This week, SHOOT is highlighting its 3rd Annual New Directors Showcase. So, for the series on agency creative, we asked a group of creative directors about finding new talent–whether directors, music companies, or editors. The questions were: How do you search out new talent–directors, composers, editors, etc.? Are you interested in working with new talent? Who was the last artisan you worked with who was new to the advertising arena? What project did you work with that new talent on? Below are their responses.
Tony Granger
Chief creative director
Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
Searching out new directors: Bob Isherwood [worldwide chief creative officer] & Saatchi invented the idea of a “new directors showcase.” Many new directors and their production companies submit their work to be considered for inclusion in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes. We get a first look at everybody and often production companies [find out] our opinion of a director before they decide to sign him. Over the years we have uncovered talent like Tarsem, Spike Jonze, Daniel Klienman, Traktor and Jake Scott. But we don’t just wait for directors to come to us. We also do our own digging. We look at viral ads on the net. We look at film school students and spec work. We check MTV and VH1. We check the award shows. And we look at [the trades] to see if we’ve missed anybody.
Searching out new editors: it is no longer necessary to be physically present at an edit. So we can work with an editor in Los Angeles or London as easily as one in New York. When we shoot abroad with a foreign director, we usually leave the film with the director and his editor, and collaborate via the Internet. We look at award show reels. We check out music videos and short films. And sometimes when we feel that our editor’s assistant should get a chance, we’ll give a job to him or her.
Searching out new music sources: There is no longer any excuse for mediocre music. The entire relationship with record labels has been turned upside down. And of course, musicians want to be associated with breakthrough creative because it gives them exposure.
Most recent use of new talent: The Executioners were signed by Sony six months ago. They are the first DJ’s to be signed to a major record label. We used a track from their debut album for an Old Spice TV spot.
Jason Gaboriau
Partner/creative director
Amalgamated, New York
Directors–I will usually be exposed to new directors by their reps. What I look for in a new director is the basics: I just want to make sure that they can tell a story simply and effectively. I try to imagine what the script was and how they executed it. If the spot is over-directed or if I think they didn’t capture the idea, I would probably be scared to use them. I am probably harsher on new directors than I am on seasoned veterans. I guess I feel like their spec work should be flawless because they don’t have to deal with all the crazy agency and client dramadies. There are no excuses. I can easily forgive production values but bad casting, shots, etc., are hard ones to overlook.
Composers–again, their reps will send reels and tapes. I usually go with the editor’s recommend for composers. They have so many styles and things that they can do that I like to go with the editors experience with the composer as my guide.
Editors, etc.–producers and directors are where I usually hear about new editors. A lot of times a director likes working with an editor and we will try and bid them together. Or one of my producers will recommend a great editor that they worked with or heard about and we will go with them. I don’t see a lot of editors’ reels before a job. Not like I do with directors.
Yes, of course [we’re interested in working with new talent]. I think that it is important for the advertising eco-system that we find projects and take risks on some of these newer directors. Especially for a small shop like mine that doesn’t have the big budget clients and wants to do something different, new talent, new ideas, new un-jaded energy are always welcome.
Jake Scott, Jacobs/Briere, Noam Murro. Jake Scott [of bicoastal RSA USA] was incredible on the New Belgium project. We were trying to capture a lifestyle and a certain culture. Yes, we had scripts but we made it clear that those could change and that what was important was capturing the ethos. He was the only director that sent books and movies and stories about the people/lifestyle we wanted to capture. We rarely talked about the scripts; we mostly talked about how we can be authentic. He immersed himself in that culture for over a month. Talked to people. Lived among them. He captured every detail perfectly. NO ONE could have done a better job on that project than he did. He was amazing.
The same with Jacobs/Briere [Kim and Alaine, respectively, of bicoastal HKM Productions]. We do all of our Fuse work with them. They have performed so many miracles for us. Their tireless effort to find the cast and crew for little and no money is unbelievable. I could give them every job for the rest of my career and it still wouldn’t be enough to repay them for everything they have done for us. They are a part of our agency and are just as responsible for building it as Doug [Cameron], Charles [Rosen] and myself. And they are fucking talented too. Kim is amazing with talent (I think she takes acting classes on the side so she can better understand how to get better performances out of the actors) and Alaine is a great director. The camera is never where it shouldn’t be. Everything is methodically thought out. There is never a wasted shot. They are only going to get better.
I also had the privilege of working with Noam Murro [of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles] at the beginning of his career over 10 years ago. He was a creative director at [now defunct] Goldsmith|Jeffrey, and he wanted to be a director. I was a junior art director. Noam as a director was seamless. His energy and talent was and is unmatched. I remember we had used him for two jobs at the agency and we decided to not use him for the third for whatever stupid over thought reason. Noam was so pissed at us. That director still has that work on his reel and Noam is now legendary. Noam’s work is never cookie cutter and that is because he is such an artisan. There is nothing he cannot do.
Bryan Black
Senior VP/group creative director
Deutsch, New York
[I search out new talent through] TV, movies, videos, art, music, museums, commercials, read voraciously, ask friends, dream, steal. And of course, talk to the producers at the agency with the mandate to show us something we haven’t seen before.
We recently did a couple of spots for Pier 1 that used a lot of animation. Our producers did a major search for animators all over the world with the mandate to show us “something we haven’t seen before.” Which they did. They found Jonas Odell, an amazing animator from [Filmtecknarna in] Stockholm. He had done a couple of European spots, a couple of music videos and some Scandinavian animated TV shows. For Pier 1, he gave us fine art that just happens to sell wicker, rugs and end-tables. He also handled a live action part of the shoot and it came out flawlessly. Going to Sweden to work with a guy who wasn’t yet “a name” was a gamble that really paid off for us. And we got to go to Sweden.
Michael Hart
Partner/creative director
Mono, Minneapolis
As a startup, we have a special place in our heart for new and up-and-coming talent. After all, in a sense, that’s what we are. We’ll do the typical thing to try and keep an eye out for talent–look at new reels–but we like to pay special attention to PSAs and spec spots, as those are often done by the young, hungry directors and editors.
One project we got to work with new talent, was the first film in the Blu Dot film series, “Seven Twenty.” For this series, we were looking more for an independent filmmaker, than a commercial director. Christopher Arcella was someone who had done a number of shorts before and had an approach and tone we were looking for. And as we develop more films in the series, we’re seeking out more independent filmmakers and are searching the Web and other venues for short films.
Rudy Banny
Chief creative officer
Neiman Group, Harrisburg, Pa.
Making commercials is a collaborative business, and expanding the gene pool is absolutely necessary–as long as it’s someone else’s spot.
I’ve got people I like, and that’s who I work with. Mark Martini with Falling Olive Productions [which has offices in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles], Jay Green with Big Science [Pittsburgh], Oren Sarch over at Convergence [New York]. And Vicki Goggin does my casting. These are my people–they get me. I’ve worked with lots of others over the years, and mixed it up all across the board. But that always leaves me feeling like I just had a one-nighter with an over-priced whore.
I’m more of a relationship kind of guy. I prefer to forego the fake wining and dining, with reps blowing sunshine up your ass. Reps are fun and all, but they’re full of shit, and reels are deceiving. Word of mouth is the only way to find people. After that, it’s about getting into lockstep with your people, working through jobs side by side, knowing what makes each other tick. Or at least them knowing what makes ME tick. Then we can make magic.
If my people have a lead on some new talent that they believe is a good match for me, I will entertain it. But whoever vouches for them has to be willing to hard-core vouch for them. The last new talent I worked with was Carolina Zorrilla de San Martin. She was a photographer (fine art) that Martini was grooming for directing. She directed a couple of spots for me, for the Pennsylvania anti-tobacco effort, and she kicked ass (for an artsy chick who didn’t know anything about shooting commercials.) Martini and the production company took a bath on that one, but the spots looked great.
Bottom line–I believe in finding people who kick ass. And then sticking with them.
