Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 12 - Index

Curtis Green, 29
Copywriter, Euro RSCG Chicago
A job in advertising was the furthest thing from Curtis Green’s
mind while he was a journalism student at the University of
Kansas and working as a custodian in a public school to
pay his bills. “I always liked writing, but never thought too
hard about making it a career,” says Green. “Then one day
my buddy told me to put a book together and try to break
into the business. It sounded a lot better than mopping
floors and cleaning up vomit.” He went full steam ahead
and landed a job right out of school. He’s been working in
the industry ever since.
Today, less than 10 years after he polished floors for a living,
he’s now polishing body copy and writing headlines for big
name clients like Barilla and Powershares. Green showed up
at Euro RSCG Chicago in 2005 after working at a few small
shops in Kansas and Wisconsin. It was time for him to see if
he could make it at a “big agency.” Plus, he says he was
anxious to make some ads that his friends and family might
actually see in magazines or on TV. Well, dreams do come
true. Last fall he traveled through Italy to pen what would
become a scrapbook print campaign, documenting the
essence of Barilla pasta in its home country. Not a bad gig if
you can get it. And this year he went back to Tuscany to film
a commercial he co-wrote for the brand’s new miniature
pasta line, Piccolini.
He says that while he never really knew he wanted a career
in it, he’s always had an itch for advertising. “I was born and
���������������� Visit www.screenmag.tv for more daily news than ever before!
raised on TV. My mom was a coupon clipper and we always
had cabinets full of brand-name cereal. My dad only drove
Chevrolets. We chanted ‘tastes great, less filling,’ on the
bus ride to school. So I guess I knew what brands meant to
people very early in my life, and I always like knowing that
I’m now part of that process.”
Green says his highlight in 2008 so far has been shooting a
new 45-second spot for Powershares with acclaimed director
Dante Ariola, who’s famous for directing commercials for
Nike, ESPN and Volkswagen. “It was a tremendous experience
and I feel extremely lucky to have been a part of it.”
Green acknowledges that the world of advertising is
becoming more integrated, and he’s had the opportunity
to work on projects like an integrated mircosite for Barilla—
which is tied in with the scrapbook print campaign he wrote.
But at the end of the day, Green is a bit old school in that
he enjoys the pure satisfaction of writing a good headline
and seeing it in layout for the first time. “The world is full
of interesting stories. My job—in the most basic sense—is
simply to tell a few of them.”
//www.eurorscg.com
Franco Caballero, 23 / Victor Noriega, 28
Copywriters, Bromley Communications
Franco was born and raised on the Texas border between
Mexico in the US. He studied Communications at the
University of Texas Pan American, worked previously at a
hotel, laundromat, student publications, a design shop
and Domino’s Pizza. He got on internship at Bromley
Communications in the summer of 2006, where he was
hired and has been working as a copywriter ever since.
Since then he has developed communication for Bromley’s
brand portfolio and won, alongside Vic Noriega, last year’s
US Hispanic Young Creatives competition in New York. That
earned him the chance to compete at the Cannes Young
Lions competition this year, where he and Noriega will take
a shot at over 30 other teams from around the world. He’s
hoping it goes well so he can have an extra sentence in
next year’s bio.
Washing dishes and passing out the mail at Bromley
Communications taught Victor Noriega a lot of lessons