This yearโs field of nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award recognizing Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials consists of a filmmaker whoโs won the honor each of the last two years, another past winner, a five-time nominee, a helmer whoโs just picked up his second career nod, and a duo garnering their very first Guild nomination.
The latter is the directorial team of Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim of production house PRETTYBIRD.
The director now going for her third consecutive DGA Award win is Kim Gehrig of Somesuch.
The other past winner is Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks. Nilsson won the honor in 2016 and now has three career nominations.
Lance Acord of Park Pictures just earned his fifth career DGA Award nomination in the commercials category–his four prior nods coming in 2004, 2012, 2013 and 2017.
And scoring his second career DGA nod is Ivan Zacharias of SMUGGLER who was previously nominated in 2023.
The work
Gehrig earned her third straight nomination on the strength of three entries: SiriusXMโs โA Life in Soundโ for agency Uncommon; Nikeโs โAm I A Bad Person?โ for Wieden+Kennedy, and the Apple client-direct spot titled โFind Your Friends.โ
Nilssonโs latest nomination came for Hennessyโs โBoard Gameโ out of Wieden+Kennedy London; Andrexโs โFirst Office Pooโ for FCB London; the client-direct Apple spot โOne Moreโ; and Virgin Mediaโs โWhizzerโ for VCCP London.
Acordโs fifth career nod is for Volkswagenโs โAn American Love Storyโ out of agency Johannes Leonardo.
Zachariasโ second career nomination is for Appleโs โFlockโ out of TBWAMedia Arts Lab.
And the duo of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim nabbed their first nomination for CeraVeโs โMichael CeraVeโ from WPP Onefluence (Ogilvy).
The winner will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Hereโs a full list of the DGA Award nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for 2024 (in alphabetical order):
LANCE ACORD
(Park Pictures)
โAn American Love Story,โ Volkswagen โ Johannes Leonardo
Unit Production Manager: Karoline Kousidonis
First Assistant Directors: Thomas Smith, Peter S. Jackson
Second Assistant Directors: Carly Sturgeon, John Mattern
Second Second Assistant Directors: Matthew Kramer, Reed Baum
KIM GEHRIG
(Somesuch)
โA Life in Sound,โ SiriusXM โ Uncommon
First Assistant Director: Kate Greenberg
Second Assistant Director: Rebecca Rogers
โAm I A Bad Person?โ, Nike โ Wieden+Kennedy
First Assistant Director: Guy Forgaard
โFind Your Friends,โ Apple โ Client Direct
First Assistant Director: Rodney Smith
Second Assistant Director: John Nasraway
Second Second Assistant Director: Isaac Meija
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Michael Dudley, Kendall Wilmot
TIM HEIDECKER & ERIC WAREHEIM
(PRETTYBIRD)
โMichael CeraVe,โ CeraVe โ WPP Onefluence (Ogilvy)
First Assistant Directors: Matthew Smith, Kerstin Emhoff
Second Assistant Director: Kiersten Fehlig
Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew Hausmann
ANDREAS NILSSON
(Biscuit Filmworks)
โBoard Game,โ Hennessy โ Wieden+Kennedy โ London
โFirst Office Poo,โ Andrex โ FCB โ London
โOne More,โ Apple โ Client Direct
First Assistant Director: Scott Harris
Second Assistant Director: Ronald Misetich
โWhizzer,โ Virgin Media โ VCCP โ London
IVAN ZACHARIรล
(SMUGGLER)
โFlock,โ Apple โ Media Arts Lab
First Assistant Director: Robert Phillips