On May 25, SHOOT unveiled its fourth annual New Directors Showcase reel. The 25 helmers–including three two-person teams–selected for the Showcase come from diverse backgrounds. However, the bond they share is great style, vision and commitment–whether it be reflected in comedy, visuals or storytelling. Helping fashion the Showcase lineup were entries from SHOOT‘s ongoing “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery, assorted submissions, and feedback from agency creatives and producers. Here’s a look at this year’s field:
Brent Jones
Aero Film
NHL’s “Sorry” (spec)
Callaway’s “Best Ever” (spec)
How did you get into directing?
My first paying gig was shooting practices and games for the Kansas City Chiefs. I moved to L.A., started working on crews making music videos and commercials. I wanted to work with the best directors so I jumped over to features for about five years and worked behind the scenes with Spielberg, Cameron Crowe and Sam Raimi. This was a great education, but I needed to start directing. I jumped back to commercials to free up some time to build a reel. I found out about Groupp101Spots, where directors have to make six spec spots in six months, and signed up. I assembled a crew, racked up the credit cards, and yelled action. Cut to six months later–I show up at Aero Film in Santa Monica to hustle my reel and they signed me up as their comedy director.
Why do you want to direct commercials?
Who wouldn’t want to do this? I love the process–I enjoy working with creative people on short form projects where attention to detail is extreme. Each segment is a work of art, a mini-feature, with a good twist. It’s an incredible adventure where most of the people involved are great artists. I find it a pleasure to collaborate with extraordinary talent. Telling a short story or a good joke on film is a rush from start to finish. You gather a highly skilled team of technicians and create short bursts of magic.
What is your most recent spot project?
I did an NHL spot with The Ballpark in Santa Monica.
Do you have plans to work in other areas–e.g., shorts, films, features or TV? Have you ever done any of that in the past?
In 2003, I wrote and directed a short film called The Company Man. It received recognition at the L.A. Film Festival. This ate up a year of my life and broke the bank–again those credit cards. However, it gave me a lifetime of inspiration and educated me on how to make things happen. If you want to make films, you must inspire those around you to help. You can’t do it alone! You need an army of passionate, talented, hungry soldiers. I would like to do features in the future but for now I want to concentrate on getting my directing career running strong. It is an honor to have just signed with Aero Film for commercial representation.
What do you think is the best part about being a director?
I cannot pinpoint one aspect. It starts with the concept, then casting, and on to the production itself. If you are given a good story to work with, your job as a director is to bring it to life. Great casting gives a story life and a fine-tuned production team captures it on film. Now you have the pieces. Assembling is the grand finale. If I had to choose between pre-production, production or post, I would have to pick the grand finale–post. But hey, working with the artists along the way is what gets you there. I consider everyone in the film business to be an artist in some way. So overall the best part about being a director is meeting and working with creative people.
What’s the worst part?
Starting off with a bad concept.
