The winner of last year’s Directors Guild of America (DGA) award for best commercial director—and a nominee for that honor again this year—director Bryan Buckley is enjoying his position as one of the industry’s premiere comedy helmers.
Partnered in the bicoastal/international hungry man, a firm he co-founded with partner/director Hank Perlman and partner/executive producer Stephen Orent in 1997, he has his pick of the prime comedy boards. He frequently works with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), San Francisco, the agency with which he has done a number of E*Trade spots, including those contributing to his DGA-nominated body of work: "Monkey," "Basketball" and "Wazoo." His fourth entry was Federal Express’ "Action Figures" via BBDO New York.
Genuinely thrilled by the DGA nomination, Buckley says, "To me, just being nominated is everything. I didn’t expect it, this year or last year. Just to get there is great, and after that, it’s wherever the cards may fall. We’ll see what happens but, as far as I’m concerned, I couldn’t ask for anything more." (Leslie Dektor of Dektor Film, Hollywood, won the award.)
"Action Figures" spoofs toy commercials, with quick-cut shots of young boys playing with the fictitious "Combat Rangers," and a bombastic macho announcer. But in this spot, the G.I. Joe-like figures wear women’s clothing, thanks to an unnamed shipping service that failed to ship the dolls’ gender-appropriate duds on time.
But cross dressed dolls are nothing compared to the consequences of a different shipping snafu—this one in "Airbag," another FedEx spot that Buckley directed. In it, several war veterans are driving in a local parade when their car hits the float ahead of them. The impact causes the driver’s "airbag"—actually an inflatable woman—to inflate. Horrified spectators are stunned into silence at the sight of the soldier in a compromising position.
"You really appreciate a client like FedEx," notes Buckley. "They’re in the number one position [in the shipping category], and there’s no reason why they have to be taking that risk—except for the fact that they’re true to the brand. They’re innovators."
Buckley acknowledges that the same could be said about him. His criterion for selecting jobs involves assessing how original an ad is, and how much of a challenge it represents. "I’m always trying to find stuff that will hopefully push me in some new direction," he says, "and scare me a little bit."
To that end, Buckley recently directed three edgy spots for SBC/Pacific Bell via GS&P, titled "Dinner Party," "Consultant" and "Apartment." He cites the work as the highest risk project he’s helmed to date. Each spot depicts a scenario in which normal interaction takes a bizarre turn when people—frustrated by their computers’ slow downloading time—begin to act like primates, complete with hair pulling, screeching and food throwing. The spot ends with the copy: "The Internet has evolved. Have you? It’s time to get DSL." Buckley notes, "It’s a laugh, but an uncomfortable one."
The director recalls GS&P co-chairman/co-creative director Jeff Goodby telling him that how the Pac Bell spots were executed would determine whether the result would be great or "the corniest campaign of all time.
"[Goodby thought] it could go either way and said, ‘I really need you to deliver,’ " continues Buckley. "I love those challenges. It was definitely a case where a director’s point of view would make or break it. It required a lot of research on primitive man, and required great acting—and, of course, it was during the actors’ strike."
ROCK GODS
Another instance in which directorial input played a helpful role involved an as-yet-unaired MasterCard spot via McCann-Erickson, New York, Buckley added to the original boards with his idea of including a celebrity. Part of the client’s "Priceless" campaign, the spot depicted a young boy in a music store, destroying an electric guitar à la The Who’s Pete Townshend.
"It was a funny little spot and I thought it would be cool to get a funny cameo to play the role of the store owner," explains Buckley. The original cameo was to have been Joey Ramone, who subsequently broke his hip in an accident at a bar, putting his appearance in limbo and prompting a frantic celeb search that—at the 11th hour—led to former Guns ‘n Roses guitarist Slash.
Buckley recounts the ensuing comic misadventures of Slash, who thought the spot sounded "cool" until learning the shoot was in New York. "He’s in L.A., and thought he’d just have to roll out of bed and show up," says Buckley. "After we hang up, we start trying to get Joan Jett. We then get a call back saying Slash is still interested. We basically negotiated with him all night long. At three in the morning, Slash called my producer, Kevin Byrne, at home to say, ‘This is all happening so fast; I just want to be sure I’m going to be cool.’ And then he says to send him an itinerary. We happened to be already loading into the space where we were going to shoot, so we called our coordinator to send Slash the itinerary. Then we get a call at seven in the morning, saying Slash is not coming out of the house?he’s overslept.
"Meanwhile, I’m blocking the shots assuming Slash will be there," Buckley continues. "Later we get a call telling us Slash has missed the plane and will take the next one. Then there’s a call around 8 o’clock: Slash is about to get on the plane and has to talk to me. So I get on the phone and, sure enough, he gets on and says, ‘Hey, I’m trying to get into character … it’s going to be cool, right?’ So he got on the plane and he showed up. Of course, he’d had around forty five cocktails by the time he got to the set."
All night, Buckley thought to himself that it could have been a has- sle-free MasterCard shoot. "But [the result] was so worth it," he states. "It was just a precious moment with Slash and this kid smashing a guitar. When I look at a board, I look at every area and try to bring out something better."
Buckley has the luxury of being particular about commercial projects. He estimates that he receives some five boards a day, and gives highest priority to those from agencies with which he has an existing relationship. "I’m very loyal to people I’ve shot with before," he says. "You know you can work with them. And usually those boards come in very early, a lot of times before they’re even sold, so we can talk about them."
He also gives precedence to original campaigns, which are something of a rarity. The E*Trade work is a case in point. "Monkey," which debuted on the 2000 Super Bowl, had a chimp dancing and clapping. Based on the notion of the dot-com collapse, a sequel spot, "Monkey II," features the same chimp on horseback surveying a ghost town populated by former dot-coms. "Monkey II" premiered during this year’s Big Game. Both spots memorably convey E*Trade’s message to "Invest wisely." Buckley notes, "Merrill Lynch has a bull … [but] there’s something funny about a chimp leading the charge for E*Trade.
"There’s not a lot of work like that out there," he continues. "Most is derivative of something. The more you feel you can bring to the party, the better."
