By Robert Goldrich

“I wanted it to be like we went into a small town and stole real moms from craft club meetings and made them sing,” director Steve Ayson said of Old Spice Re-Fresh Body Spray’s “Momsong,” a recent SHOOT Top Spot out of Wieden+Kennedy. Indeed, of all the women cast as moms stalking their sons and bemoaning their passage to carnal manhood, only one had major acting experience. Neither W+K nor Ayson wanted to hire anyone who was too polished.

Ayson—who’s handled by MJZ in the U.S. and U.K., and The Sweet Shop in the Southern Hemisphere—said he was the beneficiary of a great script, leaving him with but two contributions to make. “Everything was originally set the same level. From the outset, moms were popping out of nowhere, spying on their sons who had suddenly become appealing to the opposite sex due to Old Spice Body Spray. I saw the need to change gears, to have the stalking scenarios differ in tone, ramping up in the middle where things get nuts [with, for example, a singing mom disguised as a male janitor]. But instead of just getting bigger and bigger, more and more over the top, we pulled back. At the end, a mom just slithers along the floor and winds up back on the couch. It was kind of like she was defeated, sliding up from the floor to end up knitting on the sofa.”

The other alluded to directorial contribution was the casting. Beyond wanting moms from “craft club meetings,” Ayson as always went looking for interesting faces. In a feature film, even in a short, you can get to know a face. But in a commercial you have two seconds. The face has to do something for you in those two seconds—and each of the moms had something distinctive and interesting. It’s hard to explain but you know it when you see and feel it. It’s the idea first but once you get your casting right, people will watch more than once. Each time they watch, they will see something different.”

Ayson also liked the dark humor of “Momsong,” quite a departure from the “shiny and bright” fare that’s the comedy norm. “To do justice to the script, we had to find and capture the human truth. Someone once said,’comedy is drama.’ It’s true. The best comedy often has that element.”

Thus Ayson’s self-described approach “is to NOT make it like it’s comedy. Rather I try to shoot comedy like a drama.” This is evident in Ayson’s most successful comedic fare, perhaps most notably not only “Momsong” but Carlton Draught’s “Beer Chase.” Already “Momsong” looks like a surefire winner on the awards show circuit. Similarly right out of the gate, “Beer Chase” out of Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, seemed destined for accolades. Last year, that proved true as “Beer Chase” earned a Cannes Film Craft Gold Lion and was honored in the Advertising Excellence/International category of the AICP Show. It was also one of two entries (the other being The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ “Let Me Go” for Fallon Minneapolis) that helped Ayson last year secure his first career DGA Award nomination for Best Commercial Director.

“Beer Chase” finds three criminals opting to flee the police gingerly on foot instead of by automobile because they are holding glasses of Carlton Draught and don’t want to spill a drop of the libation. The action comically plays out like a high-speed car chase conducted in a low-speed walk. “I shot it the same way they shoot car chase films,” said Ayson. “I didn’t want to be silly with it because that would take away from the comedy. Showing that the guys had a real problem facing them, that they could be apprehended, helped to bring out the comedy. The look on the guys’ faces is always serious. Originally the client wanted good beer mates. I resisted that in the casting. Good beer mates don’t rob a bank. The more serious we played it, the more the comedy could naturally come out.”

DGA laughter
That comedy hit home for him on DGA Awards night—not because “Beer Chase” was one of two spots that earned him a Guild nomination but rather how the audience reacted when the Carlton Draught commercial was screened in its entirety for the industry gathering. “Five times during the night, one commercial from each nominated director was shown,” he said. “‘Beer Chase’ played and the place cracked up. The laughter meant everything. I’m repped at UTA for film. I got a couple of calls based on the screening of that spot at the DGA ceremony—even though I didn’t win the award that night. Comedy people at the studios called for meetings.”

Ayson and his wife write together, developing possible theatrical feature work for him to direct. Still, though, Ayson continues to find commercials gratifying. He recently helmed another job for Wieden+Kennedy—-an assignment for Maxwell House.

Fueling Ayson’s passion for spotmaking is in part his experience on the ad agency side prior to becoming a director. Ayson was a creative in New Zealand for some eight years before going freelance to direct and ultimately moving to New York. “I was tiring of coming up with good ideas over and over again and getting them smashed. It’s hard work being an agency creative and I think my appreciation for them helps me as a director. I understand what they go through and how fortunate we are to have a good idea to work on. And my understanding of the process helps me to sometimes get the client on my side, to win them around and get a go at trying something different.”

This quest to be different has consistently manifested itself in smart, offbeat comedy as crooning moms and fleeing walkers will attest.

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