Drew Jarvis showed up on the doorsteps of Revolver Films in 1994, fresh from film studies at the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California and carrying a reel of three spec spots. Executive producer Tom McLean was impressed with the production quality of Jarvis’ student work and gave him a shot.

Jarvis made the most of his lucky break. Not only did his first job, an anti-racism psa, lead to immediate recognition of his natural talent for performance-driven spots, it was awarded a gold Clio and an Andy. ‘What a welcome to commercials, it was a big surprisevery exciting,’ says the enthusiastic young director.

Jarvis’ skill at creating memorable character- and performance-based spots has continued to grow over the past two years and expanded to cover the genres of comedy and drama.

His Target herbicide spot features a hulking Sumo wrestler who snarls and sneers at a thistle in a wheat field before squashing it into prairie dust. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Jarvis’ emotionally powerful psa for Covenant House, a finalist for the 1996 Art Directors Club of Toronto fall show, explores how emotional abuse rips families apart. Commercials for Prosolve, Pizza Hut and General Motors are also on his reel.

People direction is Jarvis’ particular forte. ‘He is a real-people director, he is the type I would send out on a dialogue board or a story-driven board,’ says McLean. ‘He’s not a flashy-image, edgy, music-video type. He’s more of a `tell the story, get the acting down’ type.’

Although a relative newcomer, Jarvis is already keenly aware of his particular identity as a director.

‘I am very performance-oriented,’ he says. ‘My strength is working with talent, giving actors the motivation to reach their peak and getting great performances out of them.’

When it comes to working with actors, Jarvis has the sensitivity and wisdom of an old pro.

‘You bring the actors to the camera, not the camera to the actors. My directing instructor at film school taught me that.

‘On the Covenant House psa, I worked with 11 or 12 talent in one day and I was constantly switching between different styles of actors. That was a real challenge for me. With different actors you have to use different approaches – some you leave alone, some you coax, some you intimidate – and you get results. It’s psychology, and ultimately you have to make everyone happy.’

On his individual style as a director, Jarvis pauses and mulls it over. ‘It’s tough for me to stamp my stuff, I’m so close to my work,’ he says. ‘All I do is make it as visually stimulating as possible and keep the camera moving, keep the energy up, and the performances maxed. So maybe that’s my style – high-energy.’

Jarvis always looks to camera style to enhance his performance-driven spots. ‘My camera style has lots of movement, lots of energy,’ he says. ‘In 30 seconds you have to captivate the audience, so I try to make it visually interesting and have performances that emotionally support those visuals.’

He again points to his Covenant House psa as an example.

‘With Covenant House I was using three different camera stocks, Super 8, 16 and 35. I was influenced by Oliver Stone’s jfk. I wanted to make it more powerful by giving it the documentary look. I tried to create a sense of reality with the visual style as well as being as honest as possible with the acting and truthful to the subject matter.

‘It is probably the best stuff I’ve done performance-wise,’ Jarvis adds. ‘Emotionally, it is very disturbing. The client started to cry during the screening so I knew there was something powerful there.’

On first approaching a storyboard, Jarvis says: ‘I like to use references and movie clips to help visually explain what I can bring to a board.

‘I don’t try to change the boards. I try to add shots and suggest different angles and perspectives on shots. I expand on the idea to help tell the story the best way possible. I try to make good spots great and great spots memorable.’

For Jarvis, the casting session is the next crucial stage in any project.

‘I always try to form a relationship with my talent in the casting session,’ he says. ‘I always do one-on-one briefings with each actor before they audition. That way, if we end up using them, the camaraderie is already established. We already know each other and know what we’re going for.’

Comedy is a genre Jarvis finds most challenging and wants to further explore.

‘As a kid I used to love watching Miller Light commercials on Saturday afternoons,’ he says. ‘Those commercials were phenomenal, exciting to watch, funny. Every week there was something new. They were very people-oriented and the dialogue was hilarious. So that’s when I started thinking about comedy and that’s why I went into the business. I like commercials that make me laugh, entertain me, and I try to do that in my work.’

What’s his particular skill in comedic work?

‘Timing,’ Jarvis responds immediately. ‘That’s the toughest thing, to get the timing down, building to the joke and the reaction after it. I try to always focus on the timing of the joke and getting the right emotional level to make it as funny as possible.’

What does he love about commercial directing?

‘I don’t have to lift the light stands at the end of the day,’ he jokes. ‘It’s self-expression. There’s a part of me in every spot. I express my ideas through the camera and through the performances.’

Jarvis says he’s been given a lot of great advice from other directors who have helped him take those first difficult steps along the often rocky road to commercial directing success.

‘While shooting my own reel in l.a., I had a meeting with Joe Pytka. I wanted to be his assistant because I didn’t think I could get picked up as a director right away. He looked at my reel and said, `All you’ll learn from me is my mistakes. You’re a director, go make your own.’

‘So that’s what I did.’