Integrated production company Sabertooth has signed directing collective Display Purposes Only: DPO (aka Conrad Jackson and Conor Colwell ) for exclusive US spot representation. Each an award-winning filmmaker in his own right, Jackson (pictured top) and Colwell (pictured bottom) have come together to develop new perspectives in visual storytelling. Their online piece “Skater Ollie” has garnered 2.2 Million hits on YouTube (to date), and recently was featured on MSN’s homepage, where it generated over 300,000 hits in a single day.

Jackson broke into the business as a writer while attending film school at Loyola Marymount Sabertooth DPOUniversity, selling his senior thesis to ABC; the project landed in the primetime roster and ultimately made Jackson the youngest African American to create a prime-time show for ABC. Colwell’s creative history is rooted in visual effects and cinematography. He has shot everywhere from the deep jungles of the Philippines to the war-torn streets of Iraq, where he developed and DP’d “Brothers At War,” a film hailed by the AARP as “categorically the best war film, documentary or fictional, ever made.”
“Sabertooth is a content company, and the first conversation we have with an agency is about how to realize their vision,” said Creative Director/Founder David Cullipher, who launched the firm in 2008. “This process can originate with live action, CG or interactive, but in the end we’re here to bring awesome creative content solutions to the table.”

“These guys are tremendous at brainstorming creative ideas with agencies, and at bringing a boarded concept to life in a way that will grab attention across the web,” said John Busenberg, Executive Producer at Sabertooth. “Clients are continually pursuing the holy grail of a workable formula for web content that propagates itself virally. DPO infuses this conversation with an impressive mix of imagination and skill.”

“The shift to a free-flowing digital environment gives advertising a new beast to tame,” the directors stated. “Advertising must become so appealing that it is viewed as entertainment first, and as a commercial second.”

To demystify the process of creating effective viral content, DPO created a half-hour overview presentation for Sabertooth’s agency clients, “There’s so much demand for viral marketing, it’s great to be able to share with clients that there is both a science and strategy behind how best to position their work for success,” Cullipher said.

Busenberg points to projects such as Evolve “Magnet” as an example of DPO’s ability to craft sophisticated content while keeping their eye on audiences’ tastes. Composed from over 2400 stills, the piece is a meticulous blend of live action with a stop motion technique, gracefully narrating the passage of time and changing trends. “The camera never stops moving, even as the frame is constantly shifting ‘ it’s a single shot that tells the story of 30 years inside of a minute,” he said. “It’s really a unique and visually compelling spot, and that’s quintissential DPO. They are independent, they are smart technical filmmakers, the end product is very polished, but there’s an inherent edgy rawness and disruptive intelligence to the work that really makes it distinct.”

“We have smiles from ear to ear,” the directors said of their decision to join Sabertooth. “We’re looking forward to creating progressive material and seizing all of the opportunities to learn from this group.” Referring to 2017 Pacific, the integrated production collective comprised of Sabertooth, Film Realite and Restless Films, they were equally sanguine. “This is an ideal environment in that it possesses the foresight needed to adapt traditional marketing and production methodologies to the evolving digital media landscape. With their support, we’re thrilled by the challenge to help define a new age in advertising and production strategies.”