INTERVIEW

 

 

Tell me a bit about you and what you do. 

 

I’m a director who gets hired by ad agencies to direct commercials. Directing commercials is a great film school and a way to pay the rent :)

 

What's your creative process like?

 

It’s mostly about research. I want to discover as much as I can about someone else’s experience so then I can find how i relate to their experience to hopefully make it feel more universal.

 

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while working on "Smile?"

 

Creating authenticity in 70’s African American queer representation. I’m a Caucasian male from Canada. it was totally outside of my experience and there was no room to get it wrong.  

 

Who are some other creatives you look up to/admire?

 

Gustav Johannsen, the director. he’s always been a step ahead of me.

 

What's a project that you're most proud of?

 

River, by Leon Bridges. A music video.

 

If you were to describe the Cannes Lion in one sentence, how would you describe it?

 

A gong show.

 

What does the Cannes Lion mean to you?

 

It means to me, that the ad world likes what I've done.

 

Are there any Lions you haven't won that you hope to in the future?

 

I won a Grand Prix this year. I guess there is the titanium Grand Prix or something. I don’t strive to win awards as extrinsic motivation leads to superficial work.

 

What do you believe are key elements to a Cannes Lion-winning idea?

 

Advertising judges evaluate work almost more on the ‘idea’ than its emotional impact—it's very different from the film world, which does the opposite. I think it's because an idea is easier to judge as if it was a metric to a business problem, ie increase sales.

 

How do you define innovation?

 

In film, I don’t think it's about innovation for the sake of doing something new. I think it's something new for the director/writer exploring something that terrifies you. I know when I'm doing something I feel is original, I never know what I’m doing and that provides growth. That growth is what keeps me working. 

 

What do you perceive as the difference between innovation and disruption?

 

I think that it's more about ego. Or in terms of the ad world, gaining attention. Since I'm hired to flesh out an idea/script into something emotional, I don’t think in those terms. I used to make things to get attention when I was starting out and it was all soulless. I stopped doing that and the work started to connect.

 

In my class, we've largely discussed the idea of innovation as the product of recombination. What are your thoughts on that interpretation?

 

I agree. I experience my life through my own lens. I absorb certain elements of culture and I create something new. What’s simple, connects. Usually, the low-fi ideas are the ones that become most successful, but they are less sexy to talk about so people get lost in big ideas. A problem with Cannes is people discussing how great an idea is on a project, but then no one actually wants to watch it. That doesn’t go for everything, but a good idea is just an element of work that connects. Work that connects will ultimately, disrupt more than anything.