Lawrence Bridges



Bridges began his film career as a production assistant on Francis Ford Coppola's film The Conversation. He became an editor of music videos, most notably with director Bob Giraldi for Michael Jackson's "Beat It", and director Joe Pytka for "Dirty Diana", and "The Way You Make Me Feel". He then founded the post-production company Red Car Inc. and began directing and editing commercials for clients such as Coca-Cola,Nike, Reebok, Honda commercials featuring Lou Reed and Devo, Michelob Beer, among many others. He cast Brad Pitt in a Pringles commercial, one of the actor's first gigs.For the Rock the Vote campaign, Bridges directed an ad featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker.

In a 1987 Rolling Stone interview Stanley Kubrick, in reference to a series of Michelob commercials that Bridges had edited, remarked that these were "some of the most spectacular examples of film art" and "the editing was some of the most brilliant work I've ever seen."

Bridges was named "Best Advertising Auteur" by Connoisseur Magazine in 1989, inspiring the magazine to write, "Whenever you see an ad that verges on art, chances are good that Bridges had a hand in it--as either director, editor or graphic designer." "...The techniques he pioneered as a backlash to formulaic commercials are now staples of the industry, as well as hallmarks of countless Hollywood feature films aiming for 'realism.'"

Work

12, initially projected on buildings from parking lots in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas, began the urban Guerrilla drive-in movement in the early 2000s. Robert Koehler of Variety Magazine called the film "A dizzying, unforgettable adventure" while Dean Treadway of "Filmicability" placed it among his favorite 100 films of all time. 12 has also played at over 15 festivals worldwide and was honored with a "Best of Fest" award at the Syracuse International Film and Video Festival in 2004. The December 2003 issue of American Cinematographer featured an article on Lawrence's cinematography for the film as well. 12 continues to play at various midnight screenings across Los Angeles.

     Bridges' first poetry appeared in Stanford’s Sequoia Magazine in 1971 and later in Poetry and The New Yorker, while Bridges was starting his career in filmmaking in New York city, balancing jobs in editing TV commercials and driving a taxi cab.

     In 2006, Bridges produced "StrangerAdventures", which was the first internet/TV game show where players from anywhere in the world could become participants with the main characters. The participants competed for cash and prizes during the week-long game. The show was nominated for a New Media Emmy award that same year.

     Bridges is the author of The Interview,  applauded Kerry Reid of the Chicago Tribune, a theatrical production in which an interviewer instructs a solo performer to respond to instructions with personal stories in front of a live audience. The performer, a different one each night, is not given any prior knowledge of the instruction or prompts that will come their way.