It’s done, Betfair’s very own behind the scenes ‘making of’ film for the new Front Room campaign which, following a liberal smattering of ten second teasers, is about to launch proper. A bombardment of thirty second commercials will be backed by online content featuring the further musings of the Betfair five, all directed by Theo Delaney for Albion with art direction by Toby Stevens, photography by Stephanie Hardt and editing from Simon Hargood at The Quarry. Danny Fleet is the producer. Click the pic to find out more.

We love this idea from by Clive Pickering and Albion creative director Andre Moreira. A film festival for films with only one shot. (This is possibly because, looking through Hotspur and Argyle’s extensive archives, we discovered an abundance of such films one or two of which have appeared in the pages of the D&AD annual). We heartily recommend multiple entries, after all its free and the deadline has been extended to October 31st. Not only that, it can all be done online at the strikingly good looking One Shot Film Festival website.

Our teasers for the new Betfair Front Room campaign are on air (and YouTube). We can’t say much more about the campaign proper except that we’re working on it with the brilliant Albion and it’ll be along shortly. Watch this space.

Click on the image to watch the video.

…is the enigmatic title of Kevin Curtis’s heartfelt homage to the celebrated Mercedes ad ‘Presence’ which features Josh Brolin. This film – no less portentous in its philosophical profundity than the original – has provoked much chin-stroking here at head office.

These likely lads are the stars of our new campaign for McDonald’s ‘Great Taste of America’ promotion directed by Theo Delaney for Leo Burnett. The four commercials feature rising comedy stars Charlie Baker and Spencer Jones, childishly mucking around on an American theme. Watch out for idiotic behaviour inspired by New York, Chicago, Arizona and Miami. The two were so brimming with brilliance that there is an abundance of extra, non-scripted material that may seep out virally. (Yuck). The ads were written by Graham Lakeland and Richard Robinson and produced for Burnetts by Lois Mould. Linsey Romano took charge for Hotspur and Argyle.

Click on the image to view the first two films now running. “New York” & “Chicago”

‘Two Rays’ is Contentment Worldwide’s latest film for The Football Association’s Respect Programme. Written and directed by Theo Delaney the film stars the one and only Ray Winstone as an over-zealous soccer Dad and, umm, another Ray Winstone as his cool alter-ego. Already spreading like wildfire across the web it’s popping up in news programmes and papers the length and breadth of the land. But you can see it right here by clicking on Ray’s boat race.

Click on the image to watch the video.

It’s official, our new ‘Talk to Frank’ campaign for Mother breaks tonight. Having been locked away with a stuffed dog and a load of other incriminating objects for weeks. We’ve created a TV & Cinema 60, 3 web films and 2 virals. Click on the image to view video.

That’s right, Hotspur and Argyle’s shadowy sister organisation Contentment Worldwide is responsible for all the live action footage on Sony’s lavish new Quantum of Solace website. The site invites would-be Bonds to attempt a series of tasks designed to raise sensory awareness to 007 levels. Jake Polonsky directed the action over two days in London.

 ’Get in! We’ve only got pick of the week. We’d like to thank our Mums and Dads, our agents, Bev and Simon at The FA, Gary Mabbutt for his exemplary chinese burn etc and so on …..’

Dressing up opportunities are limited when you’re a director but the other week Theo got to disguise himself as an accountant before descending into the London Underground to shoot a new Nokia viral campaign for the brilliant Work Club . We dotted five hidden cameras through Jubilee line carriages (including Theo’s briefcase-cam necessitating the matching outfit) and observed the traveling public reacting to the antics of our actors. Also pictured above are Work Club art director Rodrigo Lebrun , actor Steve Burge and writer Nico Tatarowicz . The films are going live this week, so watch this space.

Hotspur and Argyle’s sister outfit Contentment Worldwide has just finished a set of six training films for the Football Association starring England internationals Frank Lampard and Kelly Smith. It’s Contentment’s first work since being appointed by the FA to provide content across a range of campaigns.

Hosted on the FA Tesco Skills website, the films aim to teach tricks to young players but also serve as virals thanks to top notch comic performances from Lampard, Smith and FA coach Nick Levitt

Stand by for more Celeb-packed Contentment work for the FA’s Respect campaign launching in early August.

Finding ourselves in the meeting room of the RKY&R TV department, we came across the breathtaking work of art pictured above. In our view it juxtaposes anticipated with anomalous imagery to create visual analogies. Discrepancy and contrast in scale are emphasized as it investigates perception and memory… Anyway, we asked our host Katy Hampson about the provenance of the piece and she said it had been made by Head of Televison Tim Page as a tribute to his deputy Claudio Gorini. When we looked at it again, it all fell into place.

Hotspur and Argyle’s friend and collaborator Jake Polonsky is well known for applying his magical cinematography to pop promos and commercials and he’s also directed a couple of highly impressive shorts. But his mastery also extends to the still image. Have a look at these stunning new landscapes taken in New Zealand. (Always busy, Jake also recently became a Dad for the first time. Congratulations Jake!)

We like Current TV. The global cable and satellite TV network commissions ‘pods’ from a select list of production houses including Contentment Worldwide, Hotspur and Argyle’s sister company. Which is why they recently invited Contentment’s Sam Delaney, who writes and presents the pieces, to meet former US Vice President and darling of the Green lobby Al Gore, who happens to be Current TV’s owner. And that’s how we get to publish a picture of one of our own pressing the flesh of a bona fide World Statesman.

Theo wasn’t half excited when recently asked to be a guest on ‘The Spurs Show with Phil Cornwell’, a brilliant podcast of which we are huge fans. Uber-agent Mike Leigh, who presents the show with Mr Cornwell, invited him on because of the work we did with Simon Delaney on the official Spurs at 125 anniversary DVD through Contentment Worldwide. Anyway, he felt like a kid on Jim’ll Fix It. In our view this is a masterpiece among contemporary podcasts – very niche, very funny and amorphous in a way a radio show could never be. No wonder its always high up the sports charts in the iTunes podcast section. It’s taking its summer break at the moment but it’ll be back for the new season.