April – 2009 – Junior - Celebrating life at the bottom

Monthly Archives: April 2009

The Monday Morning WHIP // 24

whip

Hey kids, don’t forget that Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) is a Creative Director in Melbourne. He’s not just some guy reeling off random facts hoping they’ll stick. When he suggests you do something, it’s a pretty good idea to follow his advice. And this week he couldn’t be more specific…

As I’m sure you can imagine, lots of aspiring creative types in Melbourne come to see me with their folios.
Yet very few of them ask me if I have a brief they can work on.

Which makes me think that they’re not making the most of every opportunity to get a foot in the door.
By asking for a brief they’re showing initiative. That’s a much sort after quality in a creative person.
If they get a brief they have a reason to get in touch with me again.

Whether it’s by email or phone, they can contact me to ask questions about the brief.
Of course the brief also gives them a reason to come back and see me. And if I like what I see, who knows where it may lead.

So if you’re putting in the hard yards making calls and hustling your folio, don’t let the opportunity to ask for a brief pass you by.

ADVERTISING, WHIP | Tags: BRIEF, FOLIO, JOB INTERVIEW

The Monday Morning WHIP // 23

It’s not often Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) makes an example of us. He is our mentor after all – he can say what he wants. Last time he wasn’t happy we were making excuses. We learned our lesson and thanked him for it. But today he’s using one of us as an example of what can be done. We know that next week we might not be so lucky, so we’ll take this in our stride and get on with it.

I read a great interview (http://andrewmcmillen NULL.com/2009/04/17/a-conversation-with-tait-ischia-junior-co-founder-and-freelance-writer/) the other day, with a fashionable young hipster who is well known around this parish.
This kid’s worked with the likes of Penny Modra and her Right Angle (http://rightanglepublishing NULL.com/) crew. He’s worked at an agency that does things differently (http://thesurgery NULL.com NULL.au/).
And now he’s putting that all behind him and going to chance his luck in the Big Apple.
The staid and proven path to creative success in adland is not for him. He just wants to be able to be creative. For him it’s a calling, not a career option.
He grabs every opportunity to create.
He hasn’t waited for a brief. He hasn’t sat around complaining that no-one wants to look at his folio. He simply sharpened his pencil and got down to work.
Which is what you should be doing.
So rather than sitting down the pub with your unemployed graduate mates, complaining to each other about how the world owes you a living, why not get off your arse and go create something?
As my favourite young hipster himself says, “If all the kids these days spent the same amount of time writing blogs that they did on Facebook, then this industry would be a hell of a lot more competitive.”

WHIP | Tags: BLOGS, FACEBOOK, OVERSEAS, WHIP

The Interview Series // 12 (Part Two)

tobyselena

OK, so yesterday we posted Part One of this interview. If you haven’t read it already do it now. For those that have already read it, just quietly, this half is wayyyy better. Well, not that the last half sucked, but this is sexier. If the last half was Carrie Bradshaw, this half is Samantha Jones. Apply any analogy you like. You’ll see what we mean. P.S. If you’ve ever wanted a list of blogs and magazines the successful and beautiful people are browsing, then this is where you’ll find it. Just a couple of scrolls down. But don’t be a fucker and skip straight there. Jeez. Read it from the start.

Jr: Tell us a little bit about the work that you did here in Australia. We’ve been a big fan of the Victoria Tourism ‘Red Thread’ (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=WaZbnWpm5aU) and Nike ‘Reincarnate’ (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=1sElYG7LmUU) campaigns. Was that good work for you guys? Do you feel like you could do better?

S: We always feel we could do better.
T: Our book has always felt like a catalogue of errors and missed opportunities. Those two jobs included.

Jr: What are briefs like that you get at Fallon (http://fallon NULL.co NULL.uk)?

T: They’re more open compared to Australia. When we were here there was a lot of pressure to write to a line or come up with a line, then to come up with an execution for that line. But over there the briefs are more open and this can lead to less ad-y stuff. The solution could be a film, could be an event, could be a documentary, could be an online thing, could be a new technology, it could be anything and everything.

Jr: So is that what a lot of the work coming out of Fallon is now? Not ads?

S: Yeah. A Swedish team for Cadbury had this thought of just planting purple flowers everywhere in disused parts of land, traffic islands and stuff like that, to give people a moment of joy. And that’s what the brief was. Bring people moments of joy.

Jr: So does that mean Fallon’s not a place for people in advertising?

T: People who want to execute traditional ads would probably be disappointed at Fallon.

Jr: What’s it like going from writing traditional ads in your first portfolio now to doing everything but. Are you doing what you’d imagine you’d be doing in advertising?

S: Very early on we wrote a manifesto of what we liked in advertising. It was almost to work out whether Toby and I got along and to see if we saw things the same way. We wrote a manifesto of what we would never do and tried to stick by it.

Jr: Did you put that in your folio?

S: No, we didn’t. It was just something we did for ourselves. We did revise it a few times though.
T: We did four manifestos. I think two still survive somewhere. But that was really good for us to do.
S: Just to remind yourself that you shouldn’t compromise.

Jr: So if that was to work out whether or not you guys could work together, how did you meet?

T: We met at a really small little agency in St Kilda.
S: But then our Creative Director committed suicide and Toby and I were made Creative Directors as juniors at this shotgun of an agency.
T: No we weren’t made Creative Directors. We just called ourselves Creative Directors cause we were the only creatives there.
S: We just knew after a while that as juniors we had so much to learn and we weren’t going to learn it there. So we hauled ourselves off to London.

Jr: We spoke to Todd Lamb the other week, and one of his ideas was ripped off by some guy here in Melbourne. What do you think of that?

S: See that shit pisses us off. It’s like seeing commercials on TV directly ripped off YouTube – “How can you fucking live with yourself?”

Jr: Yesssss!

S: I fucking hate it! Did you hear the inflection in my voice? I fucking hate it, stop fucking looking at YouTube for fuck’s sake! I find it disgusting, lazy and appalling.

Jr: It happens all the time though. I suppose we can try to help educate the kids. Anyway, what’s your relationship with the photographers and directors that you work with?

S: There are creatives out there that will see something in a photographer’s book and come up with an idea using that style. Toby and I always work on the strategy first, work on the idea, find the references to bring it to life and then execute it. That’s the way it should be done.
T: Well that’s not quite right is it? We try and involve the director as soon as we can. And that’s really encouraged. If he finds references or has ideas then that’s really great. Recently we’ve had some dialogue heavy spots we’ve had to do and we tried to involve the director as much as we could in coming up with scripts. We said, ‘here’s our scripts, here’s what we’ve done and look at it as a first draft. If you want to change the whole fucking thing go for it. And then we can look at it and work on this together.’ No director wants to be told, ‘this is what we’re shooting – this is what you have to shoot’.
S: So we always try and involve the director. They’ll make your shit better, because they do it better than you, ultimately.

Jr: So what happened, for example, during the Red Thread campaign? How did you involve the director Glendyn Ivin (http://exitfilms NULL.com/directors/default NULL.htm?DirectorId=24)? Was the final TVC (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=WaZbnWpm5aU)what you had in your head?

S: Toby and I did so much research for the ad. Yeah I guess we had already shot the commercial in our head, because at the time we lived on Little Collins St. When we pitched it to Glendyn we gave him the broader idea of what it was and asked him what he would change or how he would do it.

Jr: But you’d never been on top of the Town Hall or other secret spots like that?

S: No that’s right. And that was one of the things that Glendyn found.
T: He found lots of places.
S: Yeah, and that was one of the reasons why we went to him because he showed us something that we hadn’t. So that sort of gives you an idea that this person is going to bring something to the table.
T: Just like Steve Rogers (http://revolverfilm NULL.com/) on the Nike ‘Reincarnate’ (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=1sElYG7LmUU) campaign. It was his idea to do the two-camera thing. Two cameras – same take. And when we saw the test shot we thought, ‘yes, this is really, really good.’
S: And then the typography for Red Thread, we have always loved Niels Oeltjen (http://www NULL.nails NULL.net NULL.au/). He’s a great typographer and artist and he lives in Melbourne. We wanted to keep it Melbourne. Everything from Melbourne.

Jr: You used Josh Petherick (http://www NULL.joshpetherick NULL.com/) as well.

S: Yeah for the illustration style. We really love Josh’s stuff.

Jr: So how do you get inspiration for these things?

S: We are sponges. We look at anything and everything.

Jr: So then what are you guys reading and listening to? What are your influences? How far do you cast your net?

S: At the moment Toby’s listening to 70’s horror rock.

Jr: Like who?

T: Goblin. (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Goblin_(band))
S: Late at night, at 12 o’clock, he’s listening to Goblin. Tapping away at his keyboard.

Jr: Are you looking at blogs?

S: Here’s a short list and it changes often. Boing Boing (http://boingboing NULL.net/), swissmiss (http://www NULL.swiss-miss NULL.com/), anp quarterly (http://www NULL.rvcaanpq NULL.com/), vvork (http://www NULL.vvork NULL.com/), It’s Nice That (http://www NULL.itsnicethat NULL.com/), reference library (http://referencelibrary NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), SuperTouchart (http://www NULL.supertouchart NULL.com/), Wooster Collective (http://www NULL.woostercollective NULL.com/), CR Blog (http://www NULL.creativereview NULL.co NULL.uk/crblog/), things magazine (http://www NULL.thingsmagazine NULL.net/), The Moment (http://themoment NULL.blogs NULL.nytimes NULL.com/), aNYthing glob (http://glob NULL.anewyorkthing NULL.com/), the art collectors (http://blog NULL.theartcollectors NULL.com/), Universal Everything (http://universaleverything NULL.com/), Everyone Forever (http://everyoneforever NULL.com/), ?? blah blah jinx ?? (http://jahjahsphinx NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), teenageteardrops (http://teenageteardrops NULL.com/), Design*Sponge (http://www NULL.designspongeonline NULL.com/), Duffed Out Industries (http://duffedout NULL.wordpress NULL.com/), the wormholes (http://www NULL.thewormholes NULL.org/), Kitsune Noir (http://kitsunenoir NULL.com/blog/), We Made This (http://wemadethis NULL.typepad NULL.com/), UUIUU! (http://uuiuu NULL.tumblr NULL.com/), Dezeen (http://www NULL.dezeen NULL.com/), broke ya neckkkk (http://brokeyaneck NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), Wooooo (http://www NULL.wooooomag NULL.com/), Sneaker Freaker (http://www NULL.sneakerfreaker NULL.com/), Irakny (http://www NULL.irakny NULL.com/), 12ozprophet (http://www NULL.12ozprophet NULL.com/), art crimes (http://www NULL.artcrimes NULL.net/), hurtyoubad (http://www NULL.hurtyoubad NULL.com/), this American life (http://www NULL.thisamericanlife NULL.org/), izrock (http://www NULL.izrock NULL.com/), reas international (http://www NULL.reasinternational NULL.com/blog/), Colette (http://arkitipintel NULL.com/reporters/sarah/), Busy P (http://arkitipintel NULL.com/reporters/pedro/), Hypem (http://hypem NULL.com/), mafia hunt (http://skelemitz NULL.wordpress NULL.com/), The Selby (http://www NULL.theselby NULL.com/), Art decade (http://artdecade NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), Bibliodyssey (http://bibliodyssey NULL.blogspot NULL.com/).

Jr: What about books and magazines?

S: I’m reading a bunch of different magazines Wooooo (http://www NULL.wooooomag NULL.com/), Apartmento, The Drawbridge, The Believer, Art Forum, Art Review, ANP Quarterly, Won (http://nownow NULL.com NULL.au/), Zoetrope All-story. Looking at Kramers Ergot, Anything Dave Eggers makes like McSweeneys, Chris Johanson, Todd James, Oz Magazine, old Graphis Annuals, Stephen Shore, Taryn Simons, Tiny Vices, TV Books, Serps zines (http://theserps NULL.com NULL.au/). And listening to mixtapes from friends.

Jr: So do you try and keep your influences to film and music and writing?

S: And comics and newspapers and yeah.
T: And it tends to be reflected by the work that you’re doing. If you’re doing comedy dialogue scripts you probably tend to start watching a lot of dialogue heavy comedy.

Jr: So what comedy do you watch if you’re doing dialogue heavy comedy work?

T: ‘The Thick of It’.

Jr: What’s ‘The Thick of It’?

T: It’s a BBC comedy written by Armando Iannucci (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=h_7pyktzpY8) – It’s fucking brilliant. It’s like – this is fucking terrible – you know the whole TV show ‘Yes Minister’? It’s a bit like that but there’s a lot of abuse and swearing. It’s really, really funny. And the process that they use to do it is really good too. It’s all pretty much adlib.

Jr: So how do you use that influence and study it so you can write something along those lines?

T: Well I was really more interested in the method they use. Because you watch it and it feels really fresh. Basically they shoot a scene about three times – once to the script and another couple of times totally adlib, then they cut it all together – they don’t even care about jump cuts or anything – so they just use whatever makes it funny.

Jr: There’s this stupid advertising humour that goes around a lot. A lot of people just keep trying to do it and it’s so unfunny.

S: But then there are the effortless ones like the Skittles ads – they are fucking hilarious. They’re not overly intellectualised. Pinada man is amazing. (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=3yPaLq1EpQw) We showed Toby’s younger brothers who aren’t in the advertising world – they’re 16 or 17 – and they just sat there and laughed. It’s just effortless and simple.

Jr: Yes, like the great ‘Berries and Cream’ (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=wYX_zhlTDr8) TVCs.

S: Yeah. Pinada man is better though. And the guy that turns everything he touches into skittles. (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=sxItH0I6xmQ)

Jr: We don’t really see you as ‘advertising’ people. You’ve made films and been exhibited in art shows.

S: Oh, we’re advertising people alright. We spend too much of our time working on the stuff to call ourselves anything different. But we hate it. We’re subjected to so much of it.

Jr: Do you tell people when you’re at a BBQ, ‘I’m in advertising’?

T: Yeah. Because part of me loves it.

Jr: Any final advice? If someone came in to show you their folio at Fallon…

S: Which we’re always happy to do. As long as we don’t just see ads.

Jr: Do you do it often?

S: Uh, not often enough. Not as often as we’d like. But we’re always happy to see anything, especially Australian folios, but don’t just show us ads because that would be a waste of time.
T: We don’t care if there are no print or TV ads, just show us some really interesting ideas that aren’t advertising based. We’ll pay attention. Like if there’s good ideas and there’s no advertising there then great, fantastic. And then we’ll take it from there I suppose.

Jr: Is there an opening for a junior team at Fallon at the moment?

S: Well Fallon just retrenched 14 people so, I don’t know.
T: Who knows?

Jr: What if a junior team came in and worked for free?

S: Sure. We’ve got a few placement teams at the moment working really hard on live briefs. It’s an awesome start.
T: If a great book reaches the Creative Director then he’ll do anything to get them in.
S: You can’t stop good work.

ADVERTISING, THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, CREATIVITY, FALLON, FOLIO, INSPIRATION, JOB HUNTING, LONDON, THE INTERVIEW SERIES

The Interview Series // 12 (Part One)

tobyselena

Have you ever been jet-lagged? We have. It sucks balls. You wander around aimlessly for days and people say things like, ‘wow man, you look like a zombie’. Thanks friend. Thanks a lot. And you look like an asshole. When Toby Moore and Selena McKenzie rocked up to an inner-Melbourne bar for this interview, they looked like friggin’ zombies. We caught them on a weeklong whirlwind tour of their old hometown before flying back to their snug offices (above) at the ‘world famous’ ad agency Fallon London (http://www NULL.fallon NULL.co NULL.uk/). These guys are pretty much our idols. They even paid for our beer. We spoke for so long that we’ve had to cut this interview into two. But that’s cool cause we get double the amount of hits. Suckers.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part Two in the Toby/Selena jetlagged beer-off.

Junior: What was it like when you guys finished uni?

Toby: Well I finished around ’96. Straight after I took a year off and just sorta hung around my house…
Selena: Smoking bongs.

Jr: Should we strike that from the record?

T&S: Ha, no don’t. Leave it in.

Jr: Ha, OK.

T: Yeah. And you know, like anyone, you put off actually going out and getting a job. Finally my step-dad who I was living with basically said in a nice way, ‘I’m going to kick you out if you don’t get a job’. Which I was pretty bummed about cause I had a really big room at the back of the house with my own door out to the patio.

Jr: So what did you do?

T: Ugh, I panicked a little bit and then, out of the blue, I got a phone call from a design lecturer (I went to Swinburne) saying, ‘There’s this job going at a studio in South Melbourne.’ I only lasted about two weeks after I got there. I got sacked. But the next day, I went back to get my paycheck and the whole business had gone under. Apparently the accountant had put the decimal point in the wrong spot on the latest lot of bills, and they went under.

Jr: That’s ridiculous.

T: They should leave it to computers.

Jr: So we’ve heard some different stories about you guys. One particular story is that you sat in a library for a couple of months writing hundreds of ads. Did that happen? What’s the entire story?

S: We went to London with our book that Toby and I had put together of our own graduate work. We showed it to a Creative Director at a certain agency…
T: A not very good agency.
S: And this particular Creative Director said, “Uhh, it’s a bit middle class.”

Jr: Middle Class? That’s the words he used? What did he mean by that?

S: As in middle class – a bit boring, a bit safe…
T: A bit beige.
S: So we walked out and threw it away.

Jr: How many ads did you have in it?

T: Probably about fifteen things.
S: Yeah so we threw it away.
T: And took our middle-class asses back to Australia and back to the middle-class library.

All: Hahaha.

T: So we got home, got in my mum’s Volvo and said, “fuck this, fuck you, we don’t want to be middle-class.”

Jr: So you actually listened to this guy?

S: Fuck yeah. It hurt. Plus he was in a real office in a real agency.

Jr: But you said it wasn’t even a very good agency.

S: It still mattered.

Jr: Do you think it matters to take all criticism?

T: No definitely not. We should point out that the ‘middle-class’ incident was the worst insult of our lives.
S: Heh yeah, so we went to the library in the Volvo, which of course was beige, and for every brief we worked on we came up with one hundred ideas. We were angry.

Jr: One hundred ideas for every brief?

S: Yep. Roughly. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
T: When we say one hundred ideas, they were just written down. We didn’t execute them. We’d execute the best three as campaigns and we’d put those into a separate folio. So we had two folios. We figured if they didn’t like the ideas in one folio, we could show them the other. Like insurance.

Jr: How many briefs?

S: Ten to twenty?
T: No. Twelve? I don’t know. That took us ages… How long did that take us?
S: Oh, about eight months. On the dole.

Jr: Before Mojo (http://www NULL.publicismojo NULL.com NULL.au/) or after Mojo (http://www NULL.publicismojo NULL.com NULL.au/)?

T: Before Mojo (http://www NULL.publicismojo NULL.com NULL.au/).

Jr: So this was before you’d had a job in advertising at all?

S: Toby had worked at Y&R Mattingly.

Jr: Right.

S: And then we showed our book to Dave Alberts who offered us a job in Sydney, at Publicis Mojo (http://www NULL.publicismojo NULL.com NULL.au/).
T: We were there for eighteen months. Then Darren (Spiller – Creative Director of Publicis Mojo (http://www NULL.publicismojo NULL.com NULL.au/) Melbourne) invited us down to the Melbourne office. We’d actually gone for a job interview there during our unemployment stretch, and Darren had kind of gone, “Ohh not sure guys, this is OK, don’t mind this, but I don’t think so.”

Jr: So what’s Darren’s version of that event?

T: We never really spoke to him about it. It was as though he’d wiped it from his mind. But I suppose our persistence paid off and we got to work with him in the end.

Jr: Haha, OK. So you were in Sydney, how was that? Amazing? Boring? Shit?

S: It was really amazing and great to work as an Australian team in a department of mainly English creatives. It was great how they threw around ideas and were really open with sharing thoughts. So we would share our ideas with them and everyone would make each other’s work better. It was tough, but we were around really good people.
T: Initially we did some ads that were pretty average though.

Jr: As you do when you’re starting out.

T: Yeah we tried so hard. I can’t believe how hard we tried to make them decent. But they were just, yeah, shockers.

Jr: So were you the first and last to leave every day?

S: I remember one night we worked thirty or so hours to meet a deadline. We’d read somewhere that Winston Churchill used to have powernaps. So we thought, ‘we’ll do that too!’
T: So every hour, I think the idea was you’d have fifteen minutes sleep.

Jr: Did it work?

T&S: Ha, no. Not at all.
S: We found it took more than fifteen minutes to get to sleep.

Jr: Heh, bummer.

S: Except we did come up with an idea at about 8am in the morning, which we then took into the presentation with the client and they bought it.

Jr: Was it any good?

T: It wasn’t that good.
S: We ended up re-presenting something better a week later.
T: But it was hell.
S: We’ll never do that again.

There’s still plenty more where that came from. Part Two coming tomorrow!

ADVERTISING, THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, CREATIVITY, FALLON, INSPIRATION, LONDON, OVERSEAS, PUBLICIS MOJO

The Monday Morning WHIP // 22

whip22

Once you’ve got a job in this industry, don’t do what you’re supposed to do. What does that mean? Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) explains that if you want to be the Creative Director one day, you have to act the opposite from day one.

Regular readers of the Monday Morning Whip will know that I love to bang on and on about how tough you need to be to get any kind of creative job.

Well guess what kids – It ain’t getting any easier!

So let’s say that you finally manage to get a foot in the door. Where to from there?

Whatever you do, don’t just sit back and wait for the great briefs to turn up on your desk.

You need to be proactive. You need to make your presence felt. You need to make yourself indispensable.

Just because creative people are renowned for rocking into the office around 9.30am doesn’t mean you should.

Just because the Creative Director goes to lunch at 12.20pm and doesn’t come back for a couple of hours doesn’t mean you should.

And just because other people where you work are arrogant and rude doesn’t mean you have to be.

Be nice. Work hard. Really hard. And take any brief that arrives on your desk and do something with it. Add value to everything you do.

If what I’ve just told you to do sounds a bit too much like hard work, tough. If all you wanna do is sit around and dream up ideas you need to get a reality check. And fast.

Last week’s Junior interview with Todd Lamb had one of the most insightful comments about working in the creative industries I have ever read. I’ll leave you to ponder it for yourself:

Junior: How did you go from uni student to working at three of the world’s great agencies?
Todd: “The world’s great agencies”. That’s funny. They’ve done great stuff, but it’s important to know that these are businesses. You should be aware of that. This isn’t a bunch of hippies sitting around a commune, cracking jokes.

ADVERTISING, WHIP | Tags: ADVERTISING, COMMITMENT, HUNGER, TIPS, WHIP, WORK

The Interview Series // 11

toddlamb

What does one say about writer and artist Todd Lamb (http://web NULL.mac NULL.com/lambtodd)? This guy is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a girl’s hoodie. He’s one of those guys who has ‘a finger’ in a lot of ‘pies’, but above all else is a genuinely funny guy. And when we say genuinely funny guy we actually mean fucking hilarious man of steel with balls the size of Obama’s brain. Before settling in New York City, Todd spent his years at three highly awarded US ad agencies, has written for several publications, had books published, directed TV commercials, done his fair share of stand-up comedy and has a world record for sitting on Whoopee Cushions recorded on Jimmy Fallon live. He’s also writing and developing an animation series called the Bloody Band Aidz. Did we mention he won an Emmy? No? Well he’s got one of those too. So although he may be an enigma with big balls, he definitely knows how to get shit done and win praise for it. We talked over email and this is what happened…

Junior: Hey Todd. First thing’s first, we heard you won an Emmy? Is it real?

Todd: Not only is it real, it’s shiny, golden and buried in my parent’s basement. When I lived in San Francisco, I stored it in my refrigerator to guard my beer and yogurt. Now it’s in Chicago, in a box until further notice (forever).

Jr: You’ve worked at W+K Portland, Goodby Silverstein in San Fran, and Mother in New York. How did you go from uni student to working at three of the world’s great agencies?

T: “The world’s great agencies”. That’s funny. They’ve done great stuff, but it’s important to know that these are businesses, just like a pet store or a fruit stand. You should be aware of that. This isn’t a bunch of hippies sitting around a commune, cracking jokes.

The one thing I did do is go to school, worked hard, finished school, and now I write every day. Writing is such a great skill to work at and grow with. After you find your voice, you can expand endlessly on it for your whole life. Great writers are unstoppable. No one can touch them.

Jr: We’re getting so bored of advertising. We’ve been doing a lot of ad interviews lately. How do you feel about advertising as a non-vapid alternative guy with a beard and some sense who’s seen some success in his career?

T: I had to look-up the word “vapid (http://www NULL.yourdictionary NULL.com/vapid)” to know what you were talking about. (Editor’s note: Sorry man. Next time we won’t use a thesaurus.) I can tell you this: I do have a beard. That makes me the object of every straight woman’s desire and every lesbian’s secret fantasy.

Advertising can be an amazing way to make things and collaborate with talented people. When the stars line-up: agency, client, co-workers, ideas—that feels nice. But, you should be very picky about who you give your ideas to and who you spend your time with. In the end, surround yourself with nice people that you genuinely trust, and you’ll be OK.

Jr: You’re freelance now, and it sounds like you’ve been quite busy. For the younger freelance readers out there, (who may be writers, designers, film-makers, photographers, etc) have you any tips on making contacts and picking the right jobs?

T: I just read in a book about chess that the word “freelance” comes from a soldier who would take his sword wherever they needed him, to fight in return for payment. Hence, the word “free” and “lance” together. I like that. I don’t have any advice other than freelancing is 100% gambling. It’s unsteady and with no guarantees. So you better be brave and you better be OK with falling flat on your face. But I recommend everyone try it, it is a different way to live.

Jr: Ok, so writing. You’ve done quite a bit of ‘extra-curricular’ writing outside of your daily work…

T: The idea of “extra-curricular” doesn’t exist. Writing is writing. Everything is valid and every form (ads, television, short films, books, magazines, the internet) needs good, humorous writing. Nowadays it’s all the same. This is a great thing for young people because there are so many choices.

Jr: We hear you’ve been working on an animation series about band-aids. We have friends who are super keen to start writing scripts and pitching them but have no idea where to start. What’s the process been for you so far?

T: It’s called the Bloody Band Aidz (http://www NULL.bloodybandaidz NULL.com) (www.bloodybandaidz.com). We developed it for a cable network. TV show development is a crazy thing. It takes people years to get a show on the air. Whether you’re Andy Richter or Dave Chappelle or someone else, the fame doesn’t always help you in the development process. It’s kind of like a two-year version of pitching an idea for a magazine article, but there’s a good chance you won’t get to do the project. So, if you want to try inventing a new TV show, know that it takes patience.

Jr: Man, we saw you on Jimmy Fallon (http://urdb NULL.org/Content/RecordDetail NULL.aspx?id=374) too, and we’ll go out on a limb and say it was a wince (http://urdb NULL.org/Content/PostDetail NULL.aspx?id=6) – just for the record. How did that whole shebang come about?

T: There is a thing in NYC called the Universal Record Database (http://urdb NULL.org/) which is a monthly event on stage where people can break world records. It’s part stand-up comedy and part “feats of strength”. So, Jimmy Fallon’s producer saw some of the videos on the site and asked us to come on the show. It was a great time. Jimmy Fallon is such a nice guy. He was so gracious to his guests. To watch him work is amazing.

Jr: We should probably say something about the Chris posters (http://web NULL.mac NULL.com/lambtodd/iWeb/todd%20lamb%20/Todd%20Lamb%20Notes%20From%20Chris NULL.html). The story has become a bit of a sensation (http://www NULL.theage NULL.com NULL.au/national/artist-blasts-poster-plagiarist-craig-20090316-8zh2 NULL.html) down here is Oz. We need the hits so bear with us. Why did you do them in the first place and how do you feel about the dude who ripped you off?

T: I did “Notes From Chris” (http://web NULL.mac NULL.com/lambtodd/iWeb/todd%20lamb%20/Todd%20Lamb%20Notes%20From%20Chris NULL.html) to make people laugh. It’s that simple. To make people’s day better and to entertain myself along the way.

So, some guy in Australia tried to steal the posters, even word-for-word in some cases. I think the act of taking someone’s ideas and claiming them as your own is the lowest thing a human being can do, other than crapping on the hood of your neighbor’s car. Desperate people do things like steal. But thankfully, the guy who tried to steal my idea got exposed by the media and called-out as a thief.

“Notes From Chris” is my ongoing project, so you’ll see more of them soon around NYC and online. Stay tuned to www.toddlamb.net (http://www NULL.toddlamb NULL.net)

Jr: And finally, say there’s some budding comedy writers out there who are keen to be a sponge and learn their shit. Got any suggestions for books or mags or movies they should be sponging?

T: Albert Brooks, Woody Allen, Conan O’Brian, Letterman, Freaks And Geeks, Mr. Show. I find 30 Rock to be totally amazing and brilliant. The list goes on forever and everyone has their own comedy taste. No one is right and no one is wrong.

Get a Netflix account and watch everything funny that was ever made. Then get some sleep, have a cup of coffee, think real hard, and go make some funny stuff.

ADVERTISING, FILM, THE INTERVIEW SERIES, WRITING | Tags: ADVERTISING, ANIMATION, COMEDY, EMMY, FREELANCE, NEW YORK, TELEVISION, THE INTERVIEW SERIES, TODD LAMB, WRITING

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