Today we’d like to introduce you to Derek Shields.
Derek, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in New York City and found my way to California in ‘87. My goal was to work in advertising but didn’t realize I would end up in motion picture advertising. My career started in the early days of what was then known as desktop publishing. Later came the new thing in design, the Apple/Mac computer. No longer would I need to use press type or paste-up by hand to visualize my creations. I could work digitally and save my revisions. At that time, I was working at the Walt Disney Company in the Marketing department where I was designing newspaper ads for films like Dick Tracy, starring Warren Beatty and Madonna. I eventually got to solely create and design my very first poster for the film, Mr. Holland’s Opus. As time passed I went from a Junior Designer to a Creative Director creating and designing posters for Toy Story, The Lion King, Tarzan, Mulan, A Bug’s Life, The Incredibles and so many more. My 10 years at The Walt Disney Company taught me a lot about the business of marketing creatively and launching feature films for both the Domestic and the International Markets. In 2000, I left Disney to start a print division at a well-known motion picture marketing company, specializing in audio visual marketing, Craig Murray Productions (aka “CMP” and now mOcean). At CMP, I developed a small team and continued working on many films while growing that division for 6 years. This eventually led to my opening my own creative advertising company, Proof Creative Group.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road but I can say it actually hasn’t been that bad. There have been some hard knocks that only inspired me to become even more of a success. I can also tell you that what I am most proud of is that, through it all, I have maintained my integrity and my creativity, always staying true to myself and focused on what I love to do.
Please tell us about Proof Creative Group.
The company I formed about 10 years ago is Proof Creative Group. PROOF is located in Burbank and specializes in creative advertising for motion picture films. We primarily develop concepts for print teasers, one-sheets, outdoor and in-theatre advertising campaigns for both the Domestic and International markets. While we have created advertising material for all genres, our specialty, if there is such a thing, is animated films. With movie studios focusing on family entertainment, PROOF has been able to tap into a niche that I’m very experienced with… My opportunities to work on animated films for major studios including Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, Pixar, Sony and Warner Bros. have been a true blessing.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Nothing really… it hasn’t been perfect, but because it wasn’t, it made the journey thus far amazing.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4111 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank, CA. 91505 Suite 416
- Website: http://www.aboutproof.com
- Phone: 818 848 5330
- Email: hello@proofcreativegroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proofcreativegroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Proof-Creative-Group-491885494216219/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AboutProof
- Other: http://www.impawards.com/designers/proof.html
Image Credit:
Frank Cacho and Erwin Raif
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