CAMPAIGN CRAFT: PORTFOLIO; Alex Winter

Alex Winter looked set for a big acting career, after starring roles in

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus

Journey. But he’d always wanted to direct and invested his movie fees in

a film course in New York. While in the Big Apple he made his first

feature for 20th Century Fox, Freaked, a black comedy that despite

starring the likes of Keanu Reeves, Randy Quaid and Brooke Shields, fell

foul of political shenanigans when Rupert Murdoch took over the studio.

Winter has finally got it released on video after a two-year battle. But

he is nothing if not resilient.

Having directed pop videos, including Ronny Jordan’s the Jackal and the

Crow soundtrack, he kickstarted his commercials directing career by

leaving Propaganda along with the producers, Emily Bliss and Michelle

Stapleton, when they founded Brave Films in January this year. Since

then his quirky humour, born of three strong cultural influences - he

was born in England, and is half-American, half-Australian - has been

evident in ads for Weetabix, Littlewoods Pools, National Lottery

Instants and the Daily Star. In fact, he’s been so busy this year that

he only found time to take three days off around his wedding in Scotland

in April. It’s typical of a man described as a ‘500-miles-per-hour

bundle of energy who never stops talking’.

Winter has shown a great diversity of range already, from the impressive

array of special effects used in Freaked to the simplicity of the quirky

spots for the likes of the Daily Star, which rely on very British

humour.

This article was first published on Campaign