Innovators Bill Wright and James Dawson-Hollis are Co-Chief Creative Officers at Ogilvy West. They’ve won wheel-burrows full of awards at Cannes, The One Show and every other major advertising show. This dynamic duo have more Gold Lions than anyone I’ve ever met. I chat with Bill in the editing room. He inspires us with his […]

Considered the Oscars© of Advertising, the Super Bowl allows our clients to strut their stuff, creatives to go big, and viewers to be entertained. For directors and agency folks, it’s a big deal. My sincere congrats to all that made it to the big game. Here are my thoughts on what we all enjoyed. Side […]

Comedy director Michael Addis is my hidden camera guru. He’s the go-to guy for successfully mining humor from an unsuspecting public. I chatted with Michael the night before his shoot for a Superbowl spot. The thrill of the unknown, shooting without a net in New York City, is what he lives for. In this episode, […]

Chatting with Ted Haler of Aero Mock-Ups reveals many insights about respect. During prep, Ted offered nothing but solutions, so I knew he’d be a great guest. We talked on the day before my Ogilvy shoot about world peace, movies versus commercials, and the ghost of Stan Laurel. Ted is a wise soul who reminds me humility is a huge part […]

My friend Jordan Levy is a great cinematographer, always in demand. He’s been busy shooting comedy spots, high fashion, luxury cars and Comedy Central’s The Jeselnik Offensive. He claims comedy is harder to shoot than fashion. Who knew? Find out who’s a bigger diva: Oprah or Snoop Dog? This episode settles into a very technical […]

Toby Nunez shares his journey from starving artist (while working on the Ford assembly line making windshield wiper motors) to his first agency gig as an art director. Today Toby is a highly prolific copywriter at Doner in Detroit. He still cranks out some pretty twisted artwork on his personal site. Toby tells me that […]

Working with a great editor, like Bill Marmor, ensures your footage will be fully realized into a great spot. Bill explains his process for editing commercials. We discuss how he finds those magic moments and why he did not like “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, which I loved. We also chat about objectivity in […]

This episode will surely invigorate your creative juices! My 5 easy steps get your passion project off the couch and onto the screen. Enough already! I was lucky to have a mentor in Al Burton, a crazy, genius producer that taught me his “10 Steps to Success” in show business. Sadly, I can only remembered […]

Richie Keen directs hit sitcoms, most recently “New Girl” & “Mixology”. He makes hilarious sketches. (See: Funny Or Die shorts, “Important Things with Dimitri Martin”). And he’s shot commercials in the former Soviet Union. If it makes him laugh on the page, he’s usually game. And after directing multiple episodes of “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”, it seems […]

His spots are meticulously executed, while his music videos are wonderfully bizarre. Director Keith Schofield won the prestigious Gold Lion at Cannes and helped define “viral video”. I love that he posts his treatments on his website for all to see, which indirectly influenced me to start this podcast. Hear why… Oh yeah. I need […]