Validation Of A Solo Act
By Robert Goldrich
“I’ve never been somebody who’s out seeking a stamp of approval. But if I step back from my career, this was a good year to get that kind of affirmation, helping to validate me as a solo act,” observes Tom Kuntz of his recent Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination as best commercial director of 2006. About a year and a half ago, Kuntz embarked on a career as an individual director after having been half of a successful helming team at Propaganda Films and bicoastal/international MJZ with Mike Maguire (currently with The Directors Bureau, Hollywood). Kuntz continued at MJZ in his new solo role, landing the DGA nom in January on the basis of: Altoids’ “Fruit Pants” from Leo Burnett USA, Chicago; and Skittles’ “Trade,” “Beard” and “Leaks” for TBWAChiatDay, New York.
Having been on the agency side, Kuntz deeply appreciates the efforts of Burnett and TBWAChiatDay in making the work what it is, including worthy of DGA recognition. “A lot of ideas that first come to me are bold, daring and exciting,” he relates. “But you need an agency to follow through in order to keep the work bold, daring and exciting. To have advertising agency people who are creating great work isn’t enough. They also have to sell it, stay with it and get it on air the way they intended it to be. Without that, you have a lot of directors with reels of great director cuts that never get out to the real world.
“I think that’s the most underestimated talent on the agency side–being able to preserve the concept and get it out on air,” Kuntz continues.
“Often a brave concept doesn’t survive. When you deliver your cut to an agency like ChiatDay for instance, there’s a trust that it will end up the way you had planned it. That’s why I’m always excited when a board comes through from an agency like that.”
Indeed quirky, edgy comedy was a prime component of Kuntz’s DGA competition entries. Consider “Trade,” for example, in which a guy trades a yodeling rabbit for a package of Skittles. At first blush, it would seem that the gent who winds up with the rabbit has pulled off a steal–a novelty act that could get signed by the William Morris Agency.
That night, we see the guy seated on his bed at home. It’s pouring outside. But through rain or shine, the rabbit, who’s also in the bedroom, won’t stop singing. Clearly, this guy is being driven crazy.
Out of desperation, he runs out into the storm, making his way down the road toward the home of the rabbit’s original owner. Holding the bunny, the rain-soaked guy peers through the window of the house to see his “friend” inside relaxing and eating Skittles.
At that moment, the man with the rabbit realizes what a terrible trade he has made. To add insult to injury–or injury to insult–the bunny then bites the man’s arm and runs away.
Creative pedigree
Kuntz’s alluded to agency background began as an art director at JWT New York. From there, he went on to Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, New York, where he first met Maguire. Ultimately they both left Kirshenbaum to work for MTV’s on-air promotions department.
“We stumbled into directing at MTV,” recalls Kuntz.
“The truth is we would write scripts that others would direct and we would find ourselves getting frustrated at their interpretations. Our directing was a way to have control over our own ideas.”
Propaganda Films took notice and signed Kuntz & Maguire. When Propaganda closed, MJZ landed the duo, who became famous for their wonderfully offbeat brand of humor. Kuntz notes that he and Maguire remain fast friends.
“He was best man at my wedding. He was recently at my kid’s christening. But instead of seeing each other constantly, now we talk every few months. We’ve just moved on professionally to grow along different paths.”
Initial strategy Indeed, as evidenced by the DGA nomination, Kuntz has gone on to establish himself as a solo director. This accomplishment is also reflected in recent endeavors for Guinness out of BBDO New York and Netflix for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
But when he initially stepped out from the Kuntz & Maguire shadow, Kuntz was careful and deliberate about his first projects. They turned out to be jobs for Starbucks and Virgin Mobile, both out of Fallon New York, when the lead creative there was Ari Merkin (who has since become founding partner at New York boutique agency Toy).
“With Ari, I felt confident about the agency following through in the same way that I described for the DGA-nominated commercials,” relates Kuntz.
“Ari is not going to hire you, run away and do what he wants with the cuts. There’s a real sense of collaboration and being true to the spirit of the original idea.”
Dante Ariola
Kuntz didn’t attend the DGA Awards ceremony because he was in Australia at the time directing a Toey’s Beer project for Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney. While he didn’t win the DGA honor, he was gratified that his MJZ colleague Dante Ariola did.
“In my heart all along I kind of knew Dante would win. He continues to be one of the directors whose work I keep an eye on and who I am wowed by.”
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More