By Robert Goldrich

Studying film and theater at the University of Leeds in the U.K., Joshua Neale fell into acting for a short period. Although he knew from the beginning that directing was his career aspiration, the short-lived role of thespian proved of value, putting him on sets, enabling him to observe the creative process.
    Neale’s educational breakthrough came, though, when he got the chance to work with Pawel Pawlikowski, a director he greatly admired for his BBC documentary work as well as several dramas to which he brought documentary sensibilities reflected in his casting of real people as well as an improvised approach to scripts. Neale starting working on Pawlikowski’s film My Summer Of Love, helping out on various tasks, including casting local people as extras.
    Pawlikowski’s mesh of documentary and drama has served as a lasting influence for Neale. “There are still things I learned from him that I try to carry over into my work,” said Neale, observing that part of that lesson is allowing for things to happen on set whether it be for a documentary or a commercial. Neale values “having that little bit of randomness or chaos that can provide special human moments that don’t come from a writer.”
    Indeed documentary and drama in several respects come together for Neale’s latest feature-length endeavor, Despicable Dick and Righteous Richard, which will make its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. The film is one of 12 selected for Tribeca’s World Documentary Feature Competition.
    Tribeca is a fitting venue for the film, related Neale, in that the festival has an independent spirit and showcases both dramas and documentaries. Those two disciplines are very much woven into the fabric of Despicable Dick and Righteous Richard, which Neale characterized as “a real documentary” that was made with a drama aesthetic in mind both visually and from a narrative standpoint.
    Helping this aesthetic along is the film’s protagonist, Dick Kuchera, who’s very much like a character from a great American novel or as Neale described him, “a rascal.”
    It was through his good friend, Kuchera’s daughter, that Neale became aware of the “rascal,” a rugged individualist who burned quite a few bridges along the way.
    The documentary follows the 68-year-old Dick Kuchera who, said Neale, “is tired of being a Dick. He wants to become known as Richard, to be more respectable.” But the path to that respectability takes the form of a tragic yet comic road trip in which Kuchera, a recovering alcoholic, sets out to make amends to those people he’s hurt, including his ex-wives, kids and best friends. The sojourn takes him across the Great Plains region of the U.S. and ends up in Las Vegas. In essence, Kuchera is trying to realize steps eight and nine of the Alcoholics Anonymous-originated 12-step program by identifying those people he has wronged and reaching out to them.
    However, this isn’t your traditional story of redemption as things don’t go quite as expected and Kuchera struggles mightily to make the changes needed to be a “Richard.” “It’s a ‘Can-a-leopard-change-its-spots?’ story,” summed up Neale.
    The project entailed Neale staying with Kuchera in his portable ranch house in South Dakota, getting to know him, filming a bit, later gaining permission to film and delve into the lives of his wronged loved ones across the country, and of course getting the necessary funding for the production.
    Eventually, Neale wound up spending 10 weeks on the road with Kuchera, shooting the bulk of the documentary.

Far ranging    Despicable Dick and Righteous Richard adds to the range of documentaries in Neale’s filmography. He directed his first broadcast documentary in 2006 with the chilling The Boy who Killed His Best Friend for Channel 4 as part of that U.K. station’s initiative to discover new filmmaking talent, often involving films centered on young people. The documentary shed light on a tragic story in which a 17-year old boy–for reasons still not fully known–killed his best friend and fellow member of the band they were on, the Not So Red Hot Chili Peppers.
    From there, Neale took a 180 degree turn to the whimsical Karaoke Soul in ’07, which mixed intimate observational documentary with musical performances from the central characters, and a stylized directorial approach. In its review of the film, The Guardian wrote, “Neale has come up with a genre all of his own–a docu-music video.” The film centered on karaoke singers at a pub in the north of England. The authenticity took a more personal turn when Neale got them to perform karaoke in their homes. On the strength of Karaoke Soul, Neale was nominated for the ’07 BAFTA Breakthrough Award.
    The film also helped Neale break through on another front, catching the eye of exec producer Chris Barrett who at the time was with Independent, London, and has since joined Smuggler’s London office. Neale’s documentary work proved to be a pathway to the advertising arena. He initially joined Independent, bringing his documentarian chops to commercials and branded content–the first project being a documentary launching the Jazz for Honda via Wieden+Kennedy, London. This was followed by the Nokia 97 Portraits Series featuring individuals from around the world who use technology in interesting ways.
    Neale also took on traditional format spots such as two :30s he helmed for Lurpak’s “Joy of Creation” campaign, which included “Pie,” a BTAA Award winner last year.
    It was also in 2010 that Neale signed with Smuggler for worldwide representation in commercials and branded fare. Under the Smuggler banner, he directed a series of branded shorts for Kerry Foods Ltd./Wall’s packaged snack foods out of Saatchi & Saatchi, London. Included in these people portraits was one titled Granny Glider, which introduces us to a grandma who pilots a glider. We see her fly through the air with the greatest of ease and joy, a far cry from the shuffleboard mindset typically associated with senior citizens. After a smooth landing in a field where her family–son, daughter-in-law, and grandchidren–are having a picnic, granny joins them to snack on Wall’s.
    Granny Glider and the other alluded to portraits in the same campaign as well as in the aforementioned Nokia initiative underscore Neale’s talent and affinity for capturing a diverse range of characters and for applying authentic documentary sensibilities to branded content.

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