User:Ivymediagroup/Doug Biro

Doug Biro is an American documentary filmmaker and music video director, commercial copywriter, and executive producer, best known for his documentaries of acclaimed musicians, which incorporate live performances and personal interviews. He wrote the "Bladeroller" Coke spot directed by David Fincher which was the first commercial named to the permanent collection at Museum of Modern Art, NYC.

Background and early years
Doug Biro was born on date in city to parents xxx and xxx Biro. He graduated as an English Lit major from Colgate University. His first job was as a police reporter at the Daily Record newspaper in Morristown, New Jersey

Early career in advertising
From 1988 to 1995, Biro served as the senior vp/creative director for McCann-Erickson Worldwide in New York and Tokyo. There, he handled the multi-million dollar Coca-Cola, Levi's and Gillette accounts. During this time, he wrote the David Lynch-directed “Twin Peaks" spots for Georgia Coffee (canned coffee from Coca-Cola). It was here that he wrote the aforementioned multi-award winning Coke spot which was a first AICP winner and part of MOMA's permanent collection. From 1995 to 2003, Biro shifted his career into the music industry where he served as the vp/creative director at RCA Records/BMG Entertainment for music videos, advertising on DVDs for Christina Aguilera, Foo Fighters, David Gray, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, The Strokes. There, he also co-created the tv/print campaign for "ELVIS 30 #1 HITS” — BEFORE ANYONE DID ANYTHING, ELVIS DID EVERYTHING"

Concerts and promo films
In ’03 he produced the 24-camera Dave Matthews Band: The Central Park Concert and for the same band, he also produced “The Videos 1994-2001.” “Live at Folsom Field” and “The Gorge.” Additionally, he produced promo films for Wynton Marsalis, Kelly Clarkson, Queen Latifah, Rachael Yamagata, Ray LaMontagne, Raul Midon, Amos Lee, Melody Gardot and Herbie Hancock’s ’08 Grammy-winning record-of-the-year, “River: The Joni Letters.”  In 2004, he produced and directed the concert DVD “OLD 97’s LIVE.” In ’05 he directed and produced (with Alex Gibney) “Away From The Sun”— a concert film/DVD starring the multi-platinum Mississippi rock band, 3 Doors Down. That year he also directed a 20-minute film, “Nigel Kennedy: The Blue Note Sessions.”

His music videos include clips for the Rufus Wainwright/”Brokeback Mountain,” soundtrack, Kings of Leon, Damien Rice, The Calling, Lizz Wright, N Sync, Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole.

In November of 2006, Biro combined his early advertising roots and recent promo film expertise to direct “Standing Out in the Crowd” – one hour of branded content sponsored by Open from American Express which aired in major markets across the country on FOX network. The show featured designer Liz Lange, the creators of Blue Man Group and restaurateur Mario Batali. In addition, he directed several other shows for Open from American Express featuring entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Andy and Kate Spade, Bobbi Brown, Sydney Pollack, Nancy Meyers, Lawrence Bender, Michael Graves, Kenneth Brown and Barbara Barry. In ‘08 his 30-minute film for Random House about novelist Ian McEwan and his book “On Chesil Beach” was screened in 60 cities across the country and is available on DVD through Powells Books.

Recent work
Most recently, Biro directed videos for Cinema Italiano by Kate Hudson and the Oscar-nominated Take it All by Marion Cotillard from the Weinstein Company movie Nine. In late ’09, he produced and directed a 7-camera shoot of Norah Jones’ live show at Le Poission Rouge in NYC for hulu webcast to promote her new album, The Fall.

Throughout 2009, Biro directed Clear Channel’s “STRIPPED” series of live concerts with featured artists Maxwell, Mariah Carey, Harry Connick Jr., Alicia Keys,Tim McGraw, Kelly Clarkson, the Jonas Brothers, Sean Paul and others.

In the fall of ‘09, Biro created four commercials for Morgans Hotel Group’s new web-based ad campaign, “The World Needs Interesting” and a series of webisodes about the Morgans’ new Boston hotel, The Ames, featuring architect/designer, David Rockwell. Biro also profiled Benjamin Noriega Ortiz on his re-design of the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles, and Marcel Wanders on his design of the new Mondrian Hotel in Miami.

Current and future projects
Biro is currently the President and Owner of Hudson River Films, a production company based in New York City which produces performance videos, music documentaries, branded content and short films. The company is currently in post-production on a new film for Herbie Hancock’s “Imagine Project.” Also in post-production—“The Greatest Ears In Town”—a feature documentary about iconic music producer, Arif Mardin, produced and directed by Joe Mardin and Biro. The film focuses on Arif’s last five months of life battling pancreatic cancer while producing an album of his own compositions recorded by Bette Midler, Carly Simon, Barry Gibb, Phil Collins, Norah Jones, Dianne Reeves, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall and others. The film includes extensive interviews with Mardin’s producing peers Quincy Jones, Sir George Martin, the late Ahmet Ertegun and Phil Ramone.

Awards and recognition
The "Bladeroller" Coke spot he wrote was among the world's most award-winning commercials in 1993 and was the first tv spot added to the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. His “My First Coke" spot was a London International Film Festival winner. And the series of David Lynch-directed “Twin Peaks" spots he wrote for Georgia Coffee(canned coffee from Coca-Cola) also won numerous international awards.