There is no formula," says Jennifer Golub of TBWA/ Chiat/Day. Those words apply to just about every aspect of her work and life. Her job description doesn’t fit into the usual ad shop production category—she is director of broadcast production at TBWA/ Chiat/Day’s two-year-old San Francisco office, producer of all Levi’s spots that come out of there, and executive producer on work for Apple Computer from the agency’s Los Angeles office.
Some of her recent endeavors include a Levi’s Engineered Jeans campaign helmed by an Icelandic rock group and ads for the jeans maker directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Satellite, from footage shot with a video security camera. She also directed and produced "Think Different" for Apple, an in-house job that went on to garner the ’98 Emmy Award for best primetime commercial. And away from the office, she pursues her interests in art, art history and architecture. She wrote and produced a well-received book on minimalist West Coast architect Albert Frey, called Albert Frey: Houses 1 + 2, which is now in its third printing.
After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, New York, Golub wrote, produced and directed her own independent film, called Velveeta, and freelanced for several production companies and agencies there. It was her eclectic interests and talents that led her to the then Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, in ’89. "The company really embraces individuals who are unique," Golub says. "I don’t think I really fit any mold and I think that was really welcomed there. I started as a senior producer. It was wonderful getting to know Lee Clow [now chairman/creative director of TBWA Worldwide]. He really embraced my contributions to work, permitted me to develop concepts and participate as concepts were developing, as opposed to only executing resolved work."
Golub says she has worked on every account at the agency’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. And while her current position in San Francisco is running a 25-person department, she considers herself, fundamentally, a producer. "What I’ve really enjoyed over the years is producing work," she says. "Ideas are very fragile and singular, and I think it’s a producer’s role to protect and serve that idea in any way they can. That’s primarily what I do. Now my role has expanded to participate in creating this still relatively new office in San Francisco, where I continue to produce work, primarily on Levi’s, but I’m also developing a production department and helping steer it and shape it. I feel extremely proud of the department I’ve built here, where the producers each are really artists and filmmakers in their own right."
Having high-profile clients such as Apple, Levi’s and Sony PlayStation, and an agency known for great creative has allowed Golub to work with some of the best known directors in the business, but that isn’t a formula for success she necessarily embraces. "We’re very informed about the talent resources out there," she says. "It’s making matches and bringing in people who are most appropriate to serve the job. I’ve worked with Michael Bay [of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films] and Joe Pytka [of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA] and I’ve shot things myself on DV and done things with stock footage. I have no prescription for great broadcast. It has everything to do with the idea. The execution evolves out of that."
An example of the range of approaches is offered by two recent packages of Levi’s ads. For Levi’s "Dressing Room," Golub called upon director Jonze. And for the Levi’s Engineered Jeans spots—"Run," "Kiss," "Dance" and "Ride"—the shop turned to Stefan Arni and Siggi Kinski of GusGus, an eclectic art-rock tandem from Iceland. The duo is represented by Santa Monica-based Public Works, a satellite of bicoastal HKM Productions.
"Shooting with Spike Jonze was a wonderful experience for me," she says. "And only a few weeks later, I shot in Iceland and in Tokyo with GusGus. So that’s a real range. I think we make informed choices depending on the creative. GusGus do their own visuals. They are directors and composers. We had seen their graphics for their live performances. They’re really fabulous and wonderful people. That was a case in which they were particularly involved in developing the creative with us."
The duo uses a technique that involves taking still photos and looping them to create images that move in synch with their music, which was also used in the spots. One of their ads, "Kiss," recently earned Top Spot recognition (SHOOT, 7/28, p.12).
For "Dressing Room," which carries the tagline "Make them your own," real people trying on jeans are dancing around a fitting room. "That was a collaboration between Spike and [TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco executive creative director] Chuck McBride," explains Golub. The agency did a casting call, and after the would-be actors changed into Levi’s, they were left in a waiting room with music playing in the background. Unknown to them, they were being shot by a security video camera.
A couple of years ago, Golub produced and directed the initial "Think Different" spot for Apple that went on to win the Emmy. The ad used stock footage of people such as Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jim Henson, who changed the world with their words and actions. Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, the spot likens the Apple computer to those "crazy ones" who redefined human thought.
A lot was riding on "Think Different," the agency’s first work since it regained the Apple account, but as Golub tells it, the decision to let her direct didn’t call for a lot of hand-wringing. "I just started working on it in-house in Los Angeles, and when I asked Lee Clow where he thought we should bring it, he said, ‘I don’t know. It looks like you’re doing a pretty good job.’ "
Doing in-house production is another way Golub sees the San Francisco production department going outside established formulas. "I think a producer can bring stimulus material and help invent and create," she says. "In San Francisco, I have built a department that includes a professional cameraperson and a full editorial facility. Those tools really enable the agency to help develop and create work in its conceptual stages. I really believe in very strong in-house capabilities, particularly now with digital video and Final Cut Pro, we can definitely sketch out and explore concepts proactively."
That work could include actual spots, in addition to rough drafts, Golub says. "It all depends upon the idea. There is no formula. There’s just a lot of talent and tools."
Golub’s dedication to the San Francisco office goes beyond turning out commercials. "I’m very committed to contributing to the culture of the agency," she says. "I helped consult with management on the architectural direction of the office itself, the physical plant. I just helped bring in a design director [named Dan Lori] for Levi’s who is a fashion specialist to work on their print collateral to insure an integrated effort on the print and the broadcast. We built the postproduction facility. It reaches out beyond the specific execution of projects."v
