Animatics, art direction, illustrations and storyboards are some of the 22 creative categories.

Music composer Gary Fry hasn’t disappeared from the business. He and many other great creative talents that gave up the rigors of a formal company are available for hire via a virtual studio, Silvershooters.com.

Former agency creatives Gary Needham and Dave Larimer and IT expert Brian Smith last January launched Silver Shooters Creative Services as a cyber source to provide any or all of the creative services once found in art studios.

The easily navigable cyber portfolio contains the work of some 50-60 serious ad pros in 22 different creative categories. Most of them are personally known to Needham and Larimer.

Accessing the general sections of Print, Screen or Creatives brings up as many as 20 different subcategories. Click on a name within that category and you can see samples of their work via Quicktime.

Site representation is free to the talent. “They are exclusively with us for representation,” notes Needham, “but their ongoing clients are, of course, theirs.”

If a job comes through Silver Shooters, the company takes a negotiated percentage of the fees. “There’s no fee if they land a full-time job through us. We wish them luck and say we hope you’ll remember us in the future. The whole thing is a handshake deal.”

Sometimes, Silver Shooters becomes the client and packages a commercial, like it did for Sorona Pharmaceuticals, through its own talent sources.

Decrying the disappearance of the once-thriving art and print production studios, Needham and Larimer last January decided to assemble a group of talented agency experts and promote them through a Web site.

Needham, is a 20-year Leo Burnett veteran. Larimer comes from Seven, one of the largest art studios inside the Burnett building. “We still get overflow work from Burnett,” Needham says.

The Web site came first, then the contact of talent for representation. “I still think of the site as fledging,” says Needham of their new enterprise. “We’re going slowly to make sure we make everyone happy. And so far, that’s what we seem to be doing.”

Silver Bullet is actually a seven-person endeavor. Larimer, Debra Fadden and Gwen Swantko are reps. Partner Brian Smith is the IT manager. Creative directors are Teda Jenkins and Needham and creative development director is Rich Seidelman.

They work out of a LaGrange Park studio and their phone is 708/352-1706. See www.silvershooters.com.

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