By STEPHEN DICKSTEIN
AS LONG AS THERE IS A "pot of gold" for the industry’s top directors and a percentage to be had by agents or production companies that represent them, there will be an ever expanding list of those who call themselves commercial directors and as many incarnations of those attempting to make their living off of them. A comparison to the throng of wannabes in the acting profession is becoming unavoidable.
The dangerous fact is that the competition amongst directors for commercial projects might very well lower the bar for creativity (there are those who say this has already happened). A hungry director is not necessarily a director looking out for the best interest of a project. (One could say the same for a hungry agency with their client’s business.) The director whose major skill set is making agency producers and creatives feel good is a menace to the creative output of our industry. When directors lose their initiative to fight to keep a great idea alive or they don’t attempt to challenge those participating in the creative process, that director is, generally speaking, either on their way out of the business or relegating themselves to the lower echelon of creatives. Very few transcend this equation. Yet, there are a few notable directors, who might cop an attitude, or even if they manage civility, insist on the creative high road because they have an innate or learned understanding of the symbolic language needed to truly connect to the consumer. So, in this era of The Expanding Directors List, one better be truly extraordinary to get away with anything but some serious ass kissing.
Although it may look differently, most in our business are consumed with the business side of the process and granted, this is ultimately important. But, the future, as in the past, will belong to the directors and the creatives whose ingenuity, vision and understanding of contemporary culture make them the leaders of the product proposition business, advertising. Middle managers, like in any competitive business culture, will be more replaceable than ever and those executive creative directors who distinguish themselves not for taste, but rather as account men with a license to comment on creative work will be as short lived in their current jobs as the directors who simply parrot an agency’s request back to them. Just look around at the agencies who thought account services and media were enough.
So what makes good business sense in the future? Figure out a way to be in business with the best possible talent and support them in the endeavor of doing the best possible work. Simple enough, you say, but not at all easy to execute. Consider the circumstances: 1) Fees for production services continue to diminish; 2) Spec work is hustled to directors by clients who long ago lost respect for the craft of the commercialmaking which their agency partners helped perpetrate for purposes of self-preservation; and 3) Entertainment lawyers push ever unreasonable deals for their director-clients. These factors plus the glut of director choices, don’t make it any easier to keep the mom-and-pop production business going. Hey, you can get lucky and find a genius commercial director who is committed to doing better than decent commercial work for life, has a huge monthly nut, doesn’t have ambition beyond, nor the initiative or inclination to go it on their own. (Sadly, perhaps, I have never been so fortunate or so inclined to encourage this type of career.)
So what, then? Diversification? A few production companies have boldly attempted to diversify on their own dime. Unfortunately, efforts have been less impressive than one would hope. I remember one production company executive once referred to himself as the "pied piper of new media in New York." (A surprising statement, but I’m sure even more so for Gerald Levin of Time Warner.) Notwithstanding a well-organized and visionary commitment and impressive effort in the new media arena, this particular operation was shuttered last fall. The same company, having recently lost its head of filmed entertainment, is left hitching a ride on the coattails of its top directing talent into Hollywood. Although they made a radically ambitious and admirable foray into alternative media, this company’s other ventures weren’t ultimately as successful as its remarkable commercial production operation. The hope of getting out of the services-only business, the goal to own content has, however, proven elusive.
Those dreamers are not alone in their failure however. Despite varying degrees of success, Crossroads, Chelsea, Palomar, Digital Domain, and yes, Propaganda, to name just a few, have all had their fingers in the content pie for five or more years, and not one of them, to my knowledge, has hit paydirt with the success of three-and-a-half year old eBay or, for that matter, any relatively unknown television production entity that makes a hit TV series.
However, a money wave is about to crash over the deck of our ruthless, yet quaint little commercial community and this may be just what it takes to create that ever referred to and never quite achieved, paradigm shift we’ve heard so much about. Deep pockets from Wall Street (or Minneapolis for that matter) are looking for new growth businesses and are beginning to seize our yet untapped, disparate, "perfect little economy." Palomar has recently been bought and will be financed by entertainment money investing in such growth case scenarios, a situation that Propaganda, like it or not, is as a result of the corporate sale and breakup of Polygram Filmed Entertainment. Harmony Holdings, Chelsea, probably Don Block or Michael Romersa Inc. represent other models of consolidation as do the increasing presence and massive growth of the repping company, especially colossus CMP, who entered a new realm of scale with the signing of RSA. Imagine explaining 10 years ago to Peter Smillie, Ridley Scott and Bob Giraldi that they would be sharing "board flow." Times have changed indeed.
Whether these different approaches find a workable formula over the long haul or not, is yet to be determined, and I am not convinced that reactions, in and of themselves, to current business conditions can withstand a future of inevitable changes. The world of "information haves" and "have nots" certainly divides, but it still doesn’t account for the discovery and support of that new extraordinary director who not only needs board flow, but an education on the ways and thinking about advertising as a discipline. Maybe there will be peaceful coexistence between this commitment and the way money from The Street seems to look at commercial production entities: as branded media platforms ripe for expansion and extension into all areas of entertainment and content creation.
Finally, in its simplest form, it seems that what works is either big or small, as long as it’s about quality and taste. HSI, a hard-earned and well-deserved success story on one side, and Kinka, a guy with "symbols between his legs" and a lot of cash in his pocket on the other. There are, of course, successes in the middle, like that of Tool, Hungry Man, and Diane McArter’s Omaha Pictures, all doing a ton of work, even quality work, with relatively small rosters of good craftsmen who even add value to the mix. But, how long till another young David McNally is seduced by the likes of Hollywood veteran, "King of Commercials Crossover Producers," Jerry Bruckheimer? And won’t Omaha, and perhaps the others, protect themselves from this by expanding?
The future will most certainly include the opportunities created by the explosion of bandwidth, net advertising, narrow casting, new media, content and all the catch phrases which first got our attention in the middle part of the decade. How this landscape will actually play itself out is still uncertain, or at least, no one’s quite there yet (although, you might feel differently if you were a receptionist at Yahoo! from day one.)
So what do I know? Not much But I do know what I like and I still think I can tell the difference, despite my advancing age (41), between good and shit work. Maybe that will still be a good and valuable platform to work from in the future. There are those of us who hope so.
Director Jack Begert Joins Biscuit For His First Commercial Representation In U.S. & U.K.
Biscuit Filmworks has added filmmaker Jack Begert to its roster in the U.S. and U.K. This marks Begert’s first representation in advertising, building upon his acclaimed work in music video and film. He is best known for his striking aesthetic and surreal use of visual effects, displayed in his feature film debut Little Death, which won the NEXT Innovator Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars David Schwimmer, Gaby Hoffman, Dominic Fike, and Talia Ryder, and was produced by Darren Aronofsky.
Miami-born and L.A.-based, the USC Film School graduate began his career in VFX and as an editor. Begert has worked with iconic musical artists including Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Flying Lotus, Childish Gambino, and Olivia Rodrigo, and has independently directed international campaigns for brands such as Apple, Converse, New Era, and Reebok.
Shawn Lacy, founding partner of Biscuit Filmworks, said of Begert, “We are such fans of his work--and of him as a creator, thinker, collaborator, and great guy.”
“My creative approach is often about trying to discover something unexpected in the filmmaking process,” said Begert. “Biscuit is a place where I can bring my own perspective to the work and still feel supported. That philosophy is clear from the talent they represent, and I’m excited to join their roster.”
“Jack’s work blew me away the moment I first saw it,” said Rupert Reynolds-Maclean, managing director at Biscuit Filmworks UK. “He is a modern young director who clearly cares deeply about both craft and the necessity for it in his storytelling. Everything always pushes the narrative forward. We’re looking forward to making great work together.”
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