Chuck Bennett, Director @ Big Lawn Films

(Chuck Bennett enjoyed a prolific career as a Creative Director at a number of high-profile advertising agencies. As a director, he has helmed ads for a range of national brands such as Diet Dr. Pepper, Expedia, Nissan, Taco Bell, Subway, and Energizer, working with agencies GSD&M, TBWA/Chiat/Day, WongDoody, DDB, J. Walter Thompson, MMB and Y&R, among others.)

bestads: So what drew you to the dark side ... directing?
Chuck: The directors always seemed to have the coolest cars, so I figured it must be a good thing. In addition to the car envy part, after years as a agency creative and creative director I realized what I liked best about my job was actually coming up with the ideas and then shooting them. Everything else in between was a little boring.
bestads: Doing the gig ... no problem. Getting the gig ... hmmm
Chuck: . Getting the gig is definitely the hard part, but I really enjoy that part of the process. Having been on the agency side of a ton of “creative calls” I certainly understand the importance of “the call”. Knowing that, I really try to prepare myself and have a clear vision for the spot. The more thinking I can bring to the call, the better. I work closely with my executive producer and strategize our approach. It’s a little like pitching new business at the agency. There’s always a fear of going too far or saying the wrong thing, but at some point you just have to say and do what you believe is the right thing and see what happens from there. Long, awkward silences on the other end of the call are usually a good indication that things aren’t going well. We also try to avoid having calls on the same day the agency loses a big piece of business. I like writing treatments, doing research and gathering visual reference. Again, like pitching new business. I have yet to resort to making threats to get jobs, but it’s not out of the question. I especially like the part where we find out we didn’t get the job by seeing the spot on TV…
bestads: The only thing between you and a gold lion is ... (most scripts? The client? The process ...?)
Chuck: A really good idea. A little luck. Not seeing the words “Cut to animated product demo” accompanied by a whole page of voice-over copy.
bestads: Shoot days: The lifeblood? The drug? Or accelerated aging?
Chuck: I love shooting. People hand you latte’s and call you “Sir”. The account people are wearing jeans. The client is wearing jeans. And there’s nothing like seeing all those trucks in the morning--so many cool toys. All the worrying, all the meetings and all the talk. It all comes down to this shining moment of truth—there it is, right there on the monitor. Hey, my damn latte is cold!
bestads: The Pack Shot ... The devil incarnate?
Chuck: Seems to be a necessary evil--We are trying to sell something, after all. Hopefully we don’t have to shoot anything, but if we do hopefully we’ve figured out how to make it cool (as cool as a very expensive cardboard box can be). We always tend to shoot this shot at the end of the day when everyone is tired and cranky. As painful as it is, we’ve actually taken to trying to get the shot done early in the day. That way the client can kick back and spend some quality time with their laptops, Blueberrys, cell phones and other various electronic devices. Clever.
bestads: What’s your personal secret to managing all of the “personalities” involved in any one project?
Chuck: I just try to figure out who the smartest people are and spend my time with them. Besides that, I usually sit next to the client at the pre-pro meeting and touch them in a gentle and loving manner under the table while I go through the shooting board. Throwing around a few buzz-words like “brand personality” and “strategic communication” helps
bestads: Shoot with your mobile/ cell phone, edit & post FX on your lap top, output as quicktime, upload to net. Bingo. Now if we just dispense with the client! Where’s it all heading?
Chuck: At the end of the day ... I am fascinated with the potential of the internet as “another channel” for advertising. It really doesn’t matter how it gets shot or where we see it, if the idea is crap, the party’s pretty much over. There seems to be a certain freedom associated with the medium and supposedly we can do things that could be deemed too “risky” for network television. How many of us typed “hump the sofa” into the Subservient Chicken site? I also like the fact that anyone looking at an “ad” on the Internet has chosen to do so. It does put more pressure on the work to be really entertaining, which is cool. We want to be doing work that entertains and rewards. Of course, some brand manager will come along, do some fancy quantitative research and figure out a way to fuck it all up. Can I say fuck here? (Of course I can, it’s the internet. It’s wild. It’s crazy.) What was the “dispensing with the client” part?