When Playback went to the commercial production industry to draft a survival guide for would-be directors, the first thing we wanted to establish was whether the climb to commercial directordom would be as tough right now as we thought it would be.

Yes, we found, it would be.

There’s not a lot of work out there, and even the big jobs seem a lot smaller than they used to be. ‘You can’t even buy a spot any more,’ says Ross McLean, executive producer at Stripes, an off-shoot of The Partners’ Film Company whose original mandate was to provide an atmosphere where young directors could ‘earn their stripes.’

‘Why take a chance with some punk out of Rye High when you can fly in a vet with a great reel at a discount?’ he adds.

Says Andre Viau, president at Cinelande in Montreal: ‘An average commercial now is $50,000. In the eighties, we wouldn’t even quote that. Now we’re quoting the big guys for them.’

Edie Weiss, general manager of Radke Films, sums it up simply: ‘People are willing to kill for a job.’

So, the up-and-comers have a number of things working against them. 1. The economy is lousy. 2. The few available spots are being bid for by established directors with proven track records. 3. Agencies are gun-shy.

‘In order to try a new director you have to take a chance,’ says Greg Bosworth, executive producer at Apple Box Productions in Vancouver. Agencies are nervous and don’t want to gamble on an unknown. They will invariably take the safe route, and that means a tried-and-true director, he says.

Is there any hope? Well, yes. It’s cautious, but it’s there.

The commercial houses polled voiced an almost unanimous, if somewhat frustrated, desire to nurture new, home-grown talent. Very few have stopped looking.

So, where does the director-to-be start off?

‘With raw, inherited talent,’ according to Carlo Trulli, executive producer at Revolver Films. The comment is echoed from coast to coast. No talent, no chance.

Many in the industry also agree that you have to make a name for yourself in some other area before you start as a director.

The days are over when a talented someone could come fresh out of film school, shoot a great spot on spec and become the hippest thing in town. Even the suggestion of a raw rookie making it elicits everything from a diplomatic, ‘Well… it would be extremely difficult,’ to snorts of laughter.

The overwhelming advice is do anything to build a reel – music videos, low-budget features, still photography, art direction, cinematography, spec commercials. Anything. For those lucky enough to be on the inside track at an agency, beg until someone lets you shoot something and build your reel while still there.

‘To get any work now, you’ve got to have two or three really good spots on your reel or there isn’t even any point in trying.’ says McLean.

Weiss agrees. ‘Someone has to come across with one or two unbelievably incredible spots on their reel. They have to equal any good American spot in order to succeed in Toronto.’

‘The saddest thing is that there are some very talented people who won’t get the chance because they don’t have a hook,’ says Partners’ ceo Don McLean. ‘They haven’t been an art director or stills photographer. They have no entree at all. No one’s heard of them.’

A practical piece of advice comes from Andy Crosbie, an executive producer at Sparks Productions: ‘Get a day job or move back in with your parents.’ Bosworth seconds the warning. Have a secondary line of work, he says, ‘because one definitely does not survive by directing alone in the beginning stages of their career.’

Survival isn’t the exclusive concern of aspiring directors. Tough economic times and client jitters have affected the way the industry works as a whole. Established directors have had to adjust, too.

The industry today is much ‘humbler,’ says Boris Damast, a director/partner at Damast Gordon and Associates.

It’s a comment that is unanimously accepted, and no one, really, seems too upset about it. ‘From where I sit, I can’t understand how it ever became arrogant in the eighties, it’s beyond my imagination,’ says Crosbie.

Somehow better

In fact, the general attitude is that maybe, just maybe, the whole shake-up and rebuilding of the industry has made it somehow better – that it has set the stage for more communication and involvement.

So, what is the ideal director of the nineties? Is there a personality type or attitude that the market is responding to right now?

‘If I knew that for sure,’ says Crosbie, ‘I’d be a rich man.’

Still, the suggestions roll out: according to Weiss, new directors have to build relationships, to ‘join and connect in a way that is very different than they had to before.’

Homework

And they have to do their homework. They can’t walk into a meeting and talk off the top of their heads. The agencies want to see treatments, rip-o-matics, examples. Weiss also stresses the need to keep absolutely up-to-date on the best work being done around the world, and to understand current trends.

She warns of a common catch-22 for new directors: ‘A director has to have a point of view and take a clear position about what is the right and wrong way to do something. If there’s not enough money or it can’t be produced well on the budget, the director has to say no.’ There are so few jobs it would be extremely tough to turn any down, she says, ‘but you can’t afford to do crap… if one person has a bad experience with you, in no time at all, everyone will know.’

Others agree. The phrase, `You’re only as good as your last job,’ comes up time and again.

Wayne Fenske, president of L.T.B. Productions, also stresses the importance of keeping up with the latest looks to invent new ones and building and maintaining relationships.

One more thing. Specialize. ‘You can’t just be `an award-winning director’ anymore,’ says Fenske. ‘If they’re looking for exterior stuff, you have to be an award-winning exterior director.’

Get it on the reel

Crosbie agrees. ‘(Agencies) want to see something close to their commercial on the director’s reel.’ Doing one thing exceptionally well for a long time, is one reason certain people have survived and others have been passed over, he says.

Apple Box’s Bosworth emphasizes the growing importance of ‘a maturity and sensitivity to the business side of commercial making. On many occasions we come across very talented potential directors, but they don’t understand advertising is a business.’ Or as Damast puts it: ‘You can’t ignore the commercialism in the commercial anymore.’

A new director has to be able to marry his/her vision with the strategy behind the campaign, says Bosworth, ‘because there’s always a reason for why a campaign has been structured the way it is.’

‘Young directors must have empathy, they must feel for what the agency has done to come up with the concept. They must value it,’ advises Louis Morin, executive producer at La Fabrique d’Images in Montreal.

According to Trulli, while new directors must respect the agency’s concept, they shouldn’t be afraid to contribute to it. He uses Curtis Wehrfritz as an example.

Rising star

Wehrfritz, a young director who made his name in music videos, is one rising star on the commercial stage who isn’t afraid to leave his imprint on an ad. When people see Wehrfritz’s work, says Trulli, ‘they think, `I really like this piece and the contributions the director has made to it,’ and they see the values that are expressed.’

As a video clip director, Wehrfritz came up with the concept. And that grounding has served him well in his new career, says Trulli. When working from an agency’s concept, Wehrfritz ‘can expand on it, because that’s basically what he has always been designed to do… and there should never be a threat in that: what people should see it as is adding to the contribution level.’

Damast agrees agencies are looking for ‘more than just a shooter.’ They want someone who is well-rounded, who can really get involved and contribute to a job. He also says that a new openness is allowing for more creative exchange and dialogue among everyone involved in a project.

‘A new director has to be able to instill confidence,’ says Christina Ford, president and executive producer at Imported Artists Film Company. ‘It’s become a conference-call world,’ she says. ‘If you get them in on the strength of their reel, it’s going to be make or break it on the conference call.’

Adds Don McLean: ‘(You need) somebody who is able to pitch and present well – go in and really articulate what they want to do.’

Production houses

It’s not only the would-be directors who have to work harder at selling themselves today, production houses themselves have to put a great deal more effort into getting new talent off the ground.

Ross McLean says launching new directors has become such a grind that, for him, it’s ‘a battle not worth fighting anymore.’

Some, reluctantly, agree. Others say that while it is difficult, if the whole house throws its support behind a new director, they can make it happen.

‘The first three spots on any new director’s reel are usually freebies,’ says Bosworth, adding that sometimes the house will ‘eat’ film costs, or, in Apple Box’s case, take the young director to Edmonton (the home of Apple Box’s studio and post facility) where a project like a music video can be reworked into a spec spot.

Cinelande’s Viau says it’s easier for a big production company to throw its weight behind a new director. ‘We’ll say, here’s a good guy, and we’ll give him a good surrounding, a good art director, producer, editor. We’ll surround that guy, so the risk is small. But we won’t make any money.’

Tough sell

Don McLean says Partners’ will use its extensive support systems to guarantee a job for a new director, but adds that it’s a tough sell in today’s market where ‘real directors’ are going for the small, formerly ‘buyable’ jobs.

Weiss pushes promotion. ‘If a new director’s coming out, it’s important that they go somewhere that has a heavy emphasis on publicity and promotion. Someone supporting them, repping them constantly,’ she says.

Despite the added workload, those interviewed agree developing new talent is essential, although most plan to wait out the recession (unless, of course, someone incredible comes along).

However, one large house, which isn’t ready to go on record quite yet, has plans in place to start an operation to nurture new directors. They liken it to a hockey farm team – taking potential talents, training them, and then bringing them into the main house ‘when they’re ready to play in the nhl.’

Don McLean makes no secret that he has similar plans. ‘The smartest thing we could do is find new, talented, interesting people, and I intend to do it.’

McLean sums up the thoughts of many of his peers when he adds: ‘I believe if we don’t develop new talent, we’re dead. Work will just go south. We have to give (new directors) a viable option, or we’ll become just bookers of off-shore talent.’