Is there life beyond Terry Tate? It's a fair question to ask of director Rawson Thurber, who has gone from film grad to phenom at breakneck speed.

The LA-based director, who recently celebrated his 28th birthday, is the man responsible for runaway Super Bowl hit "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker". The 60-second version of the four-minute film created two years ago, and picked up by Reebok last winter (see Boards, Oct. 2002), checked in as the most-watched ad during the big game.

Following the $4-million US broadcast, Reebok reported a 300% increase in hits to its website, while both Thurber and the spot's star, ex-football player/actor The Mighty Rasta (née Lester Speight), became media darlings. The Arnell Group - the agency responsible for selling the idea to Reebok and taking the franchise further - turned out a spoof of Nike's "Streaker" ad (see Boards Online Feb. 6, 2003) in four days, capitalizing on Reebok's reborn brand recognition.

But rather than riding the Tate wave until it hits the break wall - or until he no longer owns the idea he birthed - Thurber is already moving on. Recently signed to LA-based FM Rocks, he just completed a Goodwrench campaign for D'Arcy, Detroit. He's also about to begin production on his feature film Underdogs, which will be produced by and star Ben Stiller.

Goodwrench was his first official commercial project and Thurber was pleased with the agency's openness to his ideas, which he says represents his ideal situation: the ability to bring both writing and directing skills to the table and deliver Tate-level comedy.

Thurber also wants to continue pursuing advertainment or branded content, which he feels would represent a confluence of his filmmaking aspirations with the spotmaking pool he fell into with "Tate".

He'd like to help create a culture of "appointment commercials", where people are excited to see the next installment, rather than zapping the ads with TiVo or going to the bathroom. But, he says, clients and agencies have to take risks. "If you want people to talk about what you're doing, do something worth talking about."

WEBFILES:
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