Director Allen Coulter of bicoastal/international hungry man has been nominated for an Emmy once before. It was for an episode he directed for the HBO series The Sopranos called "Knight In White Satin Armor." Over the past four years Coulter has become a fixture at HBO, producing the first two seasons of The Sopranos and directing 10 episodes during the show’s first three seasons, plus the premiere of season four. Additionally, he helmed eight episodes of Sex and the City, one for Six Feet Under, and was the first director to ever be signed to a contract at HBO.
Coulter didn’t win the Emmy for directing The Sopranos, but he did see one of the spots he directed up for the honor. Budweiser’s "Out of Towner," directed by Coulter via DDB Chicago, was one of six spots in contention for this year’s primetime Emmy Award for best commercial. (The other nominees were: Visa’s "Broadway Tribute," helmed by Gregor Nicholas of bicoastal/international @radical.media; FOX Sports’ "Nail Gun," helmed by Baker Smith of Santa Monica-based Harvest through TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco; Disney’s "First Words," directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA for Leo Burnett USA, Chicago; and Nike’s "Move," directed by Jake Scott of bicoastal RSA USA for Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland, Ore., which won.)
"Out of Towner," which is part of the "Whassup! Jersey Guys" campaign, broke during the 2002 Super Bowl. The original spot in the campaign, also titled "Whassup! Jersey Guys," represented Coulter’s first foray into directing spots. It was also his debut job with hungry man; shortly after completing that spot, he signed with the production house. So how does he feel about the Emmy nomination? "Honestly, I consider it great and strange to be nominated, particularly in that grouping because I know the other spots and they’re phenomenal," says Coulter. "But I feel extremely confident that I will not win and that my record will remain unblemished."
Perhaps the source of Coulter’s surprise is the fact that in his long history of directing episodic television, it’s his work on the commercial arena that’s receiving recognition. Even more perplexing to Coulter is the considerable amount of buzz surrounding him as "new" director. He was a part of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, and he was a part of Young Guns V, the fifth annual showcase organized by Young & Rubicam, New York, to present new directors to that agency’s producers and creatives.
The Nominee
"Out of Towner" was one of the last spots Coulter directed in the "Whassup! Jersey Guys" series. The first round of spots included "Whassup! Jersey Guys," "Phone Chain," "Jerry," "The Bug," and "Card Night/Ned’s Full House." The second package comprises "Gina," "Wedding Line" and "Out of Towner." The campaign is an extension of the "Whassup!" phenomena, but this time it features New Jersey mob types throwing around their signature "how ya doin’?" greeting. "Out of Towner" takes place in a bar where four guys who look like extras from The Sopranos, exchange the familiar phrase over and over again. When an affable Texan comes into the bar, their entire routine is thrown out of whack as the innocent traveler actually answers the question. "I’m doing fine," he replies gratefully, going on to explain the mundane details of his recent trip from Texas.
The commercial doesn’t fall far from Coulter’s sensibility, but he says that he tried to give it its own life. "Being around The Sopranos world for the last couple of years, I felt I had to be true to who those people were," notes Coulter. "But more importantly, I’m always looking for that combination of people that’s ineffable—how people get along, how they relate to each other and how they look together."
Much of the nuances Coulter mentions come out in casting. According to the director, he and the agency looked at an "outrageous number" of people to hit on the right combination of actors for the Jersey Guy roles. "My tendency is to be very involved in casting and very involved with the actors," relates Coulter. "I do a lot of directing at that time if I feel that they’re in the ballpark of what I want."
He also tends to pick actors who may not be the obvious choice, but who Coulter knows he can cultivate. For instance, Clyde Tull, who plays the Texan in "Out of Towner," had very little acting experience, but great improvisational skills, which is something Coulter picked up on. "You expected an overweight Marlboro Man to play the Texan," he notes, "and instead you get this sweet, well-meaning guy who I thought had improvisational abilities that would play into the things that I like to do [as a director]."
Coulter started his career at the University of Texas, Austin, where he was a theater major. As a student he gained some experience directing theater, but had an "epiphany" one day that he wanted to direct films. He began self-educating himself, watching as many movies as possible, and after graduation, moved to New York.
There he wrote and directed a short film called The Hobbs Case, which was a study of one man’s paranoia. "It’s told as like a classic mystery, except when you get to the heart of the mystery you realize that it’s all in the character’s head," recalls Coulter. "I was interested in the idea of making a movie that would make an audience tense even though they knew nothing was going on."
The film went on to gain international recognition, winning first prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, the Chicago Film Festival, and at the International Festival of Short Films and Documentaries in Lillies, France, among others. Despite the recognition, Coulter could not figure out how to parley this success into a career. "My motto at the time was ‘I can make a film, but I can’t make a living,’ " muses Coulter.
It was around this time that Coulter met director Geoffrey Mayo, who invited him to produce spots and throughout the early ’80s, Coulter freelanced as a producer, primarily for now defunct Ulick-Mayo and Geoffrey Mayo Films. In addition to making a living, the commercial experience afforded Coulter contacts and he was eventually approached to direct an episode of Tales From the Dark Side. He went on to helm the CBS series Stephen King’s Golden Years. While working on Golden Years, Coulter connected with people who hired him to work on New York Undercover, which led to him working on a series called Prince Street, then Millennium, then The X-Files and finally The Sopranos.
Coulter’s move back into commercials has been more about experimenting than anything else. And it’s given Coulter a break from the grueling shooting schedule associated with episodic television. According to Coulter, shooting one commercial is like having 12 hours to shoot half a page of a Sopranos script. By comparison, Coulter normally shoots six to eight pages in a 14-hour day for The Sopranos. By removing the time constraint, it gives him an opportunity to spend more time working with actors and to be a perfectionist. "When I finished the day [shooting Budweiser] I turned to my producer and said, ‘I feel as tired as I would at ten a.m. on The Sopranos.’ "
That said, Coulter admits that his availability to direct spots is limited. And because he’s not quitting his day job, so to speak, he has the luxury of being picky about what he chooses to do commercially. Since Budweiser, Coulter has taken on one other commercial project—a three spot package comprising the ads "Office Server," "Job Titles," and "Business Cards"—for BT Business out of agency St Lukes, London. In addition to his spotwork, Coulter recently helmed the pilot for an NBC mid-season replacement show called Kingpin. He continues to work on The Sopranos, and is in development on two films—In A Heartbeat and Confessions Of A Millionaire. He’s also involved in two HBO projects: an original film called Swango, and a series called Deer Country, which he describes as a cross between Fargo and Dynasty. "I’m a busy guy," note Coulter, "trying not to be, but happily not succeeding."n
