Why I went to Commerical Directing Bootcamp.
My life lately has been riddled with I don’t knows... I don’t know where I want to live. Stay in the skyrocketing rental market of Brickell, Miami? Move to the entertainment mecca of L.A.? Go back to Michigan with my parents? Remote work has brought a barrage of overwhelming decisions. And you know what? I don’t have a wife to make these decisions for me. I can’t just hunch over and grumble, “Sure hunny, I’ll go there.” The other big I don’t know is where I’m going with my career. And just like the beginning of a White Snake song, ‘I don’t know where I’m going, I ain’t wasting no more time, but here I go again!’ This would be a great time for you to imagine me rolling on top of a car like a jackass.
What I do know, is that as a creative copywriter in the ad agency world, I want to learn more and build relationships on the production side of the business. I don’t like to have a definitive master plan of where I want to be in my career. Perhaps I’ll be a creative director in the ad agency world, or maybe I’ll shift to directing — either way, I want to keep learning. I want to keep my options open, but keep the forward creative momentum going in the right direction. Being a director sounds like a great gig, I want the ability to take something like film, or a commercial, and even a feature, as an outlet to express meaningful things, revolutionary ideas, and of course, do what I love most, make people laugh. In the meantime, I need ways to make sure I don’t go homeless and pay the bills, bills, bills. Gotta feed the machine and make the green — Nah mean?
Balancing my healthy delusion with re-invigored self-confidence, I now realize I’m just one good spec piece away from being able to say, “I’m a director now.” Yet I know there’s a lot I still need to learn. I need some better communication skills, I need some better collaboration skills, and I need more of what Jordan Brady refers to as, Voodoo. I took his class to absorb some of his wisdom and skills to stay zen and lead people through the process of making magic for a screen, there’s a lot to it and I’m absolutely fascinated by all of it. Jordan also has a comedy background, and I am simply magnetized to people like him. Positive energy, creativity, and humor — it’s all in the composition of my life’s north star.
What I learned.
While I was the only creative agency person in the room, I’m glad I was there. In fact, I think more agency creatives should attend this workshop. Having a greater understanding of the director’s role and what that relationship entails between the director and ad agency is very important in our careers. It’s essential to know how to communicate your thoughts through pre-production and onset. How to behave and work in the best way with the people who dedicate their careers to making these ideas for your team and clients. As someone interested in directing, it was a trove of value, Jordan packed in a lot of personal wisdom about the business of directing and his experience doing this for over 1,000 spots and for thousands of years. (That’s a ballpark estimate). Pitching, treatments, putting yourself in a box to communicate what you do… my head is full to the brimmy-brim-brim with tips and tidbits. His book, Commerical Direction Voodoo, nicely recaps a handful of the topics he covered, but it’s no substitute for his in-person energy, candid stories or the connections with the other filmmakers in the class. Ultimately I’ll need more hands-on, on-the-set experience, but now that’s up to me. And I left with the foundational toolkit and confidence to start.
What I loved.
Another great thing about Jordan is that he’s such a terrifically entertaining guy you almost forget you’re learning. His experience, work ethic and knack for creative solutions make him a mind and force to be respected. He’s a wealth of knowledge and a streaming aura of inspiration. While he’s incredibly busy with directing, teaching, running a podcast, he still drives a point to make sure we ought to stay human and never neglect our kids, or in my current case, my basil plants. (And probably my family too.)
What I’m inspired to work on.
Communication: there's always room for me to improve there.
Collaborate to make something great: Focus on making a spec and build a reel. If it isn’t great, hide it, learn from it, and make another.
Reel. Relationships. Revenue. And finding repeat business. That’s what it’s all about.
What else? I don’t know… that’s another thing I don’t know right now, I don’t know what else to say.
Wanna see this? It’s a social media montage of my L.A. trip:
Oh, and here are some essential links to learn and get inspired by Jordan Brady:
Here’s a link to the Online Masterclass & In-person Bootcamp
Here is a link to Jordan’s book Commerical Direction Voodoo:
Here is a link to his Podcast, Respect The Process:
Lastly, here’s something that proves I went actually went to his Bootcamp.
