Director David Shane of bicoastal/international hungry man is feeling more comfortable with his directing prowess these days. Back when Shane was profiled in SHOOT’s 2001 Spring Directors issue, he explained that at the time he basically felt like he had no business directing. "I just happened to be the schmuck standing in the room," he recalls. "I figured if it was funny, I’d get away with it."
Today, Shane doesn’t have any reason to feel out of his professional range. Consider his recent credits: a five-spot campaign for Black & Decker, out of McCann-Erickson, New York; a Dial package, including the ad "Pool" out of GSD&M, Austin, Texas; Hewlett-Packard’s "Green Room" out of Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco; and "Chowda" and "Rally Monkey" for ESPN’s SportsCenter via Wieden+Kennedy, New York. Shane also recently completed work on a British Telecom job out of AMV BBDO, London.
SportsCenter’s "Chowda" aired during the telecast of the Super Bowl in January. In the spot, former San Francisco 49er quarterback Joe Montana is preparing food in the kitchen of the network’s cafeteria, and he’s lost his Super Bowl ring. Thinking it might have fallen into an entrée, Montana and the staff furiously search for it, tearing apart the place. As Montana searches for the ring, several SportsCenter anchors find the jewel in a bowl of chowder.
While directing a Super Bowl spot a week before it’s due to air might have rattled Shane five years ago, he now sees it as just part of what he does. "I’ve been working on SportsCenterfor two years, so in some ways it’s like you’re directing the eleventh season of M*A*S*H," explains Shane, who has helmed SportsCenter spots such as "Sister City." "It’s a comfortable thing, and it’s a smart script."
Shane knows a thing or two about good copy. Prior to becoming a director, he spent nearly five years at TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, and TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, London, as a copywriter. While working in London, Shane got the opportunity to helm a campaign for Ecover laundry detergent, which he had written with his then art director Lynn Kendrick. The project ended up winning a bronze at the ’93 British Television Awards.
Once back in the States, Shane inadvertently fell into directing a $1.3 million dollar job for BellSouth out of Merkley Newman Harty| Partners (MNH), New York, with production support from hungry man. He was only supposed to add a few jokes to the scripts as a favor to MNH creative director Marty Cooke, but before he knew it he was telling people to take down sets and dolly left. The experience led him to sign with hungry man, and he’s been directing spots ever since.
Back when he was starting out, Shane says he would walk on set, openly admit he knew nothing and then proceed to torment the gaffers and DP for the duration of the shoot. He claims that to some extent, he still uses this tactic, but paradoxically, it is now an approach that is born out of confidence.
"I’m more comfortable with not knowing, and with allowing myself to be open to the moment," explains Shane. "My level of preparation is probably higher than it’s ever been, which allows me to get to the set and, within reason, feel free to throw it all out and watch what happens."
Being "open to the moment" has become the cornerstone of Shane’s directing style. "Comedy is always about the little moments," he says. His ability to balance humor with pathos is exactly what McCann-Erickson was looking for when the shop called on Shane for the Black & Decker campaign.
"The spots are quiet and the characters have layers, which is hard to bring out in thirty seconds, but that’s what he does so well," relates Dan Donovan, the McCann-Erickson copywriter on the package.
In the aforementioned Black & Decker campaign, each ad features a person in denial about the cosmic joke life has played on them. In "The Crooked House," a man just can’t seem to hang a shelf straight, causing the breakage of several precious household objects—and family ties—until he gets a Black & Decker BullsEye Stud Finder. "The Rumbling Train" tells the story of a woman who lives directly under an elevated subway track. Every time a train passes, her apartment trembles so much that something spills or breaks. "The Big Man" relays the tale of a modern-day giant whose Black & Decker Swivel Drill helps him get to those hard-to-reach places. In "The Neighbor," an elderly woman borrows her neighbor’s much-loved Zip Saw and then refuses to return it, or even acknowledge that she has it, instead playing the senility card whenever he comes over to retrieve his tool. And "Hanna’s House" features a guy whose menagerie of animals—including a ram and a monkey—constantly destroys things in his house. He uses Black & Decker tools to keep the destruction in check.
"Characters who are in denial are always funny, because there’s that fight between putting on a brave face and falling apart inside," relates Shane.
The director gave the actors room to improvise in order to tease out different ideas, which often led to some bizarre moments. "The woman who played the character who lived under the elevated train was constantly going into full-throttle, chest-heaving sobs and we were like, ‘No, no, push it down, just under the surface,’ " recalls Shane. "She was explosively crying. I think she had gone to too dark a place."
According to Donovan, one of Shane’s greatest strengths is his ability to choose talent. "There was always one choice and no back-up," recalls Donovan. "He has tremendous confidence in his actors so during the shoot, he’ll let the camera roll without interrupting to see what happens."
Part of Shane’s knack for casting comes from a background in improvisational theater. "I tried acting for about three years—just long enough to figure out that I sucked," jokes Shane. Instead, he’s applied that experience to directing and also writing. Between his agency life and his directing life, Shane lived in Los Angeles for five years to write for television. "I’ve optioned screenplays and sold shows, and they’ve always ended up in development hell," he says.
While that may be the case, he stills pursues writing. Shane is casting for 69, a pseudo-documentary he wrote and will direct about a long-married couple who decide to spend their life savings producing a pornographic film for and about senior citizens. Hungry man is producing the film, which is set to be feature length, with one hour and half-hour versions. "The movie is not about sex," stresses Shane. "It’s really about how two people continue to connect with one another in old age. That and sex."
