Who will be the A-list directors of the future? SHOOT has singled out five helmers, who through the work they’ve already done, have shown the potential to become go-to guys for commercial production. They have diverse backgrounds: three have some type of ad agency experience, ranging from planner to art director to copywriter. One is a veteran of high quality television series work, while another is a recent film school graduate. What the quintet has in common are talent, drive and serious potential.
JAKE SCHREIER
It’s been a heady year for Jake Schreier. Since signing with Plum Productions, Santa Monica, last September, the New York University film school graduate has directed spots for Comcast, Heinz, Pontiac, and Budweiser, and seen a short film he directed, Christopher Ford Sees A Movie, screen during Res Fest 2005. Not bad for someone who just celebrated his 24th birthday while on a McDonald’s commercial in Paris.
“I like it,” says Schreier of directing spots. “It’s a good learning experience–not just from the standpoint of trying out visual stuff, and different directing styles, but also learning how to work.”
When the Berkeley, Calif., native started at NYU, he had no plans to helm spots. He relates that “someone mentioned something” about advertising, so he and a film school friend, Jon Watts (who now directs music videos via bicoastal Smuggler), decided to each make some spec spots. Schreier’s “Requiem” for Heineken shows off his abilities with sly humor and striking visuals. The ad features a group of college guys glumly cleaning up after what was clearly a debauched party–beer cans and bottles litter every surface, a bra is hanging from a chandelier, and a guy is passed out in the bathtub. At the end of the cleanup, several bottles and cans of Heineken are assembled on a table, some half full. The guys are in tears as they empty the ruined beer.
Schreier continues to work with several of his NYU classmates, including Watts, via Waverly Films, a New York-based film collective. In fact, several members of the group, including Watts, Ford, Ben Dickinson, who is with A Band Apart, Los Angeles, for music videos, direct as a collective in Europe. They are signed to Blink, London, for the U.K., and Le Pac, Paris, through which they did the aforementioned McDonald’s ad. While they like working together as a group for European projects, Schreier reports all will continue on the individual route in the U.S.
After finishing school, Schreier headed to Los Angeles, and through “a flukey family connection”–his mother knew someone who knew Plum president Chuck Sloan–he got an internship/production assistant gig at the company. While there, he shot another spec ad, FedEx’s “Nervous.”
After officially joining the shop, he directed a Pontiac spot via Leo Burnett Detroit, Troy, Mich., as well as a McDonald’s ad out of DDB Chicago. Following those spots was “Testing” for Heinz out of Cramer Krasselt, Chicago, which promotes Heinz Ketchup and Ore-French fries. It features a testing institute where the two products are measured against competitors. The setting evokes science films from the ’50, and shows Heinz ketchup and another being strained–the Heinz product is so thick, it stays in place, while the other drips onto the counter. In another test, a crispy Ore-Ida fry is dunked in the Heinz ketchup, and doesn’t bend. The final trial is called “the four-year-old test”–two plates of fries and ketchup are placed before a little boy; he promptly throws the plate containing the non-Heinz products at the wall. Schreier says the inspiration for the spot’s look came from the BBC series Look Around You. “It was a blast,” he says of the job. “It was cool because the board itself was pretty thin to start, and that was part of the first call–the agency wanted something interesting, and they were totally willing to try a bunch of stuff.”
The director recently completed a spec project for Budweiser conceived by a team at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), San Francisco, that included agency chairman Jeff Goodby and copywriter Steve Dildarian. In the spot, called “Safety Suit,” a guy wears a modern-day knight’s suit of armor that enables him to steal his roommates’ beer without fear of physical retribution. Schreier reports that the client liked the spot, and it’s now in testing.
While shooting Budweiser, the director received another job from GS&P, Comcast’s “Dance,” which features an older couple slow-dancing to a record called Dial Up; when one dubbed DSL is put on the turntable, their moves quicken; finally, a record called Comcast High Speed Internet is played, and the pair really start to groove.
When asked about his style, Schreier admits it’s a mix of comedy and visual, but is certainly open to other genres. “I think the main thing for me is I look at directing and I feel like I could do [many different styles],” he explains. “Obviously, experience helps, but what’s great about commercials is that there’s enough resources, and you have all these great crews, that if something can be figured out, I’d like to think I could do it.”
