As a former agency creative, for me the scenario was all too familiar: Everyone was sitting around a monitor discussing which director should get the job. Reels were screened and eliminated until a "short list" of four potential directors was reached. Then someone remarked that only one of the reels had "guys with animal suits" on it. He perceived this to be critical because the script included such a character. At this point I realized that everyone in the room probably needed a little help in how to look at a reel (as well as in evaluating the other qualifications a director might have).
Placing directors in such narrow categories greatly reduces your chances of finding the best available candidate for the shoot. After all, agencies don’t pull a copywriter off a project because he’s mainly an indoor or soundstage writer versus one who writes for locations, or yank a "black and white" art director in place of one who does more work in color. Similarly, directors often have a much broader range of skills and understanding than agencies give them credit for.
Since fear of failure is a major motivator for many agencies, the instinct that many agency players have is to find a director whose reel contains work as similar as possible to the spot they envision for their client. If the exact spot is on there, even better … just slap the client’s logo over the old one and let’s be done with it! This may seem exaggerated, but essentially it is what is being done in a large number of ad agencies across the country. "We’re just being conservative to ensure that we protect the client’s market position," say the agency creatives and producer.
What’s the harm in that approach?
Actually there are many reasons to avoid the trap of hunting for your spot on a director’s reel. The fact that you’ll probably end up with a flatter version of a spot that the public has already seen is just one of them. Another peril is that a director who takes on a project, despite already having done a very similar piece, is probably doing it for the money. After all, he doesn’t need it for his reel. As a result, you’ll probably be charged more than you need to be, and get only mild creative interest from the director. The director really has no motivation to make it special, despite what he may tell you on the conference call. In fact, some say the main reason most directors take conference calls rather than meetings is that they can roll their eyes without being seen. Meanwhile, the agency folks, having already seen what they want, are unlikely to push for improvement once they’ve identified a direction that they’re comfortable with. The result: a completely unoriginal spot.
Just because a spot is similar in concept to yours does not mean that what makes it work is similar. To use my earlier example, just because two spots have an animal suit in them doesn’t mean that the same directorial skills were involved. Another agency I once worked with eliminated a director from consideration because they were looking for someone with "shorter sentences" on his reel. The "long sentences" on the reel of the otherwise qualified director were in their minds very different from the brief ones in their script. They were largely unconcerned with the thinking behind the spot or the intelligence of the director, because they were convinced he would never be able to work in the completely groundbreaking new format of slightly shorter phrases. It’s a wonder they didn’t have a special short-sentence copywriter and art director for the job!
Determining a director’s appropriateness is much tougher than it sounds, because it requires looking far beyond the spots on the reel, to what the process probably was that got them there. It may even require talking to the director and asking questions, rather than drawing conclusions from the reel. Often a director will have considerable additional skills that aren’t easily demonstrable on a streamlined reel. In addition, an up-and-coming director obviously won’t have had the same quality of boards to work with as would a more established helmer—so it’s critical to understand what a director has added to a project. Always try to separate the creative concept from the direction of the spot. After all, it’s much easier to make a brilliant concept seem brilliant than to improve a mediocre one.
So what do you look for when choosing your director? For starters, try to imagine what the original boards were like for the spots on the reel, and what challenges and restrictions might have been overcome in producing them at the budget available. Try to guess what the spot’s budget was. Then ask the production company if you’re right. I’ve actually seen agencies make head-to-head comparisons between multi-million-dollar spots for top soft drink companies and ads for local retailers that cost just five figures, without using any form of handicapping. This may be fair if your budget is huge, but it’s downright suicidal with more limited funds. And how often do you really have an unlimited budget? Often a talented young director, backed by an eager production company, will make your dollars go far farther than an established veteran would, and may have done the same for previous clients. Always compare apples to apples budget-wise.
In addition, ask the production company whether the director had any creative involvement. Was everything scripted or did the director have a hand in making improvements? The other great test is to ask yourself how you reacted to the work. The prominence of the clients on the reel isn’t important, only the quality of the work. Chances are if it made you laugh, it’s funny, regardless of whether you think it should be or not. And if you’re unsure about a director, why not at least offer a conference call? It gives you the opportunity to really explain the project and see if any of the candidates has a great approach that will make it reach its potential on screen. This costs virtually nothing, and you won’t have to give up much time for an additional call. It’s time well spent if it helps you discover the right person for your job.
Now it’s time to make your choice. You’ve measured all the candidates’ enthusiasm for the project, which relates directly to how much energy and devotion will be given on set. You’ve assessed how well they understand your vision of the spot. Now, be smart and pick someone who’s never done exactly what you have in mind. You’ll be amazed at the results. And, yes, I do have guys with animal suits on my reel, dammit!
