Director Tenney Fairchild has a quiet and self-effacing manner—and an usual first name. "It’s my great-grandmother’s maiden name," explains the director, who helms ads through bicoastal M-80. He says the offbeat moniker is actually a plus on the set. "The good thing is there’s never any chance I’ll be working with anyone else named ‘Tenney.’ "
Fairchild’s work, like his name, is a little different. For example, "Log," for Arizona Jeans, out of DDB Dallas, explores the relationship between a teenager and a piece of wood. The opening shot features the guy groping the log on a couch when the boy’s father walks in. "Oh, I didn’t know you’d be home so early," the boy says nervously, straightening his disheveled clothes. The next shot features the boy, his log and his parents all sitting around a coffee table. The boy has an arm curled around the log. After the father puts cheese on a cracker, the boy says, "Dad, maybe Leslie would like a cracker." (Leslie, apparently, is the log’s name.) Cut to a montage of the boy driving with the log belted into the passenger seat; a photo booth where the boy and the log have their picture taken; and, finally, the boy and the log rolling on the beach, à la From Here to Eternity.
Offbeat, colorful, and more than a little weird, "Log" is typical of Fairchild’s spot work. He says "Log" interested him because it was a situation in which he could take a ridiculous, unbelievable concept, and give it a serious treatment. " ‘Log’ isn’t based on a true story, as far as I know," he jokes. "So our approach was to treat it as realistically as possible. It’s just a regular guy on a date—except the date happens to be a log.
Other recent credits from Fairchild include: Nintendo’s "Goose," "Is It Here?" and "Skills," out of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago; Southwest Airlines’ "Turnstyle/Glass" and "Chipper/Cookie," out of GSD&M, Austin, Texas; Powerbar’s "Workout" via Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore.; and adidas’ "Protective" and "Mob," through Leagas Delaney, San Francisco. The adidas work underscores Fairchild’s affinity for humor that’s slightly out there. For instance, in "Protective," a man is so pleased with his new adidas running shoes that after he puts them on, he puts plastic bags over them so as not to damage them during his workout.
On the awards front, Fairchild counts a Gold Lion from the Cannes International Advertising Festival for Nike’s "Kordell Delivers," out of W+K, as well as other industry accolades.
on-set training
Fairchild never intended to become a director. "Being a director certainly wasn’t any longtime aspiration," he says. "There was no grand plan." Never having picked up a camera, aside from the odd Polaroid, Fairchild says he’s still on the "learn-while-you-earn film program. I didn’t come to this by way of film school or trust fund."
After growing up in Chicago, Fairchild attended Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill., and got into the agency side of the business, working at J. Walter Thompson (JWT), Chicago, where he served as a creative director on the 7-11 account.
A lack of restraint got the usually restrained Fairchild into directing. One day he was on a set, complaining about the director, and claiming that he could do the job. The client overheard Fairchild. "He just looked at me and said, ‘Okay, you’re doing the next one,’ " recalls Fairchild. "It was kind of like, ‘Okay, put up or shut up.’ "
Fairchild put up. He lensed the next spot, liked it, then shot another. He eventually would walk out the door of JWT with a reel of his own work under his arm, and signed with Barking Weasel, Los Angeles (that firm no longer produces spots, but is still open for select longform projects), then Cucoloris Films, Venice, Calif. Fairchild then shifted to M-80. "And now here we are," concludes the eight-year directing veteran.
Despite leading the typical director’s life, which means long hours in odd places, Fairchild says that being a director doesn’t put any strain on his personal life or his family. "It’s not a bad job," he says. "At least there’s no heavy lifting. There are far worse gigs to have. Plus, I like the fact that it’s always different from job to job. It’s never the same."
He finds commercial production heading in a direction that he likes. "People are looking to do smarter things," he observes. "I think advertising seems to be giving the consumer a little more credit these days. And that’s good."
In his spare time, Fairchild writes. "It’s a fun thing to do," he says of his hobby. "It’s a good exercise because it helps me with my dialogue." So far he’s written a couple of feature length movie scripts, one of which has been optioned. "I’d love to direct one of my own scripts one day," he notes. "So let’s see if that happens."
As for the future, Fairchild seems quite content where he is. "Five years from now," he says, "if I’m working at this same level, doing this kind of work, I’ll be happy."
