Image from Aleksandra Korejwo's Tammhäuser commercial for The Austin Lyric Opera.

In the fast-paced world of commercials, its hard to find room for vision and individualism. But a unique production company that emerged from the fields of production and distribution of independent animation is changing all of that, and the result is some of the most innovative commercial work in the industry.

Acme Filmworks was founded six years ago with the intent to represent independent animators to prospective ad agencies. The role that this Hollywood-based company has since assumed far surpasses that original mission. "My vision for Acme," explains the studio's co-founder and now sole owner Ron Diamond, "was to find opportunities for the world's most creative animators. I wanted to work with these brilliant directors to help them not only find work, but better understand the commercial arena of the entertainment industry."

A Global Studio
Something of a cross between a commercial animation house and a talent agency, Acme matches animator/directors with advertising agencies. Representing over 40 directors from 8 countries, from a pool of talent that has no consistent venue in North America, Acme is a veritable global studio. Acme has no "house style," as its' directors use of techniques spans across all media: photo-collage, scratch-on-film, paint-on-glass, traditional character-cel, stop motion, clay animation, special effects and title design. "Any one director does not carry the company." says Diamond, "It is a collective group of directors, and that, I think, is a formidable force." The roster of Acme directors reads something like an animation festival catalog, with award-winning animators on the list such as Bill Plympton, John Kricfalusi, Caroline Leaf, Paul and Menno De Noojier, Wendy Tilby, Sue Loughlin, Raimund Krumme, Cordell Barker, and Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein, to name a few.

Monkey Business, Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein's stop-motion animated commercial for Nestle.

So how did an artists' rep turn into a full-scale production company? "Ron scours the globe looking for the world's best artists, the freshest styles and newest techniques," comments Bill Plympton, an Acme director and cult-status independent animator. Diamond's background in both production and distribution (For six years, he produced the International Tournee of Animation) lends itself to his unique line of work. "I decided that I wanted to be an integral part of production, not just sell already completed productions," says Diamond. And integral he is, traveling around the world to stay on top of everything. At any given time, Acme projects can be going on in several locations around the globe. Some animators, like Montreal-based Wendy Tilby, choose to fly to sunny Los Angeles to work on projects at Acme's Hollywood production facility, which is host to an Oxberry camera stand, Avid editing system and other equipment. Others, like stop-motion animators Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein in Germany, prefer to work out of their established studios to execute their unique stop-motion work.

The more exotic the location, in fact, the more involved in the production Diamond seems to get. "The first major commercial we did was with the Russian director Mikhail Aldashin. It was a tumultuous time in Russia. Ad agencies want, above all, a sense of security and comfort. I just found it prudent to become directly involved in the production aspect." And it seems that coordinating productions all over the globe is Diamond's rather extraordinary talent. Says independent animator and Acme director Caroline Leaf, "Ron is able to pull things together over large distances. In this respect he's fearless. I remember the first time I got a call for a job from Acme. I was heading off to Australia. By the time I landed in Brisbane, Ron knew exactly where I could rent a 35mm camera."