gourds over their peckers, you have to tread lightly," says Goldman.

"I deal mostly with talent and there is dialog in pretty much everything I do. If I don't get the performance by the third or fourth take, I didn't cast the right person. For all of my direction, I rely on good casting. I let actors, with guidance, modulate the characters as needed. When an actor says what's my motivation for opening the door, I say, you want to get to the other side. If you cast good people you don't have to say much."

Webfiles: 2AM> http://www.2amfilms.co.uk