Don’t expect to get straight answers from the directing duo Spooner/French—Nick and Andrew, respectively—who co-direct humorous spots through Shooting Gallery Productions, New York. When asked how they divvy up directing chores, Spooner deadpans, "Andy is Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I’m Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday." On a more serious note, French continues, "We just sort of carved out what we both like doing best. Both of us have our strengths and our weaknesses, but I won’t divulge them."
Despite their wisecracking ways, the directors have a no-nonsense working method. "Most of our collaborative efforts really take place beforehand," explains Spooner. "It’s in the writing, the plotting, the blocking, the storyboarding. We are so organized, locked down and precise, that when we get to the set, we’re able to improvise and get those magical moments. If you hear the crew cracking up, you know that’s the keeper take."
Other people have been laughing at, and rewarding, Spooner/French’s work as well: The team was featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at the Cannes International Advertising Festival this past June. The spots showcased on the new directors reel were "Simulator" for the Museum of Flight, out of Cole & Weber, Seattle; and "Sorry," a client-direct promo for the now-cancelled NBC series The Mike O’Malley Show. ("Simulator," along with another Museum of Flight ad, "Airforce One," was completed while the pair was represented by bicoastal Satellite. Spooner and French were freelancers for the NBC work.)
Earlier this year, Spooner/French directed three spots—"Little Kid," "Wife" and "Getting Started"—for Homewarehouse.com via Butler, Shine & Stern, Sausalito, Calif. "Getting Started" is a two-shot wonder. The first image shows a woman, framed in a simple medium shot, warmly singing the praises of the dot-com—which sells building supplies and other items for the home—while holding a company catalogue. She says that getting started on home improvements can be tough and that the catalogue can really help. Cut to a wide shot of a wildly decorated living room with a man sound asleep on a couch. The woman whacks the guy on the head with the catalogue and says, "Wake your butt up!"
"That was a real sleeper," jokes Spooner, before French continues, "That was one where it was all casting. And obviously framing it in such a way that you don’t see the gag coming. There’s a certain believability about her performance that just seems like a person talking. It’s a fairly straightforward testimonial until that very last reveal."
Promo Men
Spooner/French started working together in 1994, when they wrote and directed numerous network promos for Comedy Central. Spooner says their writing talents still come into play on spot jobs. He describes agency creatives John Butler and Mike Shine as a top-notch comedy team. "[But] even those guys appreciate the collaborative effort we attempt to bring to the scene," says Spooner. "They were allowing us to help reshape the dialogue where it was needed, or trim it here and there. More and more, I think that we’re gaining a reputation for attempting to reshape or push the comedy off the page."
The directorial duo always creates its own shooting boards. "It’s imperative that we do it," explains Spooner, who physically executes the boards. "We really go in with a paper cut. We cut hundreds of spots at Comedy Central. We don’t have too many superfluous scenes once we get, or whoever gets, to the edit. When you do it yourself, you’re not leaving as much up to chance."
"When Nick and I were at Comedy Central, there were so few layers between us and the air," continues French. "We’d write something; we’d shoot it. The next week, we’d edit it and it would be on TV in ten days. ‘Brand it through something cool,’ was the only direction we’d get from our boss. Leaving that behind was the biggest thing for us—where you have total control—and throwing yourself into a collaborative effort where there are specific things that you have to sell because it’s a commercial."
Before the two joined forces, Spooner, who holds a degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in film and animation, worked at Ogilvy & Mather, first in Los Angeles, and later in New York, as a copywriter and an art director. After graduating in film from Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass., French wrote, directed and produced promos, news and entertainment content for MTV.
Following their stint at Comedy Central, the two went on to direct spots as freelancers. They joined Satellite in early ’98, and shifted over to SGP in ’99. Shooting Gallery Productions is the commercial production division of movie studio The Shooting Gallery, New York, which also has interests in music videos, new media, production services and, of course, feature films.
French likes being with a multifaceted outfit at a time when communications media are changing in unpredictable ways. "We’re at a company where we could plug into interactive or we could do stuff that is strictly for online," he notes. "Or we could start reading [feature] scripts and see if there’s something we want to do. It’s all in-house and there’s a ton of support."
Spooner/French’s most recent work includes Microsoft’s "Grim Reaper," "Swami" and "Hermers," through Publicis, Toronto; and "Wacky Cow" for Cybiko via Mad Dogs & Englishmen, New York.
How does the directing team feel about being included in Saatchi’s New Directors showcase? "We’re both pretty clueless when it comes to award stuff," responds French. "I think we just kept trying to do the same thing. If you make stuff that’s funny, no one ever asks, ‘What camera lens was that?’ The best thing someone can say is, ‘That was really funny.’ "µ
