Avion Films’ executive producer Paola Lazzeri has worked with a lot of creative teams in her career. However, she takes particular pleasure in discussing Chiavegato and Pryce-Jones.

‘They’re an incredible joy to work with,’ Lazzeri begins. ‘When you get a script from them, you just dash out of your chair and try to get either the director to see the script or send out the reels that you think are appropriate.’

It’s lucky Lazzeri enjoys Chiavegato and Pryce-Jones so much. They do a lot of work together. Besides being the production house on memorable Chiavegato/Pryce-Jones spots for such clients as Nearly Naked Lingerie, Bud Light and beer.com, Lazzeri was also the one who brought Chiavegato in on the ‘Truth In Advertising’ segment for last year’s Marketing Awards which received a lot of attention.

‘I like working with them so much, we just developed a relationship,’ Lazzeri says. ‘For the Marketing Awards, I called David because I love the way he writes and said, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ I’d rather have a great writer attached than just give it to a director. And then I asked [Avion director] Tim Hamilton, put them together and gave them a deadline. And out of that comes brilliance.’

Lazzeri is straightforward as she talks about what makes the creative team stand out in her mind: ‘Quite simply, they make me laugh. And in a world of cluttered comedy theirs always stands out because it has a certain edge to it. Sometimes when you get comedy there’s some pretension with it, whether it’s from the individual who created it or just from the comedy itself. Or, it’s very expected. And theirs tends to be unexpected.

‘What I love so much about them, and what seasoned directors love so much about them, is that they just seem to get the process on this side. They’re talented and unpretentious, which is a rare combo and one I admire greatly,’ Lazzeri says.

The Avion exec also praises Chiavegato’s and Pryce-Jones’ understanding of the medium and the budgets used to create it. ‘Sometimes you get boards and you think: ‘What were they thinking when they wrote this?’ Lazzeri says. ‘They don’t have the budget of a major feature film to shoot a 30-second commercial. But Dave and Rich are seasoned enough that they understand it. I don’t think they’re frivolous with their clients’ dollars.

‘It’s grounded. Everything is in the idea. It’s not – ‘Let’s make an airplane fly through an office building full of people on camera.’ It’s not a ridiculous venture. Some [other boards] really are and you think, ‘Okay, here we go again.’

She adds: ‘They’re collaborative. They’re understanding. And I think, like with any seasoned director, a seasoned creative team understands they have fiscal responsibilities – because at the end of the day it’s a business. But they seem to take away all those business walls and make it really creative while still performing the function. They’re just such a joy.’ *

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