As this issue’s coverage celebrates the talent in SHOOT’s fifth annual New Directors Showcase–honored during a screening/panel discussion/reception event at the DGA Theatre in New York–I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on the competition.
Ironically while five years is a short span, my first thought is related to an even shorter time frame–just back a couple of years to the 2005 Showcase, which included a promising talent, David Gray, who made an impressive transition from noted agency creative to a full fledged director at Hungry Man.
It was the offbeat, charmingly funny Starter work he directed, featuring Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Brett Favre, that caught our attention and gained Gray a slot in that third annual SHOOT Showcase.
I hearken back to that ’05 Showcase at the DGA Theatre in New York because less than two years later Gray was at the DGA Awards ceremony in Los Angeles as a nominee for best commercial director of ’06.
I’m not referencing Gray’s career progression to pat ourselves on the back but rather because it’s inspiring to the unique brand of artisans who struggle, scramble and dedicate themselves to becoming viable directors in a marketplace that is highly competitive and oversaturated in numbers.
And truth be told, as reported in our profile of Gray in this spring’s Directors Series, he was hardly an overnight success. The fact is that it was many years on the agency side of the business that groomed him to be a director. And the lessons he learned along the way as a creative at such shops as BBDO New York and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, served him in good stead.
Those same dynamics–perseverance, talent, careful reflection–are evident in this year’s crop of New Directors Showcase talent. And like Gray, there are several from the agency ranks who have aspired to directing careers and made great strides toward that end. But there are also in the ’07 Showcase many others from diverse backgrounds, including film students who have shown incredible initiative, connecting with notable established creatives to secure strong conceptual spec concepts.
Let’s face it, though–it is indeed an uphill, often daunting yet exciting climb. And new talent showcases of all sorts still have a high percentage of promising prospects who eventually don’t quite make the grade despite years of trying. But that makes it all the more important to cite examples like Gray, which thankfully aren’t all that isolated during SHOOT’s five years of presenting Showcase directors. Among the noteworthy others is Nelson Cabrera who I first met in the audience during our first Showcase.
A veteran first a.d. on commercials, Cabrera was just starting to do spec work, hoping to demonstrate his filmmaking sensibilities. The next year he gained inclusion into our second annual Showcase and appeared on stage. Today he’s an established director with HKM, underscoring just one aspect of what makes the Showcase so gratifying for all of us at SHOOT.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More