Jason Clarke

NBC and YouTube are holding an open compeition for people to submit :20 promos for “The Office“, recently nominated for 3 Emmys including Best Comedy. Up to 10 winners will have their promos aired on NBC this fall.

I’m a huge Office fan, so with the help of my brother-in-law and my wife, I submitted a promo to the competition. Technically, the entries are supposed to be kept private on YouTube (which mine is), but I’m also posting it here.

The rules of the contest are pretty strict: Original footage only, no clips from The Office, and only one NBC-supplied graphic, as well as The Office theme song, were the only stock provided.

With that in mind, here’s my entry- just click the “play” button on the video to watch it (you must have Flash, and you’ll want the sound on). If you want to submit your own, go here.

UPDATE: The video is now available. Please feel free to send me comments, suggestions, hatemail. Shoot…it appears the video won’t work because it’s currently set to private within YouTube, per the rules of the contest. So I’ll have to wait until tomorrow, when the contest ends, and then I’ll make it public and show it here. Sorry!

Checking out Jason Calacanis’ site, I noticed a link to an amazing commercial that aired during this past Sunday’s Oscar telecast. I meant to post about the ad myself but it was lost in the shuffle, before I found it again. When I first caught this spot during the Oscars, I was simply mesmerized- for the entire two minute length- a virtual eternity for TV advertising- I sat there, continually freaked out in an entertaining way. Not recognizing the star of the spot, for most of the time I was convinced it was a promo for an upcoming TV show until the reveal came at the end.

The “commercial” was just that- a commercial- but it was also a 2-minute long short film for the American Express card directed by and starring M. Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense among others.

The commerci-short is part of the credit card giant’s “My Life, My Card” campaign, which I’ve already admired via its print iterations in Entertainment Weekly. Its print counterparts, while not as captivating, are classy, understated spots that feature interesting black and white photos of celebs (such as Ellen DeGeneres brushing her teeth) and personal comments from them.

Besides the genius of the ad, American Express and whoever its agency is are further proving they “get it” by posting the ad on the homepage of the campaign’s website, mylifemycard.com, for all to see.

Take two minutes and check out this amazing commercial/short film. If you admire Shyamalan’s unique brand of upscale spookiness, you’ll really dig the spot.