The Director Who Scammed Netflix Started His Career Making Car Commercials

A lot has come out in the last week about director Carl Erik Rinsch and his ill-fated short-form science fiction television series for Netflix called “Conquest.” While the man’s world has seemingly fallen apart in the last two years, with a divorce, alleged amphetamine addiction, and multi-million dollar arbitration with Netflix on the line. About a decade before the Netflix deal, however, Rinsch had everything going his way.

My First Car: Randall Park Cruised LA in His New, Gifted 1992 Toyota Corolla

2010 was the year that Rinsch really made his name. Then a total unknown working under famed director Ridley Scott, Rinsch had an opportunity to develop a short film for Philips which won him a coveted Cannes Lions award. The project, called Parallel Lines, brought together five up-and-comers to develop their own shorts with the only stipulation being that the script include the line “It’s a unicorn.”

Philips Cinema – Parallel Lines – The Gift, by Carl Erik Rinsch

On the back of his short titled “The Gift,” Rinsch was awarded the opportunity to direct his first feature film, a prequel to the iconic “Alien” sci-fi franchise, and a new adaptation of “Logan’s Run” would come soon after. Ridley Scott pushed Rinsch aside to take the “Alien” film for himself, making what would become 2012’s “Prometheus,” and the “Logan’s Run” remake was passed around to a dozen different directors before fading away, possibly forever.

Prior to landing “The Gift” as a project, Rinsch had been working in advertising, largely for a European audience. He did commercial spots for the BMW 5 Series, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate, a nonsensical ad for the Mazda3 five-door, and a string of Lexus ads for the U.S. market.

The first of Rinsch’s ads that I actually remember having seen was this Kia Sorento ad from 2009. Is it good? I don’t know. You decide.

Kia – Sorento Joyride 60sec

Following his acclaim for “The Gift” and ties to premier motion pictures, his commercial repertoire grew immensely. Work for Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi came fast and loose. Unfortunately, not much of it was good, except this one for Mercedes, called “Disclaimer,” which rules.

2011 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Commercial

In 2012, Rinsch committed possibly his most famous work to film with Kia’s “Bringing Down The House” commercial. This ad was delivered in most markets with a remix of Ivan Gough’s “In My Mind,” while some markets got a re-dubbed version with Psy’s internet-famous “Gangnam Style.”

In My Mind – 2013 Kia Soul Hamster Commercial [HD] MTV VMAs

Here’s one for Pennzoil’s self-cleaning engines:

Another for Toyota’s Auris Hybrid:

And one for Nissan Europe celebrating the Note, which somewhat calls back his work on “The Gift,” what with its faceless androids on motorbikes.

The Ghost Train

It seems his most memorable work comes from collaborating with Kia, as I also remember this one called “Hotbots” from 2012:

Kia: ‘Hotbots’

His 2015 ad “Shapeshifter,” for Shell, is also uh, decent. I’ll give it decent:

Shell V-Power Nitro+ Shape Shifter

Throughout his career, Rinsch earned something of a reputation as a director well-versed with CGI and VFX, using cutting-edge techniques to make 30-second to one-minute spots that look something like a cut scene from a Transformers video game or a Marvel movie mid-faceless-mob-sky-beam-climax fight. In a recent press release announcing his work with Minted Content, Rinsch was noted as firmly believing “that embracing AI will be instrumental in shaping the next generation of filmmakers.” I don’t want to see more AI gobbledygook, so I hope the Netflix fiasco ends his career in Hollywood forever. But nobody knows how to fail upward better than a boring white man, so don’t count on it.

None of this is to say that commercial work is inherently bad, or not worth doing. One of my favorite television ads of all time, the original ‘Got Milk’ campaign spot “Who Shot Alexander Hamilton?” from 1993, was directed by Michael Bay. Commercial work can be completely revolutionary and stick in your mind forever. I’m not sure anything Rinsch made can be considered on that level.