| Paddy was at the height of his success in documentary films when an unfortunate event happened. A message was left for him to contact a major TV commercials production house. They wanted him to direct an ad for a huge international client. He learned later that it would have been a very big break and big money for him. But he never got the message and he never got the job……….ah well, life goes on……... More calls came in but not on such a ground-breaking or career-changing scale.
PJ Evans/Austin Rover
His first commercial for PJ Evans the biggest car dealer group in the Midlands at the time was made in conjunction with Austin Rover. It involved some very complicated manoeuvres with a camera mounted in a helicopter cavorting around the model car. On the day of shooting there was almost a hurricane with severe turbulence. Some of the shots were very hairy indeed. The end effect, though, was spectacular.
News International
Then over two years he directed a series of different commercials for News International. The ‘Times’ commercials were rather more serious while those for the ‘Sun’ were high speed crash, bang, wallop affairs. They were big, short notice productions made by a very close-knit and well-organised team. They required great skills to be concentrated into abbreviated time scales. Paddy acquired all sorts of new abilities and tricks from them.
First Leisure Corporation
First Leisure Corporation was the biggest leisure industry group in Britain controlling bingo, ten pin bowling and snooker halls and many holiday and other entertainment centres all over UK, not least Blackpool. A series of commercials to promote this glitzy resort was enormous fun to make. Every show, every star, every disco, every zoo and every kind of flashing or dazzling light in town was filmed.
The commercials were so successful that income in Blackpool for First Leisure, apparently, climbed 30%!
But the commercials world is very fickle. One moment you are ‘flavour of the month’, the next you’re not. It was time for Paddy to move on with new skills at his finger tips. |
