By Roberta Griefer
NEW YORK --As one of an ongoing series of events this year commemorating its 75th anniversary, the Directors Guild of America hosted “30 Seconds To Impact,” a panel discussion featuring five luminary commercial directors and moderated by Jeff Goodby, co-founder/co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The event was held on Monday, June 6, at the DGA Theatre in New York, showcasing the work and insights of directors Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man, James Gartner of GARTNER, Bob Giraldi of Giraldi, Joe Pytka of PYTKA, and the retired George Gomes. A montage of classic TV commercials from these and other directors was also presented. The commercials were provided by SourceEcreative. Attendees from all segments of the commercial production community attended. Prior the event the DGA had extended a special invitation for members of the SHOOT Magazine/SHOOTonline community to attend.
Beyond the DGA’s 75th, another anniversary subtly underscored the proceedings as some 31 years ago the DGA Awards established a Commercials category. Four of the panelists have won the coveted DGA Award as Best Commercial Director of the Year. Pytka won three times for his work in 1982 (Henry Weinhard Beer’s “Future” and “Gallup,” Bud Light’s “Baseball” and “Basketball”), ’86 (Henry Weinhard’s “Chuck Wagon,” John Hancock’s “Brothers,” Pepsi’s “Floats”), and ’91 (Nike’s “The Bo Show,” Hallmark’s “Dance Card”). Gartner won for his entries in ’88 (Church World Services’ “Journal,” LDS Church’s “Braces & Glasses,” Major League Baseball’s “Interesting Friends”) and ’93 (FedEx’s “Golden Package” and “Applause,” AT&T’s “Baseball & Piroshki”). Buckley won in ’99 (Monster.com’s “When I Grow Up,” E*Trade’s “TriMount Studios” and “Broker,” OnHealth.com’s “Friends”). And Gomes was honored as the Best Commercial Director of 1980, just the second year that the DGA Awards had a Commercials category. Gomes earned the kudo on the strength of Sara Lee’s “Red Dye,” Bell System’s “Joey Called” and A&W’s “Dancing.”
It was fitting that Goodby, a noted agency creative who has done his fair share of directing over the years, moderated “30 Seconds to Impact” in that four of the director panelists were agency creatives prior to making the transition to the director’s chair: Buckley, Gartner, Gomes and Giraldi, the latter described by some as one of the original Mad Men. Giraldi was a creative director at Young & Rubicam in the midst of the early advertising creative revolution, earning him the distinction of being named as one of “101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.”
Of the five panelists, only Pytka does not have an agency pedigree, having broke in as a jack-of-all-trades guerrilla filmmaker who scrounged to slap together documentaries and various programs for the fledging PBS in the 1960s and ’70s. He later diversified into commercials and went on to win the DGA Award in that discipline three times and to be nominated for the honor 15 times–both record all-time highs in the DGA spot competition.
The panel discussion provided backstory and insight into a great many past top commercials that each of the directors had been involved in, including several humorous antidotes regarding working with celebrities. At one point Giraldi jokingly called out to see if his attorney was present to ask if he could discuss a particular incident. The attorney was present and laughingly called back, yes the statute of limitations had passed. Adding to the good-natured sharing of tales was Gomes’ very funny telling of working with Wells Rich Greene on the Alka-Seltzer spots with the now-famous lines, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” and “Try it, you’ll like it”.
Introducing the panel was DGA sixth VP Vincent Misiano.
Curating the “30 Seconds To Impact” event was director Laura Belsey who’s active in long-form and commercials. A DGA alternate board member, Belsey maintains her own Shadow Pictures and is repped for spots via exec producer Jack Cohn’s C-Entertainment. Belsey has also nurtured the careers of numerous up-and-coming directors as teacher of the commercial directing class at the Graduate Film School of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Providing some backstory for “30 Seconds To Impact,” Belsey shared, “I consulted many directors when I was putting this event together and what was extraordinary was how certain spots and directors were always mentioned. I also asked the panelists for their input on what spots they considered game changing and there was a lot of overlap and repetition there too. Another thing that was striking was how the work has really endured…the point we wanted to make was that innovations in commercials–both technical and aesthetic–have had a huge impact on film, television and our culture. Many would agree that NYPD Blue would not have had the style it had if it weren’t for Leslie Dektor’s influential use of long lenses and movement. Twenty years after Ed Bianchi broke classic composition rules with his bold use of negative space, the same framing devices were used in The King’s Speech (which went on to win the Academy Award). Our panelists aren’t just ‘commercial directors’–they are great filmmakers. And funny storytellers to boot.”
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More