1) Know that you can do good and be good. Have a strong point of view, give it your all but don’t be a bully. The most sought after directors are all about making great work and about making it a great experience.
2) Make yourself invaluable, find opportunities to help without being asked, say yes a lot, and pick up the phone. This business is all about relationships and problem solving.
3) I am an incubator for most of our jobs. I nurture concepts through creative development, shape them for feasibility, and hand off when they’re ready to bid or award. I am sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. During creative development I ask a lot of questions to try to define scope, expectations, and definitions of success. And I’ve learned to bring a partner in early when we are talking about new technology and experiential. Those jobs aren’t boilerplate and if I haven’t done one just like it then I need to talk to someone who has.
4) Our Halo War of Wits campaign because it was surprise and delight. We’re 12 years strong with Xbox, and Halo has always been a somber and compelling niche. But in War of Wits we took an alien from the game and cast him as a used car salesman at a real dealership called Camacho Autoworks (where he still has an online profile and email address). I love absurdity. I wish I could take credit for any of the production but it was an amazing group of partners including Randy Krallman and it was produced by our youngest staffer. She is a badass and is another reason I am proud of this project.
Director of integrated production
215McCann
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More