Director Marc Webb has a filmmaking range that extends from commercials to branded content, music videos, indie and studio features, as well as to television series. His roots are in short form fare, most notably music videos where his credits include My Chemical Romance’s “Helena,” All American Rejects’ “Move Along” and Weezer’s “Perfect Situation,” all of which contributed to Webb earning director of the year distinction back in the day at the Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Awards. “Move Along” additionally scored an MVPA kudo as pop video of the year, and an MTV Video Music Award. Webb’s Greenday video, “21 Guns,” was also recognized with MTV VMA honors.
Webb successfully diversified into commercialmaking and then landed his first feature, (500) Days of Summer, a hybrid romantic comedy/coming of age story energized by dance numbers, split screens, and engaging performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It debuted at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win best directorial debut distinction from the National Board of Review.
That catapulted Webb into the tentpole franchise arena with The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also took on TV series, helming an episode of The Office and varied pilots, including for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on which he also served as an executive producer.
Webb’s endeavors across all these disciplines continue. He is currently in post on Disney’s live-action musical version of Snow White, which he directed. The movie is slated for release in 2024. Webb is serving as an EP on and directed the pilot for Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem, a Hulu series scheduled to come out next year, part of his ongoing TV deal with Disney and ABC. And Webb recently signed with production house RadicalMedia for representation in the U.S. spanning commercials, branded content and music videos. He anticipates having a window open up to take on select short-form projects.
“I’ve been wanting to work with Marc as soon as I saw (500) Days of Summer,” recalled RadicalMedia president and executive producer Frank Scherma.
SHOOT connected with Webb to discuss this latest chapter in his career. The director’s remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
SHOOT: What’s the appeal of returning to commercials, branded content and music videos?
Webb: I have more time now. It’s an interesting time given all the branded content that’s out there. There’s been a resurgence in commercials and music videos. I love the form of expression, the creativity that goes into that, being able to work with new technologies. I feel like the commercial and content worlds are more supple, you can move a lot more quickly and find new techniques and new ways to convey emotion. That’s fun. I enjoy a multi-faceted career–TV pilots, music videos, commercials, big feature films, smaller independent films.
SHOOT: Back in the day, we remember you at the venerable production company DNA for music videos and commercials. What drew you now to RadicalMedia?
Webb: They have a history with feature film directors. I’ve known Frank [Scherma] for awhile. I remember talking to him back in the day. He seems to be involved with a lot of the people whose work I love. It seemed like a fun way to re-enter this area with a new group of people.
SHOOT: How has your work in music videos informed your feature filmmaking?
Webb: Music has been a centerpiece of my career–music and romantic comedy for some reason. Way back for (500) Days of Summer, I used techniques that I experimented with in the music video world, that were new when they came to features. I still feel deeply connected to evolving technologies. I’m using them in Snow White in ways I can’t fully disclose yet. I’ve really enjoyed working in all these formats–but it all comes down to telling a story, to create a feeling in the audience.
Regardless of the length of story you’re telling, the fundamentals apply. You have to connect to a character, you need to provoke an audience to feel that they’re seeing something new even if it’s timeless.
SHOOT: What about lessons learned from feature filmmaking and television that you now bring back to commercials and shorter form projects?
Webb: In big visual effects movies, there are mistakes and you learn from those mistakes. And you learn from really being deeply involved with performance, actors and sometimes movie stars. It’s a different language. You need to have some experience with that, to speak that language.
SHOOT: It might have seemed to some a giant leap to go from music videos to an actors’ performance-driven feature like (500) Days of Summer. But the fact is that your music video work was more rooted in storytelling at a time when that wasn’t the norm. And that storytelling orientation made the transition to the feature that much easier.
Webb: For a lot of alternative videos, everybody wanted a band performance. After a certain point, I became more interested in story components.
Collaborating with bands was always a thrill. They are intuitively creative. They tend to be more experimental. Certainly the money [in music videos] wasn’t as good but the creative freedom was really appealing. Most of them [performers] got on board with telling stories.
SHOOT: What’s been your biggest takeaway or lessons learned from your experience spanning short and long-form projects?
Webb: Authenticity is everything. You need to feel something truthful in whatever you’re doing. You can feel it in commercials as well as in music videos. Something real and truthful resonates. I remember before YouTube watching new videos and spots every couple of weeks. The great spots had something original to say but said it in a way that felt authentic, real and alive, I love the exhilaration of seeing something new, discovering something new.
