In this issue, our Fall Directors Series includes our ongoing Up-and-Coming Directors coverage identifying promising new filmmaking talent. We have two such formal features a year along with regular reporting on emerging directors and of course, our annual New Directors Showcase.
As we were putting together this latest installment of our Directors Series, news came through that Peter Moore Smith, executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, had left the agency to pursue a directorial career full-time by joining Aero Film.
Smith was featured in the Up-and-Coming Directors feature in our March 2015 Spring Directors Series—even though at the time there was no public inkling that he would be, or was even interested in being, on the open market as a director. SHOOT included him in that coverage simply based on his work, specifically an emotionally poignant and thought provoking PSA titled “The Talk” which he wrote and directed for the Brotherhood/Sister Sol, a New York-based development organization.
The spot depicted several discussions between African-American parents and their sons about how to avoid potentially dangerous encounters with the police. This is a common dialogue dubbed “the talk” in black households. In sharp contrast, the piece next shows a white father telling his teenage son that the police are there to help and to seek out an officer if there’s trouble. Then the question is ultimately asked, “Do we want one America—or two?”
In our Spring Directors Series coverage, Smith related that he was “passionate about the project and jumped at the chance to direct it. After learning about this painful discussion taking place in African-American homes, I felt it was important that, first of all, everyone knows that it’s happening, and secondly, that we start to examine the reasons why. It’s our hope—and it’s my personal belief—that positive, constructive conversation about ‘the talk’ can bring about positive change….I think there’s agreement that we want one America when it comes to this issue and how people are treated.”
It’s that purposeful sense of work—and the quality of the filmmaking work itself—which fuel our coverage year-round, particularly for our Spring and Fall Directors Series coverage.
