If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

This week it was my great pleasure to chat to Fredrik Bond.

As one of the best directors in the world (DGA nomination this year to go with the ones he got in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2008, 2007 and 2004, and he deserved more from 2000-2003) his perspective on reaching the top and staying there is fascinating and inspiring.

He and I made our way in advertising around the same time (albeit along very different paths), so I have quite a vivid memory of Fredrik’s meteoric rise, his regular output of brilliant and hilarious work, and his maturing as a truly great director.

I think the fact that 2016 has been one of his best years of his career is testament to his enduring quality.

So it was great to learn how all that happened, including the following tips (many of them will work for creatives as well as directors)…

Work in a gay restaurant in Sydney.

Learn why you need to sharpen your elbows in New York.

Maybe your shouldn’t feature rape in your spec banana ads. Or maybe you should…?

Work with an agency that doesn’t ‘give a fuck about clients’.

Ideas come first.

Darkness is good.

You might get excited about a script when you first get it, when you’re talking to your family about it, or when you’re rewriting the treatment.

If Moby says he loves big tits and ass, he might not be serious.

Treatments can help you find the creative sweet spot.

Pressure can be a good thing because it puts a ‘fire in your ass’.

The easy road is never the fun road.

It’s a team effort.

Very short scripts can be amazing.

Sometimes you just have to put your blinders on.

Each commercial is not just a commercial, it’s a story that you have to connect with on a personal level.

Directors lives go up and down. All you can do is keep working hard and doing your best.

Don’t focus on the money.

Make the job fun.

One note about the recording: we did it in the lobby/restaurant of a hotel, so there is quite a lot of ambient sound. It might be annoying at first, but hopefully it’ll just blend in after a few minutes. Any female laughter you can hear comes from my wife.

Here’s the chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link:

And here are some of the many, many great commercials etc. Fredrik has directed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWdgmMdF_A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUrsvegCkEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abDtr-Ffnw

And here is Fredrik’s short film, The Mood.

And the trailer for his movie, Charlie Countryman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqnstjzPtfo

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 28 – Fredrik Bond

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Hi there,

As it’s a holiday weekend I don’t want to put out an interview podcast that might be ignored.

Instead I’m putting out a monologue podcast that might be ignored.

And that monologue is from my own fair mouth/brain.

It concerns three slightly related topics.

1. The ‘Kendall Jenner’ Pepsi ad. I thought I had a take on it that hadn’t really been explored. Alas, I was wrong. But by the time I discovered my mistake I’d already recorded the whole thing, and besides, I’m OK chiming with Jimmy Kimmel.
2. Diversity in advertising. It’s the buzzword of today, but many people seem to take it only to mean ethnic diversity. I blather on about why this is, what the other types of diversity might be, and why it’s worth giving a shit.
3. Does the political context affect the quality of art? Ian Heartfield (a former colleague) wrote an article about this for Campaign (well, it’s somewhat about this; there are other, possibly more interesting, parts of his article). Ian and Richard Curtis think it does; I disagree.

I considered writing three blog posts about the above but I wondered if a podcast might be better. You can listen to it while jogging, preparing dinner, or sticking your hand up a cow’s arse. And those are three situations where it’s easier to listen than to read.

So have a listen, let me know if you enjoyed it and let me know if you think I talk sense or not.

(here’s the Soundcloud link and the iTunes link.)

Happy Easter.

xxx

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 27 - Me

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Chaka is the delightful CCO of Leo Burnett London.

How did that happen?

Well, her journey started at the BFI and went via the Boilerhouse Studios and Fox through ITV and Mother.

It’s an unusual path, which is why I wanted to chat to her.

She wanted to be a director, so she became one, helming pilots and music videos.

At Fox she started directing the promos and programmes for their kids channel, so that was her first step into advertising and branding.

Then a friend asked if she’d like to do the same at ITV, where she made lots and lots of stuff for all parts of the channel.

She then set up ITV Creative, which needed to bring all the different channels and brands together and grew to a large organisation with branding and advertising across the portfolio, £300m of airtime and thousands of campaigns.

She also worked with Tiger Savage at M&C Saatchi and Nick Gill and others at BBH, who were ITV’s off-air creative partners.

Then Robert Saville and Mark Waites came calling, and offered her a place at Mother. It was an offer she couldn’t refuse, particularly with all the fannies on the wall.

We also discuss the vagaries of crossing over between industries, the primacy of populism and the thorny issue of diversity.

Here’s the chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link.

Enjoy…

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 26 – Chaka Sobhani

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We now reach the AMV years, a time at which Dave and I worked in the same agency.

That time was part of a golden era for AMV, where incredible work seemed to flow from it much like yummy gin flows from a bottle of gin.

Unsurprisingly it was much harder than that.

It’s great to get Dave’s perspective as a new person coming into the agency and tackling some of the most iconic accounts in the country.

Among other things, we discuss…

What it was like for young teams in such a grown up agency.

Why self-generated kicks up the arse can be very useful.

And are those kicks still appreciated?

Are more D&AD Pencils a good thing?

The terrible misery of having to work on the Royal Academy in Soho House.

Judging the Economist work.

Changing the Economist work.

Making things look like a pint of Guinness.

The Volvo campaign that wasn’t a campaign.

Refreshing the RSPCA.

‘Crap at ideas?’.

Here’s the chat, the iTunes link, the Soundcloud link and lots of the work:

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 25 - Dave Dye Part 4

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James is ITIAPTWC’s first owner/founder of a production company.

Fortunately a robust case could be made that he’s the best around.

Blink was British Arrows Production Company of the Year in 2015, having already received the title at both 2014 Creative Circles and the Shots Awards in 2014 and 2015, as well as by Campaign in 2012.

And that’s about thirty years after Blink was formed.

He’s discovered and/or nurtured some great directors, including Dougal Wilson, Ivan Zacharias, Mark Denton, Blue Source, Doug Foster and many more.

And he’s kept his company fresh, but always of the highest quality.

We discuss…

Starting in music videos.

Getting fired for ‘indifference’.

Challenging fun with Tony Kaye and other provocative directors.

Making progress through animation.

Moving to live action.

Winning awards.

What James looks for in a creative who wants to become a director.

What happens when a script arrives at a production company,

What makes a director want to do a script.

Squad age.

The importance of diversification.

What it’s like having the best director in town.

How less money has affected commercial production.

The pros and cons of being Production Company of the Year.

Here’s our chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link:

And here’s Blink’s website, along with a somewhat random selection of some of its best commercials (here’s a link to the great Terrence Higgins Trust ad that put Blink on the award map):

https://vimeo.com/44803798

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmOr9I2JxZs

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 24 – James Studholme

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Dave Buonaguidi is an advertising creative, but not in the conventional definition of that adjective and noun.

Have a listen to our chat and you’ll hear the story of a man who followed the work and the excitement, even when (especially when?) the alternative was much easier and more lucrative.

As much as anyone else I’ve spoken to, Dave just wants to do what is new and different and interesting. And although that applies to his work, it applies even more to the companies he set up. Creating a brilliant ad is one thing, but creating a brilliant ad agency (and leaving one when it doesn’t fit that description anymore) is a million times harder and braver.

So there’s much to learn from his attitude to being risky, and why it’s actually the least risky thing you can do:

Some things we discuss…

Get a break by having your dad run an Italian restaurant.

90% of the people in the business are donkeys; 10% are lions.

Give the client 7-8 solutions but tell them they’re not for sale.

Awards don’t award creativity.

Take on a ‘suicide mission’.

How to out-pirate the pirates.

Why St Luke’s worked ‘for a very short period’.

‘The problem with people is when they’re given a choice they will always default to being a selfish shit.’

Taking a job when you don’t even know what it is.

Building 4 Creative.

Dave will always buy a house that’s a mess of rubble before buying a swanky duplex.

Why this is the advertising industry:

Don’t be frightened of data.

‘I get a kick out of the harrowing nature of start-ups.’

Build an agency in the middle of nowhere so the people you hire are really committed.

If you can work with people you like and have a laugh with them, good work will come.

‘I want to learn to screenprint, sculpt and save someone’s life.’

‘We are at a crossroads. What the industry becomes in ten years’ time will be determined by what is happening now.’

Current job: transforming an orange into a pineapple.

We didn’t get round to discussing this, but Dave once hit a burglar on the head with a shovel.

Here are his Instagram and Twitter feeds.

And here’s the chat, the iTunes feed and the Soundcloud link.

If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

ITIAPTWC Episode 23 - Dave Buonaguidi

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00:00 / 1:06:14

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