Twenty-five years is a long time in any line of work, but for a commercial director it is an eternity. Director Alan Marr is celebrating his first quarter century as a director with a significant move – from Toronto production house Generator Films to The Big Film Company.

Marr has actually been in the ad racket for 33 years when you take into consideration his eight years as an agency copywriter prior to jumping into the director’s chair.

He began directing at Toronto shop ADS Films, and has moved about quite freely since. His career has included two stints with The Partners’ Film Company, a tenure at Rawi Sherman Films, and he was reportedly the first director the late Richard Radke brought aboard his Radke Films.

‘It’s been a bit of an ongoing saga,’ says Marr of his career. ‘Twenty-five years is a long time, especially in a flavor-of-the-month kind of business like this one. I’ve been fortunate in that I can get plugged into a number of different areas.’

Marr is at his best when directing people, real people, comedy or dialogue spots. During his stints at Partners’ in the ’80s, he was considered among the best in Canada for dialogue work. He continues to be respected in that regard, but has noticed many Canadians are being overlooked in favor of American directors for dialogue-driven spots. He finds the trend to importing directors discouraging and says it is stunting the growth of many homegrown directors.

‘I think there are a lot of good people up here,’ says Marr. ‘You have to be current and have a current-looking reel, and if you’re not getting the work your reel isn’t current. As a result, Canadian directors are getting bypassed or overlooked just because their reels tend to be dated and don’t have what [clients] are looking for. It’s kind of a catch-22 and it is unfortunate.’

Despite the onslaught from south of the border, he says he has managed to persevere thanks to the relationships he has nurtured over his years in the biz.

‘The competition is now fierce with the number of American directors coming up here,’ says Marr. ‘It’s extremely hard to get any sort of volume of work, but I’ve got a number of really good and loyal friends that I’ve stayed in touch with and continue to do work for.’

He is very excited, he says, about his jump to Big, which happened quietly during a slow period in December. He believes it is the right place for him to be right now and is looking forward to receiving boards through Big executive producer Angie Colgoni.

‘They are very well plugged into the Toronto community and a lot of the agencies,’ says Marr. ‘A lot of the people I would call my clientele think highly of them and I’ve known all of them for a long time. The other bonus is Derek Vanlint being one of the players there now as well. It is great to be back with Derek again.’

With his experience as a copywriter, Marr feels he can be an asset to a shoot. He is not averse, he says, to helping out with the writing of a spot he will be directing. He has also put together a reel of spots he has both written and directed and is pleased with the result.

‘It’s a particularly attractive [option] to a smaller agency that may not have the depth in their creative department to do some major broadcast accounts,’ says Marr. ‘I’ll take the project on, and with my background in production I know corners that can be cut, I know ways to work within budgets as a writer and I’m able to execute it as well. It is a way of keeping myself current, which is the key word in the business.’

Some of Marr’s more recent work includes a number of spots for Bell ExpressVu, Harvey’s and Swiss Chalet, and Buckley’s. •