It’s easy to see why Pete Henderson won. Just watch his reel. It covers a wide genre of commercials, and does so in a style that seems too accomplished for someone who’s been in the game for a relatively short span. One of the judges summed it up best: ‘wow!’

Henderson has parlayed his talents into the first portion of a successful, sprawling career that has taken him from music videos to high-profile spots for Molson Canadian and winning the Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut most promising director accolades for the work he’s done over the past two years.

Doug Lowe, vp, executive broadcast producer at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, says the impressive thing about Henderson’s reel is ‘the fact that it really seems reflective of a Canadian persona – speaking specifically of the Molson ‘I Am’ spots and the Cadillac hockey spot, he managed to catch a wonderfully unique Canadian flavor with those. He obviously had good ideas to start with, not everyone does, but one of his true successes was not only not losing the message in the medium, he managed to enhance it and take it to the next level.’

Fellow First Cut judge and producer, MacLaren McCann vp Lesley Parrott, says Henderson distinguishes himself with the impressive breadth as well as depth of his work.

‘I flail stylistically,’ says Henderson, by way of explanation. ‘There is no one creative approach.’

Parrott puts it another way: ‘He’s not caught up in the trickery of it. He’s caught up in the communication. He brings the insight of youth, but also a maturity in the way he sees film and the way he treats the viewer.’

Henderson points to the career of Steve Chase as an exemplar. ‘The only thing the same in all of his work is how good it is,’ he says.

After assorted post-Ryerson film school stints, including sound editing for an underwater scuba show, Henderson went to Revolver to work for two years as an editor.

His first directing gig came in the form of a concert documentary on The Tragically Hip, undertaken with director Sean Valentini. Henderson says lead Tragedian Gord Downie compared the experience to Gorillas in the Mist, with the two budding directors approaching their subjects incrementally before being accepted into the group and filming in safety. He went on to direct a handful of Hip videos, including the Canadian Music Video Award-winning Locked in the Trunk of a Car.

Henderson opted to join an ‘upstart’ company and went to Spy Films in 1994. In Henderson’s account of the Spy experience, which includes something about drinking someone’s bath water, he gives the company kudos for a healthy environment of co-operation and duly acknowledges Spy for the proper care and feeding of his career.

Spy executive producer Carlo Trulli says the first half-dozen projects are critical for a young director, and Henderson’s raw talent combined with a winning personality helped nail him those first spots and establish relationships with good creative talent. ‘He also tells a great teddy bear story,’ says Trulli.

Despite the edgy aura of the ‘I Am’ spots, Henderson doesn’t put a very fine point on the hip director thing. ‘I don’t know what’s cool. I just keep moving so they can’t set their sights on me,’ he says.

Indeed, the spots he tends to favor are more the heart-yankers, like one of his all-time favorites, ‘A Bike Story,’ the Bill Irish-directed spot for Canadian Tire featuring a dusty, hard-bitten farmer presenting a coveted bike to his surprised son, who was expecting only additional chores.

He refers more than once to his Buick ‘Applause’ commercial, a decidedly uncool, beautifully photographed, moving spot, as a point of pride. ‘It hits all the age categories. It has a great metaphor for life,’ he says.

Industry recognition aside, the real critical yardstick for Henderson is a group of hockey buddies, who he says are the best barometers of whether a spot really works. Although Henderson says they were a little slow with the latest ‘I Am’ spots (‘What are all those f*&%!# cartoons doing there?’), they became converts with a few viewings.

Among his strengths he immediately lists ‘knowing when to pick my fights,’ that is, knowing what merits creative persuasion. ‘People also say I’m funny,’ he says.

In terms of influences, Henderson points to his days at Revolver and working with talent like Curtis Wehrfritz, Don Allan and Floria Sigismondi, all of whom he says provided uncompromising standards. ‘These were the top people on an underground level. If something sucked they would say it sucked.’

He offers an additional helping of praise for Wehrfritz, who Henderson recognizes as a real talent and stand-up guy.

As to media influences, Henderson likes American movies – Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, with After Hours atop the list for capturing his ‘trapped outside in my underwear’ fantasy. He’s almost reluctant to give the list, citing it as too typical.

When approaching a job, Henderson reaches into his wickedly sharp and tv-soaked noodle and says he somehow finds things, like a guy hanging off the back of a pickup truck. ‘That was just sitting around in my pea brain for a long time,’ he explains.

He says he has never had to abandon an idea he felt was important to a spot and be forced to go away and sit and gnash his teeth afterward. ‘People tend to either pick me and put the job in my hands or stay away from me,’ he says.

In terms of future paths, Henderson acknowledges the desire to move into features. He also acknowledges the agreeable position in which he finds himself and attributes it to good fortune as well as talent. ‘I realize that when I’m on set I have a client and agency above me,’ he says. ‘People say I should be tougher, or whatever, but I don’t think so.

‘It’s important not to be a dick,’ sums up Henderson on the challenge of fast-tracking a career in commercial direction.

In an unprompted response to Parrott’s expressed wish that he continue his career in Canada, Henderson emphatically addresses his living arrangements. Just back from a recent European vacation, he says upon touching down he was immediately aware of an intense appreciation of his personal and professional life as well as his home. ‘I’m never leaving,’ he says. ‘I want to become so successful that people will come to me.’