Robot thriller The Gift is that rare species of "branded" entertainment that hits an artistic home run not through corny product placement, but by making its sponsor look cool. Shot by TV commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch on the streets of Moscow, the futuristic short film follows a 'bot on a mission that entails a mystery box, car chases and an icy river catastrophe – all the while selling the wide-screen virtues of the Philips Cinema 21:9 format TV set.
Rinsch's spot is one of five story-ads produced for Philips by Ridley Scott's RSA Films. For the Parallel Lines campaign, Rinsch, Jake Scott, Johnny Hardstaff, Greg Fay and Hi-Sim built wildly varying narratives using identical lines of dialogue.
When Rinsch's version of The Gift went online a few week ago, it sparked a feeding frenzy among Hollywood studios that want the director to expand the piece into a full-length feature.
No deal has yet been announced, but Rinsch already has two feature projects in the works. He's handling the reboot of 1954's Creature From the Black Lagoon, to be followed by samurai saga 47 Ronin.
If picked up, The Gift would mark Rinsch's first TV commercial to go big screen. In an interview with TV trade publication Boards magazine, Rinsch says: "People in Hollywood have approached and said, ‘Well we'd like to make this into a movie.' Isn't that the goal? To make an ad so good they have to turn into a movie? Not something that people want to get rid of ... but that they want 70 times more of. If we can get onto that point, we're onto something."
Follow us on Twitter: @hughhart and @theunderwire.
See Also:
