While the lack of diversity in Oscar nominations has become a hot button topic—particularly the omission of Selma lead actor David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay (the latter also didn’t make the final cut for the Directors Guild of America Awards)—there has quietly been a measure of progress realized in the DGA Commercials competition with the selection of two female filmmaker nominees: Lauren Greenfield of Chelsea Pictures, and Katina Mercadante as half of The Mercadantes (the other half being her husband, Daniel Mercadante). The Mercadantes recently signed with Park Pictures for spots and branded content.
Prior to this year, the ranks of annual DGA commercial director nominees—which date back to 1980—had tallied but one female director: Amy Hill who as half of the duo Riess/Hill (with Chris Riess) earned a coveted Guild nomination in 1999 (when they were with production house Tony K; the Riess/Hill team is now on the roster of Paydirt Pictures).
Greenfield thus becomes the very first individual female director to garner a DGA Commercial Director of the Year nomination. She is no stranger to the nominees’ circle, having earned that distinction in the Feature Documentary category in 2013 for The Queen of Versailles.
Greenfield’s historic DGA spot nomination comes appropriately enough for the centerpiece viral video in the #LikeAGirl social media experiment created by agency Leo Burnett for Procter & Gamble’s feminine hygiene brand Always. Greenfield recalled that she was immediately drawn to the project by Leo Burnett’s initial presentation to her. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a photograph of me on a storyboards cover page,” said Greenfield. Next to the picture was a question asking if Greenfield “directs like a girl?”
“I was hooked from the beginning,” said Greenfield who felt both the importance and inherent challenge of tackling the negative “Like a girl” stereotype (“you throw like a girl,” “you run like a girl”), which permeates our culture. The global campaign was created to help girls and women feel proud and confident when they do things #LikeAGirl. The social experiment sought out how people of all ages interpret the phrase, “Like a girl.” The video captured negative and positive feedback, and has thus far generated 75 million-plus downloads globally and a staggering 4.5 billion impressions, clearly resonating with its target audience and beyond.
Always invited girls and women everywhere to join the movement and share what they proudly do #LikeAGirl. They were encouraged to Tweet, take a picture, shoot a video or send a message to take a stand and show young girls everywhere that doing things #LikeAGirl should never be used as an insult—that it instead means being strong, talented and downright amazing.
Turning a stigma into an empowering movement underscores the positive power of advertising and filmmaking, affirmed Greenfield. “I’m a small part of the DGA nomination. This was an idea whose time has come. People were ready for it and responded. It also changed my thinking. The main thrust of my work has been documentaries and photography—what I’ve come to regard as being part of the ‘make-a-difference’ business. When I’ve worked in advertising, that’s not always the case. You don’t think as much in terms of making a positive difference in society through advertising though I’ve always tried to infuse something positive in my commercials. But #Like A Girl has made more of a positive difference than anything else I’ve done. I’ve heard countless stories of how parents, coaches, teachers, mentors have turned around the ‘like a girl’ phrase to now instead be a source of inspiration, helping to build confidence in girls and young women.”
The changing nature of media and advertising has also been instrumental, continued Greenfield. “We live in a great time when you can launch an over three-minute piece on YouTube and get 75 million views. You have international reach. You don’t have to be confined to 30 or 60 seconds. You can connect directly with the audience and if they relate to a certain kind of emotional content and an authenticity of storytelling, they pass your story onto others. In the case of #LikeAGirl, for me it’s not just about being a female director. There’s also the power of a female audience, the power of diverse voices. Ultimately capitalism can get rid of discrimination. The world is so competitive, we care too much about success and money to discriminate if it’s going to get in the way. Millions saw this video—it was great for the brand, great for sales and in the process made a positive difference in the world.”
Greenfield’s first DGA commercial nomination is also noteworthy in another respect. She became the second director to earn Guild nominations in both the Commercial and Documentary categories—the first director to do so being Errol Morris who was a spot nominee in 2004 when he was with @radical.media (Morris is now with Moxie Pictures), and twice nominated for documentaries on the strength of Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter, Jr., in 2000, and The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara in 2004.
The Mercadantes
The Mercadantes earned their first career DGA nomination on the basis of three entries: Dick’s Sporting Goods’ “Sports Matter: Baseball” from Anomaly NY, and Facebook’s “We Are Not Alone” and “Big Sister” from Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. This work was done when the directors were at Epoch Films, and prior to Katina’s marriage to Daniel Mercadante. Her maiden name, Hubbard, was on the DGA entry form.
“We are committed to making work that is genuine and coming from a place of truth and authenticity. To have the DGA recognize that work, these real people stories and the underbelly emotions they are going through is pretty surreal and quite an affirmation,” related Katina Mercadante.
That authenticity is exemplified in all three entries, perhaps most notably the piece for Dick’s Sporting Goods. “The folks at Anomaly came to us with wonderful scripted stories about high school athletes,” recalled Daniel Mercadante. “We then tried to find real stories similar to the spirit of what was written on the page. We did the legwork, going to high schools in the greater Austin [Texas] area, going into locker rooms, asking teen athletes about their stories. We talked to kids who had struggled, asked them what inspired them. And we found a high school baseball pitcher whose grandfather had recently died. We told his story.”
The real-to-life Facebook stories were also emotionally moving, as a girl in a unique indirect way lets relatives know that she’s about to become a big sister. The Mercadantes in effect told the story of how a real mom informed her family that she was pregnant. And the other Facebook piece introduces us to a community of cosplayers at ComicCon.
Becoming one of just three women in the history of the DGA Awards to earn a spotmaking nomination, Katina Mercadante said she cares a great deal about women filmmakers being afforded opportunities. “I read an article in DGA Quarterly about female directors who are top notch yet still aren’t considered for big studio pictures. It’s important that women have a voice, that feminine takes on stories are told and shared—whether it’s through features, commercials, poetry, whatever the medium. The fact is that our three entries have a feminine influence to them. Daniel is an incredible filmmaker in his own right, a great director with his own aesthetic. But our partnership has a special element to it, bringing out the emotion of our stories a bit more.”
Daniel Mercadante observed, “I realize it’s a generalization but when you weave a feminine perspective into storytelling, it takes on a certain honesty and integrity. Women in the industry now hold men accountable to tell honest stories. Just look at Lauren Greenfield’s work which is so potent. The negative meaning to the expression ‘like a girl’ is not acceptable. I think that between Katina and I, as we go back and forth on the work, we together arrive at a more genuine, honest place that’s as pure as it can be.”
The Mercadantes now begin a new career chapter with their move to Park Pictures, spurred in large part by their affinity for and natural connection with director Lance Acord and executive producer Jackie Kelman Bisbee who are company founding partners. Daniel Mercadante noted that he and Katina make film that goes beyond just real people. “We’ve worked with actors and we don’t consider ourselves documentary filmmakers,” said Daniel Mercadante. “We have more of a documentary aesthetic and documentary attitude in our approach to concepts. We are mostly inspired by good stories and emotional architectures that we can tap into—or conceptual frameworks that we can sort of build.”
The Mercadantes and Greenfield are joined in this year’s field of DGA Commercial nominees by: Nicolai Fuglsig of MJZ; Emmett and Brendan Malloy, a.k.a. The Malloys of HSI; and Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks.
Murro is a two-time DGA Award winner and has been nominated eight times in his career. He won the DGA Award in 2004 (for adidas’ “Carry,” Starbucks’ “Glen” and eBay’s “Toy Boat”) and again in 2011 (for DirecTV’s “Hot House,” Heineken Premium Light’s “Handlebar Moustache”, Volkswagen Tiguan’s “Pinata” and EA Battlefield 3’s “Is It Real?”).
Fuglsig has earned his second career DGA nomination. He won the DGA Award in 2007 for Guinness’ “Tipping Point,” JCPenney’s “It’s Magic” and Motorola’s “TJourney.”
And Emmett and Brendan Malloy (aka The Malloys) are first-time DGA nominees.
TV tally
On the television nominations front, making their mark were both DGA Award veterans and newcomers.
On the latter score, Jodie Foster earned her first two career Guild nominations: one for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Dramatic Series for 2014 on the basis of the “Chapter 22” episode of House of Cards (Netflix); and the other for Comedy Series on the strength of the “Thirsty Bird” episode of Orange is the New Black (Netflix).
In the same Comedy category, Jill Soloway earned her first career nomination for the “Best New Girl” installment of the Amazon Prime series Transparent.
Another first-time DGA Award nominee was Lisa Cholodenko for Olive Kitteridge (HBO), which scored in the Movies for TV and Mini-Series competition. And in Reality Programs, one of the three directors on the “One True Hero” episode of The Quest (ABC) was a first-time female nominee, Elisa Doganieri.
She co-directed with nine-time nominee Bertram van Munster, and Jack Cannon, who received his first career nomination.
As for the alluded to veteran Guild nominees, Lesli Linka Glatter earned her fifth nomination, the latest being for the Homeland episode titled “From A to B and Back Again” (Showtime) in the Drama Series competition. (She won the DGA Award in this category for the Mad Men episode “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency” in 2009.) Securing her second career nomination was Gail Mancuso for the “Vegas” episode of Modern Family (ABC). Mancuso’s first nomination came last year for the Modern Family episode “My Hero.” And Amy Schatz garnered her ninth career nomination for “Part 1 and 2” of Saving My Tomorrow (HBO) in the Children’s Programs category. Schatz had previously won the DGA Award five times in this category.
Oscar-DGA
For the acclaimed Citizenfour, director Laura Poitras earned her first career DGA nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. Citizenfour also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Feature Documentary.
In both the DGA Feature category and the Oscar Best Director categories, there were no women directors—although many thought the aforementioned DuVernay was deserving based on Selma. Four of the five DGA Feature nominees corresponded with their Best Director counterparts: Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu for Birdman, Richard Linklater for Boyhood and Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game. The remaining DGA nominee was Clint Eastwood for American Sniper while Oscar voters nominated Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher.
The DGA Awards are in their 67th year. The DGA opened up the annual competition to commercial directors in 1980. This year’s DGA Award winners across all categories—including features, TV, documentaries and commercials—will be announced and honored during a gala dinner and ceremony on Saturday evening, February 7, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
