Tom Kuntz, once part of the directing team Kuntz & Maguire, has proven that he has what it takes to go solo. Since his partner Mike Maguire got out of directing and returned to the agency side of the business, joining San Francisco’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as associate creative director last spring, Kuntz, who continues to be represented by bicoastal/international MJZ, has produced standout spots for clients including Virgin Mobile and Starbucks.
One has to ask: What is it like to direct on his own after divvying up duties with a partner for so long? “It’s been really great I have to say, and I don’t mean that in a good riddance way [to Mike] at all,” shares Kuntz, stressing that the two are still great friends and ended their fruitful collaboration on good terms. “It’s just been really nice and fresh and new. I never realized it before, but being in a partnership you expel a lot of energy just being in the partnership, just in the communication that you have to have. You expel a ton of energy just discussing things whereas now–for better or worse–it’s a much easier process for me because I am the only one making decisions.”
Over the years, Kuntz & Maguire became famous for their wonderfully offbeat brand of humor, evident in spots like Bud Light’s “Foot-Long Hot Dog Inventor.” Created by DDB Chicago, the gloriously silly spot celebrated the genius that created the 12-inch wiener; then there was Virgin Mobile’s “Chrismahanukwanzahah,” a music-video style spot out of Fallon, New York, that mashed several holidays into one jubilant good time.
Kuntz continues to tap into his comedic abilities now that he is on his own, directing humorous new spots for Virgin Mobile, including “Reggie’s House of Paygoism,” which depicts a preacher trying to sell his congregation on the glory of the cell phone company’s pay-as-you-go plan; and the Starbucks commercial “Hank,” which finds a young guy being cheered on by a chorus of sorts that follows him as he embarks on a job interview.
The Virgin Mobile and Starbucks jobs–which marked Kuntz’s first forays into solo spotmaking–were awarded to him by Fallon, New York. “I was hoping I could do something with them out of the gate because they really trust me, and I really trust them. I really wanted to start working with someone like that so I’d have quality control on the first couple of jobs, and they had coincidentally sent us those projects, so it was ideal,” Kuntz says, noting, “I knew my first couple of projects [without Maguire] would be important because everybody was going to be looking.”
How does Kuntz tackle his work nowadays? Is his process entirely different now that he is on his own? Not really, he says. “What I concentrate most on is the preproduction process weirdly enough. I start to get a sense of what I’m filming when I start to understand the aesthetics of what it is going to look like,” Kuntz explains.
For example, Kuntz notes, he labored intensely on the look of Reggie’s House of Paygoism. “Once I knew what Reggie’s House of Paygoism looked like, then I knew how Reggie should behave,” Kuntz explains.
The director chose to go with a purposely low-rent stage for Reggie, whose major prop is a giant, glittering gold phone. “I love that big gold phone,” Kuntz says.
Style Maven
It’s no surprise that Kuntz has an interest in props and design in general. He actually studied graphic design in college before joining New York’s JWT as an art director. From there he went to Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, also in New York, where he first met Maguire. Ultimately, both Kuntz and Maguire left Kirshenbaum to work for MTV’s On-Air Promotions department, and before long, they were directing commercials.
Being a former agency creative, Kuntz is certainly comfortable–and happy to–plus a script with ideas of his own, but he admits that he also finds a certain satisfaction in shooting spots that stick to the script presented by the agency. Case in point: The final job Kuntz and Maguire directed together–a package of ads for Vegas.com out of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners West, San Francisco–were quite literally to the script provided by the agency, Kuntz notes. (The campaign includes “Cement Mixer,” which has a construction worker diving into a cement mixer and winding up in the center of a Chippendales-style stage show in Las Vegas). “It’s almost easier to take it somewhere else, but I get a kick out of the professional element of shooting exactly what they wanted,” he says. “To me, it’s proof I know how to direct.”
These days, Kuntz doesn’t have to prove a thing to anyone–well, maybe a thing or two to himself. While he has established himself as a top helmer (with or without a partner), Kuntz is still striving for bigger and better things. “I want to get a job from those people who don’t send me work. Yeah, I want that big Nike board,” Kuntz muses, adding with a laugh, “I want that big project, that job that they’ll only use Spike Jonze [also on the MJZ roster] for.”