With a packed house at the DGA Theatre in NYC Tuesday night, SHOOT guests went from the NDS Reel screeing, to a Panel discussion, to the after party during our 8th NDS event. (SHOOT Photo/Thos Robinson)
NEW YORK, May 14, 2010, A SHOOT Staff Report --- The economy has made ad agencies more receptive to directorial newcomers as cost savings often become increasingly necessary within tighter budget constraints. However, taking the leap of faith to award work to an up-and-coming director requires more than just a talented filmmaker. Ideally, said Lora Schulson, executive director of content production at
Young & Rubicam, New York, a new director will have the support of an established production house providing the proper crew and resources. She noted that if the agency has worked successfully with the production company before, there's a comfort and trust level that makes the agency more willing to break in a new director.
Schulson's remarks came during the course of a panel discussion featured at
SHOOT's eighth annual New Directors Showcase event on Tuesday evening (May 11) at the DGA Theatre in New York. She provided an agency perspective to the proceedings while fellow panelist, Bonnie Goldfarb, CEO, executive producer and co-founder of Santa Monica-based
harvest, offered a production house POV.
Goldfarb observed that there's been a shift of sorts from the star director system to where now the track record of a production company has become an important factor in determining who gets awarded the job. Still, the director remains the prime draw. Yet at the same time, agencies are looking more closely at the track record and pedigree of a production house and its producer talent.
Schulson added that she regards finding new talent as being among her job responsibilities, thus giving work fresh creative directorial voices. Schulson noted that there's an excitement to discovering new filmmakers, recalling years ago when she was at another ad shop running across a spot directed by Ringan Ledwidge who was at the time an unknown newcomer. While Schulson wanted to use Ledwidge, she never got the chance and to this day wishes such a collaboration early on in the director's career had come to fruition.
Goldfarb agreed that there are opportunities for new directors in today's economy but she stressed that no matter how good or bad the economy is, it's paramount for new directors to be true to themselves. Trying to replicate an established director's work or looking to capitalize on a trendy style--no matter how well executed--is a mistake for a new filmmaker. Goldfarb stressed that without your true voice and genuine signature, you cannot differentiate yourself from a cluttered field of talent. She noted that for every original voice she sees reflected in a reel, she will view tens of others with well-executed, perhaps even more slickly produced work. While she might not be able to single out anything overtly wrong with this latter brand of filmmaking, it doesn't ring true nor does it bring anything new to the marketplace. What resonates, said Goldfarb, is work which reflects the heart and mind of an original creative talent.
Both Goldfarb and Schulson view spec work as a viable means to show a director's talent. "If it's good work, that's what matters," affirmed Schulson.
Director panelists Joining Goldfarb and Schulson on stage were six of the Showcase directors who shared their individual backstories and strategies for getting on the industry map: Alex Beh of
ONE at Optimus; Bill Bruce of
RSA Films; Varda Hardy of
Current Content Creation; Oliver Power, who is unaffiliated with a production house; Ian Allen Lim, who too is unaffiliated; and Ezra J. Stanley who is open to a production house affiliation while he currently continues to maintain his own
AboveGreyPictures as a roost for work.
Beh started out in the industry as an actor who successfully transitioned to directing. He was included in the Showcase largely on the strength of his short film
Babe.
Hardy recently signed with CurrentContentCreation and made the showcase for Rock for Equality.org's "What Kind of Planet Are We On?"
Bruce recently made the jump to the director's chair after a long and distinguished career as an agency creative. Prior to joining RSA last month, he spent some 23 years at
BBDO New York, his last role there being as chairman/chief creative officer. Among the work that earned Bruce inclusion into the Showcase was his New Balance short film
Feet on Head.
Lim was included for his short titled
Annie, and has his latest film
Joyride currently in the jury round of Filmaka's feature film competition.
Power is an editor at
hybrid, and made the Showcase on the strength of directing a short entitled
Mi Kasa Su Kasa.
And Stanley, who stressed his desire to be uplifting and to impart a positive message through his filmmaking, earned Showcase inclusion for his Levi's spec spot "True Love."
Lineup
In addition to the directors in the panel discussion, the lineup of 2010
SHOOT Showcase talent consisted of: the trio known as AB/CD/CD (Arnaud Boutin, Camille Dauteuille and Clement Dozier) of
Paranoid US,
Frenzy and
Rokkit; the duo Andersen M. Studio (Martin and Line Andersen) of
Broadway Films; the team of Kris Belman and Scott Balcerek of
Caviar; Jeff Bitsack of
Humble; Aaron Brown and Ben Chappell (a.k.a. Focus Creeps) of
Foundation Content; John J. Budion of
Click 3X; Joe Burrascano of
Nathan Love; Joe Daniele (a.k.a. JD) of
Cineshooter; D.A.R.Y.L. (Montgomery James and Edward Lovelace) of
Pulse; Gregory de Maria of
Resident; Shane Drake of
Wild Plum; Marie Dvorakova (unaffiliated, student at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU); Eric D. Howell who is unaffiliated; Ellen Kuras of
Park Pictures; Michael Langan of
Mekanism; Dennis Liu of
@radical.media; Mark & Louis (Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland) of
The Sweet Shop; Hiro Murai of
Partizan; Casey Neistat of
HSI Productions; Sam O'Hare of
Aero Film; Seyi Peter-Thomas of MTV; Peter Rhoads who's unaffiliated; Jessica Sanders of
Epoch Films; Andrew Tucci of
Publicis New York; Cole Webley of
Uber Content; and Jason Zada of
Tool of North America.
The Showcase lineup encompasses 39 directors filling 32 slots--26 individual directors, five duos and a trio.
Intros, reception Welcoming the audience to the Showcase with introductory remarks were director Laura Belsey representing an event sponsor, the
Directors Guild of America; and
SHOOT publisher and editorial director Roberta Griefer.
Belsey directs spots via
C-Entertainment and maintains her own
Shadow Pictures for other projects. She informed attendees that the DGA is supportive of directors' rights and has established a code of preferred practices which are guidelines for directors, ad agencies and production companies. While the code consists of eight voluntary guidelines formulated through an industry consensus, she singled out one as among the most important--that the director be provided a reasonable period of time to deliver a first edit.
Belsey then introduced Griefer who provided an overview of and historical perspective for the Showcase, now in its eight year and sixth at the DGA venue.
Griefer thanked the sponsors of the Showcase and daytime Directors Symposium events: Lead sponsors
Deluxe, the
DGA,
harvest and
ONE at Optimus, and silver sponsors
Kodak,
Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, and
Arri.
Griefer also acknowledged
Palace Digital Studios, South Norwalk, CT, which put together the New Directors Showcase reel that was screened for the audience. The reel contained work from each Showcase director.
SHOOT was pleased to be a sponsor of
Creative Week NYC, taking place in New York City from May 10-May 16. Creative Week is a celebration of creativity in advertising, design, digital media and the arts.
Following the screening was the panel discussion, after which those gathered for the event went downstairs for a reception honoring the Showcase directors.
To see the SHOOT 2010 8th Annual New Directors Showcase reel and individual profiles on each director/directing team, please click
here.
