If you watch television, chances are you’re familiar with the work of director Jim Jenkins of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. One of Jenkins’ most recent efforts is a five-spot branding package for cable channel TBS out of Publicis NY, which positions the network as the go-to channel for comedy.
The :60s "Name," "Ink," "Wings," "Buttons" and "Strange Fruit" showcase the director’s keen sense of humor and mastery of layering techniques, while also managing to set the cable network apart as the home to such comedic gems as Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld and Friends. The spots feature phone operators fielding calls from regular folks who describe real life situations that they believe might be funny. The operators listen carefully, ask pertinent questions about the scenarios and then pass judgment, rating their laugh-worthiness. The campaign’s tagline: "TBS. Very funny."
The spots, according to Jenkins, benefited from having extremely well thought out scripts, but executing those scripts truly hinged on the actors’ abilities. "Even though we had great stuff on the page," he relates, "we also inserted a bit of ad-libbing that really brought the spots to life." Jenkins notes that he is a fan of working ad-libs into his spots because, as he explains it, "a major part of why those spots work is directly related to how much time we took casting the roles. We knew that these commercials would live or die on the reality of the performances of the callers and the operators, and we spent a good amount of time in many cities searching for just the right people to pull it off. In the end, they improved upon what was written by delivering the lines in a real and subtle way."
Jenkins is proud of the TBS campaign, and credits Duncan Marshall, executive creative director at Publicis, with making the process so enjoyable. "I’ve worked with Duncan quite a bit in the past," he shares. "We shot spots for Heineken, BMW and Champion—we work well together. He mentioned the preliminary idea for the TBS campaign to me before I even saw a script, so I got to be in the process from a very early point, and that really helped when it came to the casting."
Funny stuff
Many of Jenkins’ spots rely on intelligent humor. For instance, his ads for Turner Classic Movies (including "Rocky") out of nicebigbrain, New York, and American Express (including "One Hour Photo," starring director Martin Scorsese), out of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), New York, are both standouts—the latter features the perfectionist director obsessing over photos he snapped of his nephew’s birthday party, while the former presents a nursing home production of the film. Another recent Jenkins effort is "Dance Party," for Nextel, out of TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, which features a group of office workers grooving to the tune "Push It," from Salt-N-Pepa. The trio is interrupted by their irate supervisor, who wants to know the answers to a variety of questions, which the workers quickly get using Nextel devices. Satisfied with the answers, the supervisor leaves, and the guys get back to dancing.
Jenkins’ reel is made all the more impressive by virtue of the fact that he embarked on a full-time career as a director just four short years ago. He began his ad career two years after graduating from the University of Florida, Gainesville, joining O&M as a junior copywriter. Fast-forward to 12 years later—Jenkins had risen through the ranks to become a creative director, overseeing work for such high-profile accounts as Miller Lite and GTE Wireless. He enjoyed the work immensely, but found himself very attracted to the production aspects of the job.
In ’98, Jenkins began directing on a freelance basis, and in June ’00, after a dozen years at O&M, he vacated his post to become a full-time director. He signed with Hungry Man, and hasn’t looked back since. More recently, Jenkins both helmed and created spots for the Discovery Channel ("Antlers," "Milk Truck" and "Ranchers") via nicebigbrain, an entity he created for when he serves as the creative director/director on his own spots. However, Jenkins is quick to point out that his nicebigbrain vehicles are rare. "The vast majority of my work is done through agencies," he says. "I did it more at the beginning [of my career], working directly for clients … but that’s sort of the exception for me rather than the rule.
"As a director, you kind of don’t have to endure what the creative teams have to endure," he points out. "All the brainstorming, the internal and then the external selling—I get involved at the point of external selling, generally. Directing isn’t about selling and defining everything. Most of that is up to the creatives."
Talking with Jenkins, it’s obvious that he values his directorial work above all else. "When I decided to embark on a full-time career as a director, a lot of people told me that the competition would be tough because there are a lot of great directors out there," he recalls. "I knew that, but at the same time the competition on the creative side was just as tough. There are so many really talented creatives out there. I think my background helps me to recognize the good creatives I want to work with. That’s so important in allowing me to create work that stands out from the rest. My goal every time is to approach an ad as if the last thing that somebody wants to do is sit and watch a commercial—and then decide from there what type of spot might make them change their mind."Z
