Ed Schumacher, director/owner of Boy Genius in Venice, CA, steps up to answer Five Questions.
1. What are you working on today?
I tend to spend my day multitasking. I’m currently working on creative on a new campaign for Mercury Insurance, post production on another set of commercials for LawyerUp, and meeting with our lawyers to secure the rights to a comic book graphic novel that I love and we want to develop into a motion picture.

2. What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out in the last year?
The Panasonic AG-HVX200 HD with the built in hard drive that you can load directly into the computer. It allows us to get stuff done faster.

3. The project (film, television, commercial or music video) that most impressed you in the last year? Why?
The movie Little Children completely took me by surprise and I loved it. I loved the narrator. Todd Field is an incredible director and brings magic to his films.

4. The best or favorite project that you worked on in the past year? And why?
The Mercury Insurance campaign was certainly the most fun. We had ten shoot days last year and the crew was wonderful. I loved the concept when Scott Corbett and Mark Cohen pitched it to me. A man who thinks that the reason the rates are so low at Mercury is because they use Mercurian technology and are aliens. He goes about trying to prove it. We’re writing some pretty funny scripts taking the campaign to a pretty unusual place.

5. Name the top 4 artists on your iPod?
Coldplay
Cat Stevens
U2
Bob Marley

RECENT PROJECT: Mercury Campaign
Boy Genius Gets The "Girl" – and the Scoop – On Mercury
Press Release

Dr. Selwick knows his aliens, but he doesn't quite know how to get the "Girl," in this new spot from Ed Schumacher and Boy Genius. The good Doctor is attending a sci-fi convention, when he happens upon a model (the stunning Aubrey L. of "Deal or No Deal") working a booth stocked with traditional life-size alien figurines. He explains that real aliens look like people, and in fact run Mercury Insurance. "That's why their rates are so low," he tells her. She's about ready to visit his booth to review his evidence, when the mood is derailed by Selwick's lack of coordination.

Appearing on a "Talk Show," Dr. Selwick explains that footage of a man tripping on the sidewalk is actually a prime example of an alien defying earthly physics. Watch closely, he may be right.

CREDITS
Agency/Location: MarketPower, San Antonio, TX
Creative Director: Ed Schumacher
Copywriters: Scott Corbett, Mark Cohen
Agency Producer: Joe Pistorio
Production Company/Location: Boy Genius, Venice, CA
Director: Edward Schumacher
Line Producer: Jerad Sloan
Director of Photography: Stà¶ps Langensteiner
Editorial: Butcher Editorial
Editor: Erik Carlson
Music/Sound Design: Soundbath
Music Composer: Garron Chang
Sound Mix: Ravenswork
Mixer: Robert Feist
Telecine: Rushes Colorist: David Smith
On Line: KromA
On line Editor: Evan Guidera