He’s been helming spots for close to three decades; he’s garnered a record number of Directors Guild of America (DGA) nominations for best commercial director, not too mention myriad other awards; and he’s widely regarded as one of the biggest names in the business. But make no mistake: Joe Pytka, of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, is not jaded.
"I never take anything for granted," Pytka says of his latest DGA nod. This is the 13th time he has been nominated for the honor, and he has won three times—a record on both counts. "The importance of [the nomination] is not necessarily about me. The conceptual work behind commercials is usually much more important than the execution. It’s not like the director writes them." (The 2001 DGA award went to Bob Kerstetter, co-founder/creative director at Black Rocket Euro RSCG, San Francisco, whose spot helming endeavors have been through bicoastal Tool of North America.)
Good scripts have always been important to Pytka, who tends to maintain longstanding professional relationships with creative directors. And 2001, he reports, was a vintage year for ad writing. "I didn’t enter the DGA for the last few years because I didn’t feel that the work was up to the standard of the DGA work of the past," he states. "There was a creative lull in the industry. But I felt that [the spots on his 2001 DGA reel] were worthy of some of the best work I’ve ever done. It’s mostly the creative people that need to be recognized for that."
Pytka was nominated on the strength of four spots: New York City Miracle’s "The Deli" and "Skating" for BBDO New York; Disney’s "Pillow Talk," out of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago; and the Ad Council’s childhood-hunger awareness PSA "Ketchup Soup" via Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), New York. All of the ads that led to Pytka’s DGA nomination are dialogue driven. Other than the jarring image of Woody Allen skating like Sarah Hughes in New York City Miracle’s "Skating," there’s nary a special effect in sight. In "Deli," also for New York City Miracle, a woman orders a "Ben Stiller with a side of bacon" at Manhattan’s Stage Deli, and is delighted to receive a visit from the real actor—and Kevin Bacon. Both ads humorously illustrate how, despite the tragic events of Sept. 11, anything is possible in New York. At the other end of the spectrum is the Ad Council’s heart-wrenching childhood-hunger awareness PSA "Ketchup Soup." In the spot, a woman is shown collecting ketchup packets from fast-food restaurants and returning home, where she mixes the condiment with water to make "soup" for her children. Disney’s sweetly sentimental "Pillow Talk" depicts a wife telling her husband that he never talks that "special way" to her any more. After some cajoling, he whispers sweet nothings in a Donald Duck voice.
Great Performances
Each of the DGA-nominated spots features remarkably subtle acting—a Pytka trademark. "Performances are always the most important thing in any commercial, or any piece of work," observes the director, who says he rarely follows trends. "Nothing condemns something more than being ‘clever,’ or yielding to the style of the moment. If you look at classic films, a lot of them are dated because of the style. Citizen Kane, for example, is very dated because the technique is so noticeable, and it looks out of fashion. Whereas a lot of other films of the period, which are more performance driven, hold up better."
"Ketchup Soup" is one of four childhood-hunger awareness PSAs directed by Pytka, featuring American children in sad situations. Another, "Chicken Pox," shows a little girl putting makeup on her brother’s face to hide the signs of the illness. That way, she explains, he can go to school and get some lunch. The spot ends with a statistic: "1 out of 5 children in the U.S. lives with hunger."
The young actors in the ads deliver performances so real, they almost feel like documentaries. "Originally, they were going to put a super on the front: ‘Based on a true story,’ " Pytka remarks. "But when they saw the quality of the performances, they felt that wasn’t necessary."
Pytka, who believes "casting is everything," spent a long time finding the right kids for the spots. "We were casting during the [Screen Actors Guild] strike," he remembers. "I wasn’t working during the strike, and the agency graciously waited for me until it was over. So it gave me a chance to explore real people plus actors. In the end I used almost all actors. But there was probably ten times more effort put into the casting than I normally would have time for."
When he finally did begin directing the spots, Pytka allowed his talent a lot of freedom. "I usually leave it completely up to the performers at first," he relates. "Most good performers will understand the material better than the director does. So I give an actor his due until it reaches a false note, or is contrary to what the theme should be. If I’m directing amateurs or real people, I just try to make the situation as close to their comfort zone as possible, so they can behave naturally."
Although he shot his first footage—for a TV documentary—back in 1965, Pytka never formally studied film. A chemical engineering major at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon), Pittsburgh, Pytka also briefly studied painting and sculpture before leaving the school to take a job at WRS Motion Picture and Video Lab, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
By the time the ’70s rolled around, the director was firmly entrenched in the advertising business, helming spots out of now defunct Coast Productions and then the since shuttered Levine/Pytka before founding his own solo company.
During his extraordinary career, Pytka’s work has won countless awards (including the first-ever primetime Emmy for a commercial, in ’97, for HBO’s "Chimps" via BBDO). He’s also filmed an impressive roster of sports heroes and celebrities, and made a feature: the Michael Jordan-starring Space Jam, in ’96.
For the New York Miracle campaign, Pytka worked with a whole new group of luminaries. In addition to Stiller, Bacon and Allen, he directed baseball great Yogi Berra in "Philharmonic" and Henry Kissinger—whom he describes as "a hoot"—in "Yankee Stadium." "I think the idea of the campaign is brilliant," Pytka declares. "Everybody else was doing these weepy campaigns with flag-waving and serious-looking people. But [the BBDO creatives] came up with this idea of having things happen in New York that can’t happen anywhere else. It really shows what a great city it is."
The campaign also gave the seasoned spotmaker a rare case of jitters. "The one person I was fearful of directing was Woody Allen," he notes, "because he’s Woody Allen."
Fortunately, the "Skating" shoot was as smooth as ice. "It was painless," Pytka reports. "He was actually surprised it was so easy—he thought he’d have to do more."
