This year’s field of nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award recognizing Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials consists of a filmmaker who’s won the honor each of the last two years, another past winner, a five-time nominee, a helmer who’s just picked up his second career nod, and a duo garnering their very first Guild nomination.
The latter is the directorial team of Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim of production house PRETTYBIRD.
The director now going for her third consecutive DGA Award win is Kim Gehrig of Somesuch.
The other past winner is Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks. Nilsson won the honor in 2016 and now has three career nominations.
Lance Acord of Park Pictures just earned his fifth career DGA Award nomination in the commercials category–his four prior nods coming in 2004, 2012, 2013 and 2017.
And scoring his second career DGA nod is Ivan Zacharias of SMUGGLER who was previously nominated in 2023.
The work
Gehrig earned her third straight nomination on the strength of three entries: SiriusXM’s “A Life in Sound” for agency Uncommon; Nike’s “Am I A Bad Person?” for Wieden+Kennedy, and the Apple client-direct spot titled “Find Your Friends.”
Nilsson’s latest nomination came for Hennessy’s “Board Game” out of Wieden+Kennedy London; Andrex’s “First Office Poo” for FCB London; the client-direct Apple spot “One More”; and Virgin Media’s “Whizzer” for VCCP London.
Acord’s fifth career nod is for Volkswagen’s “An American Love Story” out of agency Johannes Leonardo.
Zacharias’ second career nomination is for Apple’s “Flock” out of TBWAMedia Arts Lab.
And the duo of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim nabbed their first nomination for CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe” from WPP Onefluence (Ogilvy).
The winner will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Here’s a full list of the DGA Award nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for 2024 (in alphabetical order):
LANCE ACORD
(Park Pictures)
“An American Love Story,” Volkswagen ‑ Johannes Leonardo
Unit Production Manager: Karoline Kousidonis
First Assistant Directors: Thomas Smith, Peter S. Jackson
Second Assistant Directors: Carly Sturgeon, John Mattern
Second Second Assistant Directors: Matthew Kramer, Reed Baum
KIM GEHRIG
(Somesuch)
“A Life in Sound,” SiriusXM – Uncommon
First Assistant Director: Kate Greenberg
Second Assistant Director: Rebecca Rogers
“Am I A Bad Person?”, Nike ‑ Wieden+Kennedy
First Assistant Director: Guy Forgaard
“Find Your Friends,” Apple ‑ Client Direct
First Assistant Director: Rodney Smith
Second Assistant Director: John Nasraway
Second Second Assistant Director: Isaac Meija
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Michael Dudley, Kendall Wilmot
TIM HEIDECKER & ERIC WAREHEIM
(PRETTYBIRD)
“Michael CeraVe,” CeraVe ‑ WPP Onefluence (Ogilvy)
First Assistant Directors: Matthew Smith, Kerstin Emhoff
Second Assistant Director: Kiersten Fehlig
Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew Hausmann
ANDREAS NILSSON
(Biscuit Filmworks)
“Board Game,” Hennessy ‑ Wieden+Kennedy ‑ London
“First Office Poo,” Andrex ‑ FCB ‑ London
“One More,” Apple ‑ Client Direct
First Assistant Director: Scott Harris
Second Assistant Director: Ronald Misetich
“Whizzer,” Virgin Media ‑ VCCP ‑ London
IVAN ZACHARIÁŠ
(SMUGGLER)
“Flock,” Apple ‑ Media Arts Lab
First Assistant Director: Robert Phillips
