The Yummy Factor: Behind the Scenes of Food Commercials

🎙 Meet Ben Liebmann, founder of Understory, who’s blending his passion for food and media to help chefs tell their unique stories. In this episode, Ben shares his journey from working on MasterChef to serving as COO of Noma, and finally to creating Understory, where he collaborates with top creators and change-makers to build powerful brands and stories.

https://www.understory.tv/

Discover how he combines the worlds of food and storytelling, and the inspiration behind projects like Omnivore with René Redzepi. Tune in for a peek into the art of crafting memorable, culinary-driven content!

Find Ben on IG: @benliebmann

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Meet award-winning director Eric Yealland, who’s reinvented himself time and again before finding his sweet spot as a food and tabletop director. In this episode, we dive into the fantasy vs. reality of the director’s chair—what pulled Eric into the world of commercials, the parts he couldn’t stand, and the moments that still make him love the job. Buckle up for a fun, honest chat about the highs, lows, and everything in between!

Find Eric on IG: @ericyealland

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Meet Steve Starkman, the chip master! He’s the guy behind every Dorito, Lay, or Cheeto you've seen on TV, including some iconic Super Bowl ads. From working with Messi to Walter White, and directing legends like Michael Bay and Spike Jonze, Steve’s got the coolest job in snacks! Tune in for a crunchy chat about how he became the go-to chip guy for the ad world! 🍿🎬

Find Steve on IG: @stevestarkman

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Welcome back director Jooris Noordenbos. We talked about the frustrating side working as a commercial table top director and how the process tends to leave little room for innovation and creativity. 

Find Joris on IG: @jorisnoordenbos

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

Visual Engineer Steve Giralt told me all about his amazing developments at on the forefront of virtual production for table top, including inisane high speed capabilities, "GhostFrame" and the use of AI to create digital worlds at The Garage 🎬 

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

DP Alejandro H. Madrid told me all about the different approach of different directors. We also discussed why a succesful DP nowadays needs to know about more than just his camera and light deparment. 

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Welcome back director Niels Thomsen. We co-directed a job last week, so we're talking about it! 🎥

Find Niels on IG: @nilex_hh

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙Meet 1st AD Mauricio Coronado, with who I just finished a 4 week project for 9 different brands. II thought it would be a cool idea to rant about this crazy journey literally a day after it ended.

We had a fun conversation about all the ups and downs of the project, the frustrations but above all we discussed the great experience of sharing time with a super talented crew for an entire month shooting statee of the art table top.

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Meet Eduardo Avila one of Mexicos most well-established commercial Directors, 🌮 and co-founder of FFFRAME, latin-americas first table top and visual engineering studio. 

https://www.ffframe.tv/eduardo-ávila

We had a fun conversation about what's it's like to work in Mexico, one of the largest markets in the world!

Find Eduardo on IG: @eduardo_avil4

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander

🎙 Meet New York-based editor Vee Pinot, who has extensive tabletop experience and is an on-set editing ninja. 🥷

https://www.veepinot.com/

We had a delightful conversation about what makes a great editor and the advantage of having the editor on set, editing in real time to the point of being able to safe a whole production. 🎥

Find Vee on IG: @editor_veepinot

Get in touch:
@directedbyxander