All the work Joe Pytka does, I want," laughs director/DP Michael Cuesta, of bicoastal The Artists Company. "That’s the work I eventually see myself doing in commercials. The great thing about that work is that it incorporates really solid storytelling and solid design."
Cuesta’s own storytelling and design work has taken many forms in the past year. Besides helming visually striking spots for clients like Hyundai and State Farm, he’s directed two episodes of the HBO series Six Feet Under, and seen the release of his first feature, L.I.E. The controversial film’s main character is a pedophile portrayed by veteran actor Brian Cox.
The helmer hopes that L.I.E., which was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards and has garnered critical acclaim, will help him branch out in terms of the style of spots he directs. "One of the reasons I did the movie was to expand my creativity," explains Cuesta, who co-wrote the film along with his brother, Gerald Cuesta, and Stephen M. Ryder. "In commercials, there’s pigeonholing," he notes. "I’m doing vignettes and they won’t give me edgier, high-concept advertising. I have a strong desire to do more of that.
"It’s really hard to get that work if you don’t have it on your reel," he continues. "My reaction was, ‘OK, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, and the way I’ll fulfill myself creatively is to go out and create my own thing.’ L.I.E. is part of that."
Cuesta’s reel features dazzling imagery, but he says directing a feature isn’t "so much about the look; it’s more about the writing. In film you really trust the script and the characters you’ve created. You just put the camera on it; you don’t worry so much about how it looks."
Cuesta wanted to avoid one pitfall that many spot directors fall into when they make features. "When commercial directors direct movies, one of the mistakes some of them make—and I swore to myself I would not make this mistake—is that they tend to turn emotions on a dime because they’re used to the thirty-second medium. In movies, you don’t have to do that; you have ninety minutes to arc an emotion."
L.I.E. caught the attention of Alan Ball, who created Six Feet Under and wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay for American Beauty. Ball contacted Cuesta to see if he was interested in directing an episode of the series. "I read the script," recalls Cuesta. "It was brilliant." The scripts are really smart—[Six Feet Under] is the smartest thing on television."
It wasn’t hard for Cuesta to move from feature to television directing. "The way I approached Six Feet Under is the way I approached my film," he explains. "I stuck to the idea that I was making a sixty-minute film. I submitted my cut and they were very happy. They made it a little less like a movie and more like a TV show in the sense that each scene got equal time, while I had given it more of a throughline, like a movie."
The show’s producers liked Cuesta’s work and he was brought back for another episode. While shooting, he kept the earlier editing changes they had made in mind. "I shot it so every character got equal importance," he reports. The director says he would consider helming another television episode if the right offer came along, but he’s primarily interested in developing feature projects and continuing to do commercial work.
Serendipity
Cuesta enjoys working with tightly scripted material, but he likes to improvise, as well. He points out that one spot he directed—State Farm’s "Vermont," out of DDB Chicago—was shot without any storyboards.
The ad is a sharp-looking yet folksy montage of Montpelier, Vt., and its inhabitants. As the lush images unfold, interwoven voiceovers simultaneously sing the praises of both the town and State Farm’s services. "We went into Montpelier and we found a real person and we said, ‘Let’s just do a portrait of this town and this person,’ " remembers Cuesta. "It was great; I loved that freedom.
"[The agency] had a very loose script," he continues. "There were definite copy points to hit, but it was very informal. I tried to create a documentary feel, but it still has a look that’s not pedestrian. It’s striking without bringing too much attention to itself."
Boca Burger’s "Boca Me," which Cuesta helmed for FCB Chicago, is another spot that displays his ability to shoot stylized imagery on the fly. The ad shows people engaged in a variety of physical activities and, of course, eating. The commercial, which was filmed in Miami, pulses with a wholesome, sunshine-drenched energy. "[The agency] didn’t have any boards," Cuesta notes. "They said, "We have this concept. We want people to do what food does. I thought, ‘Well, burgers flip, hot dogs roll, and they fry. So what can we do visually with people? Well, people can flip in the air, roll in the sand and blow fire out of their mouths.’ " And that’s just what the director filmed.
After studying photography and literature at New York’s School of Visual Arts, Cuesta opened his own photography studio in New York, from which he did mostly advertising work. Eventually, he made the switch to directing and worked out of the now defunct Jennie & Co. In 1992 he signed with The Artists Company. Recently, he directed four Hyundai spots—"Santa Fe Owner Steven Wood," "Elantra Owner Eileen Hurley," "Sonata Owner Ryan Miller" and "Accent Owner Jessica Sheets"—lensed by DP Giorgio Scali.
What’s the difference between shooting his own spots and working with a DP? "[Working with a DP] is easier. I think I want to start using a DP for commercials. … The feature taught me that," says Cuesta, who worked with cinematographer Romeo Tirone on L.I.E. "I always thought no one could realize my vision. But I’ve learned that I can get someone in there who I trust, and achieve the same thing."
