‘Film, politics, auto racing, astronomy’ are the stuff Glen Edward Schultz’s hobbies are made of. But however applicable those interests might be in the commercial arena, it is his diverse background in film that opened the door for Damast Gordon and Associates’ latest addition.

At a time when many spot shops are giving ‘new’ directors a pass, owing to the often cool reception accorded their proteges by ad agencies, dga (the busy Toronto commercial production house whose boardroom offers a thundering proximity to train tracks) has taken its first plunge into the new-director pool.

Schultz, a Harry Connick Jr.-esque young Torontonian, is no stranger to filmmaking. Kinnip Drumbo, a half-hour film which he wrote, produced, directed and edited, aired on the cbc and was sold to broadcasters in the u.s., South Africa and Ireland. A graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic University’s Radio and Television Arts program, Schultz also has plenty of production experience, working as an ad in television and feature film alongside the likes of Paul Lynch, and as a casting director.

When his spec commercial reel landed on dga executive producer and general manager Susi Patterson’s desk, her colleagues were intrigued by its contents.

‘Steve (Gordon, director/dop and dga partner) and I saw tremendous potential… interesting ideas, an innovative, courageous approach to filmmaking,’ says director/partner Boris Damast. ‘Whether it’s the ’90s or not, people are always looking for freshness.’

Damast says he was equally impressed that the young director had the initiative to go out and make the spec spots. ‘We didn’t have to make a leap of faith…there was a lot of filmmaker evident in what he had done and was saying.’

Damast believes Schultz’s eye, his keen understanding of a script, his ability to articulate what’s in his head, plus his film/tv/casting background all add up to a salable package.

Schultz’s commercials take an almost documentary approach to the way the story is told, their subject matter and the straight dialogue or narration. But the capture – framing, angles, grain and color – is more in synch with mtv than nfb. Half the fun, says Schultz, is devising the angles to deliver impact.

He’s a storyteller who hooks his audience by taking an unexpected, but always appealing, route. ‘I love to tell stories in unusual ways,’ says Schultz. This he does by using pictures and characters that aren’t what the audience expects.

How his brain works

An example of his unique mondo-doc approach is the ‘Man on the Moon’ spot he did celebrating the 25th anniversary of the moon walk. Rather than begin with nasa sound bites and stock footage, which he believes people are desensitized to, Schultz set out to find an intriguing twist. He found it in a greasy spoon. There he interviewed and taped the motley clientele to get some quirky answers on where they were when mankind took its ‘giant leap’ and what it meant to them.

His moon mission yielded some interesting nuggets, as the accompanying clips illustrate.

It is this predilection for portraying things in a unique manner that led Schultz to concentrate on the 30-second format. ‘I’m an ideas person, and commercials are an ideas medium.’

When talking about commercials – the differences between North American and European spots, what works, what doesn’t (he prefers simpler, more down-to-earth executions) – his passion for the medium is evident in the wildly gesticulating hands which leave the air only to track the trends and chart the conversation along the table.

While film is Schultz’s first passion, politics also fits into a commerical career. In the spot biz, says Damast, a director must develop a sensitivity to the agency infrastructure and on-set hierarchy. Successful directors, he says, are the ones who ‘shorten the string between the camera and the client.’

To that end, Schultz has been inducted into the world of ad intrigue with a crash course covering everything from the pecking order of clients in on-the-set simulations to storyboard 101.

Schultz says the juggling skills he learned as an ad – balancing the concerns of both the director and the likes of a John Goodman or Al Pacino – will serve him well in the commercial milieu, where egos and priorities clash and the client is king. His casting director days, where he had to work closely with several different factions to achieve the original vision, should also stand him in good stead.

Liz Nenadich, Patterson’s assistant, who like Damast hails from the agency side of the biz, says Schultz is a ‘good listener’ and has ‘No Attitude,’ traits which she says can keep a shoot from dissolving into disgruntled clumps of opposing forces. ‘It’s not difficult to get your thought through (with Schultz),’ she says.

The type of advertising Schultz feels most attuned to is the corporate image commercial: ‘I would love to get the opportunity to direct commercials for organizations that have been around for a long time and be able to infuse into that work a sense of accomplishment and pride in what that company has done.’

In addition to the launch of his career in commercials, Schultz is involved in brainstorming with Damast on longer-format packaging plans, which range from exploring infomercial and sponsored television opportunities to looking at scripts for drama series.

Schultz says his second passion is Indy car racing, which he also plans to pursue: ‘I think it’s the competitiveness… controlling the machine…just on the edge….’ I guess he just channels the ‘attitude’.