July – 2009 – Junior - Celebrating life at the bottom

Monthly Archives: July 2009

The Monday Morning WHIP // 36

Have you seen Dead Poets Society with Robin Williams? Of course you haven’t, we’re Gen Y, we don’t watch inspirational feel good films from the 80s. Anyway, now you don’t need to, because our own “Captain, my Captain (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com)” is telling us to seize the day in his own simple, wise words.

Creative Directors are busy people. So if they give you the benefit of their time, please use it wisely.
When they tell you they like your book and that you should stay in touch, do exactly that. Because if you do not stay in touch you will drop off their radar.
When they offer advice on how to improve your work, be sure and get in touch with them a couple of weeks later. Show them you have listened to what they had to say and how they have helped you to make your folio even better.
When they tell you to come back and see them in, say, four weeks. Make damn sure that you do so.
Of course if you choose to disregard all the above advice, then so be it.
But never forget that every Creative Director you go and see was once a junior. And that they got to where they are today because they followed the type of advice I give you each and every week.

WHIP | Tags: CREATIVE DIRECTORS, JOBS, WHIP

The Interview Series // 17

WILANDERSON

Writing these intros can be such a bitch. Trying to think of something witty and original is super ghey, plus you get that added extra of thinking no one will laugh at your jokes. So seeing as we’re awesome journalists now, we decided to consult the almanac of Awesome Journalism 2009: Wikipediac.

“William James (Wil) Anderson (born 31 January, 1974) is an Australian (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Australian) comedian (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Comedian), performing stand-up, as well as on television (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Television) and radio (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Radio).”

That pretty much sums it up. Funny dude, funny name, famous enough to need a Wikipedia entry… Basically, Wil is a pretty rad dude and funny as balls. How funny? Check this out! These are the names of his stand-up shows since 1998:

“Wilosophy (2009); BeWILdered (2008); Wil of God (2007); Wil Communication (2006); Kill Wil (2005); Licence to Wil (2004); Jagged Little Wil (2003); Wil By Mouth (2002); Wil Of Fortune (2001); Who Wants To Be A Wilionaire (2000); Willenium, Terra Wilius (1999); and I am the Wilrus (1998).”

Ok, enough of that. We asked him all the questions us juniors might want to know about figuring out life, parents, being creative, the ‘process’, and other such in depth conversation. Read on and find the meaning of life.*

Jr: When was the first time you realised you could make people laugh?

Wil: I can’t remember when I first realised I could. That part of it still comes as a bit of a mystery to me. But I certainly remember when I realised I wanted to.

When I was about fourteen I lived on my parents’ farm in the country, and we only had two TV channels. Yes, that’s right kids, two. (And we used to eat nothing but pebbles and were grateful.)

We had Southern Cross, and the ABC. My two favourite shows were the Ted Robinson (http://www NULL.imdb NULL.com/name/nm0733133/) produced Big Gig and Andrew Denton’s (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Andrew_Denton) Money or the Gun. I loved those shows because I finally saw people who seemed to look at the world the way I did.

I found the notion that interesting ideas, and counter-culture thoughts, could be presented through humor immensely appealing.

I could never have imagined back then that twenty years later I would have been lucky enough to work with both Ted (on The Glass House (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/The_Glass_House_(TV_series))) and Andrew (on The Gruen Transfer (http://www NULL.abc NULL.net NULL.au/tv/gruentransfer/)).

Jr: And when did you then decide you wanted to be a comedian?

W: I can remember the exact moment. My appetite for comedy had been growing for a few years, and for my seventeenth birthday my Mum took me to see Billy Connolly live (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=fzQNNgFNty4). Now I guess going on a date with your Mum on your birthday isn’t that cool, but I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

I saw this man talk for three hours in a row, swearing his head off, and have three thousand people aged ten to eighty piss themselves. (In the case of the older ones sometimes literally.) I knew that moment it was what I wanted to do for a job.

Jr: Yes! A lot of us can definitely relate to that feeling. But were you parents supportive?

W: I don’t think my parents were rapt when I told them I was going to give up being a journalist to tell dick jokes for cash.

But my Dad always said the secret of life was to find something you liked to do, work hard, and you would find a way to get people to pay you to do it. And comedy was what I wanted to do.

But secretly I don’t think it was until I bought a house they finally realised it was a proper career. They figured if someone would loan me cash based on knob gags and Shannon Noll material it must be a real job.

Jr: Ha! Yes! Do you think you got your humour from them or are they completely unfunny?

W: My Dad is a farmer and has a dry sense of humor. My Mum is the really funny one. I remember after I had got in trouble for saying something, a journo rang my Mum and asked: “Are you embarrassed by your son?”

Mum simply replied: “When he was one I took him to the local shopping mall and he did poo on my face, nothing he has done since then has embarrassed me as much!”

Jr: When you were starting out did you have a ‘plan b’ – we heard you studied Journalism?

W: I had a teacher at school- let’s just call her “Mrs Brown”- who I told I was thinking about becoming a comedian. She told me I wasn’t funny, and wouldn’t make a living doing it, and I should get a proper job…

It deflated me. So I ended up studying journalism.

When we started doing The Glass House I always wanted to call it Stick It Up Your Arse Mrs Brown, so she would have to see every week she was wrong.

As soon as I started comedy I quit all my other work. I didn’t want a plan b. I saw an episode of Oprah where she was interviewing Roseanne and she said: “The problem with back-up plans is you fall back on them.”

Jr: Totally. Do you think though that having that background helps you be a comedian now?

W: It got me used to producing something to a deadline. Being a comedian isn’t about being funny, it’s about being funny on demand.

Roy and HG (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Roy_and_HG) told me they often get approached in the pub by people telling them they had friends who were funnier than them. Their only response is: “Yeah, we are just able to be funny when the red light comes on.”

Jr: When it comes to writing new material; does it come naturally while you’re doing your daily thing or do you have to sit down and consciously work at it?

W: The one thing I have learned is that it is all these things… and sometimes none of them.

Sometimes something funny happens and I just note it down (that’s why I have to take my notebook to the pub or I come home with notes all over me like Guy Pearce in Memento (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=UFWAE1CffbY).)

Sometimes I have a set assignment (ie. Write something about mother’s day for a column, or I want to write something about gay marriage for my stand-up act) and sometimes it just comes out magically fully-formed on stage.

Sometimes it’s a combination of all of it. Sometimes none of it works. Sometimes the trick is to stop staring at the page, walk to the shops to grab the paper, and in your head something clicks.

Russell Brand (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Russel_brand) says his life is a series of embarrassing incidents strung together by telling people about those embarrassing incidents, but my life isn’t that interesting so I have to work at it.

Jr: OK, so we’ve sent you these questions and you said you’d answer them on the plane. Obviously you’re on your way overseas to do some shows… How well does comedy translate across continents? Do you find you have to change your approach?

W: People tend to laugh at the same things. Language is normally the thing you have to be wary of. For example I was doing a gig in New York a couple of years ago when I said: “I don’t mean to hang shit on George Bush!”

Of course they don’t have that expression there. So everyone stared at me like I literally wanted to “hang shit” on George Bush. Like I was some sort of defecation decorator, think Brown Eye For The Bush Guy.

Jr: You’ve done TV, radio, penned columns, authored a book and of course done stand-up shows, but sometimes all at once… Is this all part of being a great entertainer? Or if you had it your way would just concentrate on one area?

W: I tend to get sacked a lot, so I tend to do a lot of things because I have a hideous mortgage and no other skills.

Seriously though, having more than one string to your bow certainly makes you more employable, but you do run the risk of being jack of all trades, master of none.

In the last few years I have been trying to pick fewer projects (ie. Doing ten weeks of Gruen rather than 42 weeks of Glass House) and try to do them better.

I guess ideally I would love to get to a point where I could do stand-up full-time and just dabble in the other things.

But then again, while I don’t love TV, radio, writing etc in the same way I love stand-up, there are things about each of them that I really enjoy and I am certainly glad I have had the opportunity to try them all.

And like anything, no matter how much fun, you can get bored and that is the death of creativity. So after a long stand-up tour it’s great to forget about it for a month and go and work on some tele or write a book.

Jr: Tell us about The Gruen Transfer – How did you find yourself working with Andrew Denton on a show about ads?

W: I have a general theory that you should try to work with people who inspire you, or people you admire, and the idea will work itself out.

Andrew came to me and said he wanted to do a show that “gave people the tools to understand advertising, using humor, like Frontline (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=a4C8rsjlyA8) did with current affairs”.

At that stage, that’s all the idea was. But I think if someone like Andrew wants to work with you, you take his hand, close your eyes, and jump off a cliff.

Jr: So is hosting shows like The Gruen Transfer and The Glasshouse the ‘top job’ to you? Or do you have other aspirations?

W: To be perfectly honest, as much as I love both of those shows, hosting television is about the least fun of all my jobs.

In fact, it’s the one that feels most like a “job”. I think the best way to put it is, I don’t think tele is fun to make, it’s fun to look back on something you have made.

(I also find writing a little like this. I don’t love to write, I love to have written.)

I certainly have some other aspirations, big and small, but if I could still be working in comedy at age 65 and never had to get another job, I would consider myself a success.

Jr: And lastly, any advice for young wannabe comedians?

W: Don’t do it… I’m not that good and I certainly don’t need competition for jobs from young, ambitious and talented people.

And only do it if you “need” to do it. If you need to, then nothing will stop you. If you are just doing it for money, or fame, there are much easier ways to get those things… like advertising.

* Ha! Got you. No meaning of life here!

MISCELLANEOUS, THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ANDREW DENTON, COMEDY, HUMOUR, PARENTS, SUCCESS, THE GLASS HOUSE, THE GRUEN TRANSFER, TIPS, WIL ANDERSON, WORK, WRITING

The Monday Morning WHIP // 35

Hey you! Staring into that computer screen won’t do you any good! Get out there! Do some shit! Use exclamation points in your everyday life! It works for us! As always though, we know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Stop using exclamation points!” And, “Yes, I do need to get out there, but where do I start?” Well, we’re glad you asked, unsure non-exclamation user. Why are we glad? Because Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/)‘s got a free tip for you and it comes cheap. Very cheap...

Last week I came across an interesting way for young creatives to promote themselves.
Twitter (http://twitter NULL.com).
UK based Graham Watson offered a free trial of his services via Twitter.
Now although this sounds good, he only has 66 people following him on Twitter. Very few of whom would be in a position to give him a job.
So why was his use of Twitter so clever?
Because Twitter is a social medium and all about sharing.
So even though I have no idea who Graham is, or where he works, his tweet appeared in my Twitter stream.
How?
Because one of his friends follows me on Twitter and shared his message with me.
As you can imagine, I was so impressed I shared it too, both on Twitter and on my blog (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2009/07/creative-twitter NULL.html ).
As a result, Graham’s offer of a free trial of his services reached several thousand people.
Which is definitely something worth thinking about. Don’t you think?

WHIP | Tags: GRAHAM WATSON, JOBS, TWITTER, WHIP

Junior Event // 08

08-07-09/01

We’re getting to be good at these things we like to call Junior Events. So what better than to go back to our roots and have the infamous first Junior interviewee Tim Kentley from XYZ Studios throw us a few pieces of advice, while we threw him a few G&Ts. A few too many perhaps since it ended with him telling us that Mick Jagger was his biggest fan. Whoops.

ANIMATION, DRINKS | Tags: DRINKS, XYZ STUDIOS

The Monday Morning WHIP // 34

WHIP34
If you’re like us your parents don’t care what you do as long as you get a job that pays well. It’s a common problem. You get all insecure about your career and end up taking any old job because you’re scared you won’t be able to support yourself and save for a house in the suburbs. What you gotta know is that those Baby Boomer oldies don’t understand you. We do. We are your real parents – Listen to us… Actually, don’t listen to us, we’re just a couple of dudes pretending we know everything. Listen to Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), he’s older and wiser and better than your parents.

Getting a job as a creative isn’t easy. I’ve ranted about that here on Junior since day one.
So when you get offered a job, you need to think long and hard before you take it.
Why?
Because more often than not your first job will be a bit shit. This is not because you are not talented, far from it. It is because you are a junior.
You will be paid a lot less than you might think you are worth. This is not because agencies are mean. It is because you are a junior.
Your first job is not the end of your job search. It is the beginning of your career. Treat it like a job and you will very likely not have a career.
Treat it like the first stage of your career and chances are you’ll have one. And as for the money, it will come. Eventually.

ADVERTISING, WHIP | Tags: BAKED BEANS, JOB, MONEY, PARENTS

The Interview Series // 15 (Part Two)

glendynivin

Yesterday we posted Part One of our drinking escapades with Glendyn (http://glendynivin NULL.com). If you haven’t read it yet, do so here. Umm, so, yeah… You wanna know something funny? You do? Cool. Cause we’ve already written an intro to the first part and now we’ve said all we can say. We sat down with Glendyn for two hours, gathered one hour and forty five minutes worth of audio, and had it transcribed into a 10,000 word interview nightmare! How do you edit something like that? Crazy, huh? One day we’ll show you all the other bits we didn’t add in. Things like when the waiter brought our beers over or Ed had to go to the toilet. That’s where the magic is. In the meantime, read the interview then go see Glendyn’s new movie. It’s called Last Ride (http://lastridemovie NULL.com) if you didn’t know already. Read on!

Junior: Winning at Cannes and at the AFI’s for Crackerbag must have been a turning point for you, a bit of recognition?

Glendyn: I never made Crackerbag to go, “I’ll make this film, send it to a festival, win an award, and then go on to make a feature”. I just wanted to make a short film. When I made it I thought if I can make this and show my Mum and my friends at Christmas that would be really cool. I just really wanted to make a film; even if it was shit I was still going to be happy with it. Everything else that happened when we finished the film was a huge bonus.

Jr: Is there any trick to entering something like Cannes?

G: I downloaded the entry form from the internet, filled it out, put it in a Post-Pack, kissed the package, gave it good energy and sent it off. The next thing we knew there was a phone call from a French guy saying we were in the competition. I had no idea what that really meant. I was so naive about the whole thing; I just kind of went along for the ride. Things happen for a reason.

Jr: Why did it win? Do you know why?

G: I think Crackerbag had a universal story. Working with anything to do with childhood – I didn’t know this beforehand, but I’ve travelled around the world with the film since and shown it in different countries with different audiences – and someone always comes up and says “that film is about me when I was a kid”. The first time someone said that to me I was in Russia, at the Vladivostok Film Festival. This little pepper pot Russian, hard-faced woman with a floral headscarf came up and said through a translator ‘that film is about me’. And I remember thinking ‘it’s not about you, it’s about me’. To the most ridiculous amount of detail, that film is about me. I thought only my Mum and my brother would get that. It’s the same car, the same posters in the room. I guess I realised that if you are a child, no matter who you are, where you are, where you grow up, you experience moments in your life where you see that things aren’t what you thought they were or that your world is a little bit bigger. That was it; it was a really good story about being a child.

Jr: It seems that creating a masterpiece takes so long. You’re creating something about you and it’s all about your creativity and not about clients – going on a journey like that, it becomes not about anybody else but about you. Did you find making ‘Last Ride’ to be a big personal journey?

G: Definitely. It is hard sustaining energy over five years. Particularly when you have got your own personal life, moneymaking work, and all that sort of stuff. We went on this road trip, six weeks travelling five or six thousand kilometres through the desert. I think the idea of removing yourself totally from your comfort zone is a really great thing. I’ve always seen making films of any kind as being like an explorer, like being out in outerspace. I like to always force myself into places where I don’t belong with open eyes and an open heart, and take in and translate what you are experiencing.

Jr: Were there any moments when you were filming ‘Last Ride’ where you thought, ‘I don’t love this anymore’?

G: No. It was more like, ‘How can I love it even more?’ To be in the middle of directing a feature film is one of the most overwhelmingly stressful situations you can put yourself in. If you find yourself doing it with something that you aren’t in love with or aren’t 150% committed to, it would turn that stressful situation into absolute terror. There’s so many times when I was making the film that I thought to myself that I wished I packed supermarket shelves because it would be a really easy job; I’d earn money, I could go home and relax, watch TV and all that sort of stuff.

Jr: Yes!

G: But it’s always the story and the characters and the need to tell that story or at least to try to, is the thing that drives you to keep doing it. Every single shot and everything that you do on a feature film is a battle. You look at every shot as sacred. Every moment is trying to create something. To me if you’re doing it and not believing in it that would be terrifying. I’m sure that there are people that can do it, but in that situation I would rather be packing a supermarket shelf.

Jr: Now you’ve had that taste of doing a feature, do you think you will get to a stage where that is all you want to do? Leave TV commercials behind?

G: If I could do features and nothing else now I would do it. For me it would be the most privileged existence. But I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while. Not that I can see at the moment. But you never know. Right now I’m quite happy at the to divide my time between commercials, developing features and other creative projects.

Jr: OK, so we’ve got some questions for the budding filmmakers out there. First up, how do you go about getting funding for your films? Is it public, is it private, and does that make a difference with the creative direction of the film?

G: ‘Last Ride’ was pretty much funded traditionally. Money from Screen Australia, Film Victoria, South Australian Film Board, The Adelaide Film Festival, Madman, and right at the last minute I got some private money. That’s kind of the way most feature films are made here. We didn’t have a big budget, it was $3.5 million. People aren’t putting a lot of private money into films, particularly not that much money. I don’t think we had to jump through any hoops, it was always “this is the film we are making”. No one stepped in at anytime and told me or anyone to do anything different, to edit it a certain way, etc. Having done Crackerbag definitely helped and opened a lot of doors.

Jr: Did having Hugo Weaving help?

G: Definitely. It’s a pretty full on script, and people relax when you have a darker script with a name attached to it. Everyone is looking at how you can market the film and if you have Hugo in the role, Hugo can help sell the film.

Jr: At what stage did he come on board?

G: About two years ago. Once we were happy with the script. Then it was still probably another year before we got final go ahead. Everything takes so long; it is a very slow train to jump aboard. Which is why finding something that you are really in love with is important because there is a lot of times when it won’t be giving you any love back, but you have to keep loving it.

Jr: So how do you go about pitching to get funding?

G: I think I’m really bad at pitching, but I’ve had to do a lot of it, so hopefully I’m getting better. Some people are great at it. When it comes down to it though you can pitch the film in a really great way to someone but is that the person you want to make the film with? It’s about relationships, always about relationships. If someone says ‘No’ to you, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. You just have to find another way, or a cheaper way, or half a way, or another person to work with. You want to fund a film with people who want to make the film WITH YOU and vice versa. When we were really in the thick of raising money for Last Ride, we took a meeting with this creepy American guy, he was saying all the right things, and sounded impressive. But I had this really strong feeling. I thought, even if he takes out his cheque book and gives us the full amount right now, I won’t be able to accept it because I really don’t want to make the film with this guy; we wouldn’t be making the same film. And that would be a huge mistake.

Jr: Finally, have you any tips for the young filmmakers out there, no matter if they’re in high school, uni, or post-uni?

G: Get a camera, shoot stuff and cut it. There is no better experience than the experience itself. I kind of see filmmaking as a process of making millions of mistakes, so you have to get out there and start learning from the mistakes. I’m still making mistakes and learning from them and I think I will be forever.

I found music clips a really good way to learn. I always wanted to do film clips, but I had no idea how to get into it. The whole thing was demystified for me when I realised that even the people that are really good at film clips only do them for a certain amount of time, especially in Australia because the budgets are so small. Even if you are really good you can only pull so many favours for so long. So feel free to go into a record company with a basic show reel and say ‘I really want to make a film clip’ and in a few weeks you might get a small budget and a song to make a film clip for. Film clips are better in some ways if you are trying to learn about ‘craft’ (than say commercials), because most times you have more creative control, they’re longer so you have to shoot more and cut more, and they’ll always get shown on Rage. Whereas your first ads, you kind of don’t have a lot of control so you don’t really have a chance to show what you can do.

For me also it was about finding heroes. People who when you read their books or watch their films that you see that they weren’t ever being locked down to a style or a time or a place, but that they just did what they wanted to do. And that’s how they’ve gotten through their life and built an amazing career and body of work, by doing their own thing. There’s no right or wrong way. There’s a great book, Herzog on Herzog (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/Herzog-Paul-Cronin/dp/0571207081), it’s sort of my bible. He said “Even if you have to steal a camera, do it.” Just get out there and make something. It sort of rings in my ears sometimes. If it’s a feature film, a short, a music video or a commercial, they kind of sit in the same place for me, it’s all about setting up a camera, shooting something, cutting it, going through the process, it’s just fun. There’s no better job.

HugoandTom_colour_rgb_3-1
‘Last Ride’ is currently screening across Australia.

ADVERTISING, FILM, THE INTERVIEW SERIES, WRITING | Tags: ADVERTISING, EXIT FILMS, GLENDYN IVIN, LAST RIDE, THE INTERVIEW SERIES

The Interview Series // 15 (Part One)

glendynivin1

Glendyn Ivin (http://glendynivin NULL.com) is a Cannes winning, AFI toting, bearded film-maker with an ability to make cool shit. He’s been directing TV commercials for years now – some of which have made him very popular in the industry – but that’s not even the cool bit! He’s just released his first feature film titled Last Ride (http://lastridemovie NULL.com), featuring none other than Elrond (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Elrond) himself, Hugo Weaving (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Hugo_Weaving). Can you believe it? What a scoop! We’re totally journalists now. Who would have thought? Ha, OK, so this is how good we are at journalism: Last month we arranged to meet Glendyn at a swanky bar in Fitzroy. Running about ten minutes late after drinking some pints with Stan Lee (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/), we stumbled out of the taxi, drunk as she-devils, and straightened ourselves up proper. What happens next? Will this be the interview that spells our demise? Ha! Of course not! Drinking makes us smarter! Read on and see…

Junior: Glendyn! Woo! We’re here. Sorry we’re late, we were getting drunk with Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/).

Glendyn Ivin: That’s cool boys. Let’s do this!

Jr: Here goes nuthin’! OK, so we heard you started out as a designer. How did you end up as a director? There’s gotta be a story there somewhere…

G: I studied Design at Newcastle in the early 90’s. I always wanted to do film when I was there. It was very different back then because it wasn’t like you could edit on any computer, and cameras weren’t everywhere, and the ones you could use were big clunky U-Mat or VHS. I was always inspired by film. I grew up in a country town and had no access to gear or anyone to help point me in the right direction, the path wasn’t as clear cut as what it could be now – it has changed a lot. These days you can edit a film on an iMac out of the box.

When I finished design school I moved to Melbourne because I thought it would be an easier place to make films. At that time, films like Romper Stomper (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Romper_Stomper), Proof (http://www NULL.imdb NULL.com/title/tt0102721/), Spotswood (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Spotswood_(film)), all came out in a row and I just thought, ‘I’ve got to go to Melbourne because that is where those films are made.’ It’s so geeky but when I first moved here I spent my time just going around and finding the locations where all those films were shot. The house from Dogs in Space (http://img NULL.photobucket NULL.com/albums/v91/Dr NULL.Shrink/dogsinspace21 NULL.jpg) is in Richmond – I was amazed that someone just put a camera there and shot it. It wasn’t this hallowed location – it’s just a house sitting there. It made everything very real and it felt obtainable.

I did get stuck working as a designer though and I got to the point where I turned 25 and had this early mid-life crisis, I knew I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do in my life. That year I applied for film school; I had always wanted to have a photographic exhibition so I did that – I just did the stuff that I wanted to do and never looked back.

Jr: Imagine if you never did that.

G: I know, exactly. My Dad freaked a little at the time – I quit my job and he just said, “What have you done? You’ve quit your job?! Maybe if you go and ask for it back they’ll give it to you.”

Jr: Gotta love parents!

G: I was like: “Dad, it’s not going to happen.” It was really weird. My Dad left home when I was five and I’m so glad he wasn’t around, if it meant I was going to be so full of those kind of thoughts I would never have had the experiences and opportunities I have had since quitting that design job.

Jr: Exactly! I read once, never listen to your parents; you will never get their approval because they don’t get what you are doing. You’ve got to be completely faithful in exactly what your vision is and nobody else matters, especially your parents. Do the opposite.

G: It’s easy for me to say this now but if you are not doing what you want to do and you are young without a mortgage and without kids – quit your job and go for it. Now that I am married with a mortgage and two kids, I still try not to let the fear of money and those ‘more sensible decisions’ determine what I am going to do. If I want to make an experimental art film, I can do that. Maybe I’ve got to do an ad campaign along side it, but I’m still going to do it. Because if I don’t, then I’m really not going to like my work overall.

Jr: When did you start at Exit Films (http://exit NULL.com NULL.au/)?

G: When I left film school I knew I didn’t want to do design anymore. I didn’t want to do anything commercial at all. I had it in my head that I was just going to do purist, long form, observational documentary filmmaking. Even now when I think about filmmaking, it’s doco I’d love more than anything to do. Just me, a camera and a subject that you follow for ten years. I quickly realised though that no one is going to support you to do that. There is no funding for that kind of film. So I had it in the back of my head that I was going to have to earn a living doing something.

Around that time an agency named Pure Creative – they’re not around anymore – came to the film school I was at and wanted to make little documentary ads. Which I guess ten years ago was pretty out there, but now there is a lot of work like that. It made me think, “Oh man, that sounds really bad.” It was for cat food. But I went along, and basically was told to go find people who like cats, make little documentaries about them, and cut them into 30 seconds. For every one that went to air they would give us $10,000. Ka-ching!

Jr: Money!

G: The carrot was big enough – it was dangling. But more than the carrot, I thought, “OK, alright, I want to make something”. I’d wanted the opportunity to get a camera, shoot it and cut it – this was it. In the end I went for it. I ended up ringing 3AW and got on air, chatted about what I was doing and then foolishly announced my home phone number. I think I ended up talking to 75 people on the phone, all cat lovers, and every one of them thinking their cat was great. I went out and met five people who I thought sounded good, and we shot four, cut three, and they bought one. I got some money, my first ad, and from that someone else I knew who was working for the Salvation Army wanted me to make an ad…

So anyway someone on the Salvos’s spot said I should go and have a chat to Exit Films. I had no idea who Exit was and I thought if I talked to them I should go see someone else too, kind of to get a second opinion. I went and saw Renegade (http://www NULL.renegade NULL.com NULL.au/), showed my reel and they thought it had some promise but they had a full house but said to stay in contact. Which I thought was great – it wasn’t a ‘no’. So I rang Exit and made an appointment. Garth (Davis) (http://exitfilms NULL.com/directors/default NULL.htm?DirectorId=23) looked at my reel, and then he showed me his reel. It was similar work in some ways and we had a really good conversation. I liked his reel because it wasn’t ‘addy’ – even back in those days. I walked off and thought it was good to meet him, but I won’t get any work there because we were doing similar work. A day later Henrik (Damnerfjord – Exit’s founder) rang me and said he’d looked at my reel and to come in for a meeting. I walked in and he said ‘What do you want to do?’. It was a really powerful moment in my life because someone who owned a production company, that had a lot of work coming in, was asking me what I wanted to do. It was a hard question and I had to work out on the spot what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure but I knew I wanted to make films. The experience of creating those little ads was really fun and I realised it could be a way to learn more about film and get paid. It was a big decision at the time for me.

Jr: So what did you say back?

G: I think I said I didn’t know if I wanted to tie myself down to a production company because I felt like I was getting a job, and I didn’t want a ‘job’. In hindsight you think, “Why would you not take a job at Exit if it was offered to you?” And then you realise how many people want to work at Exit. I took the position. I didn’t have a producer or anything; I was given a desk and eventually teamed up with Jane (Liscombe). I was so naïve, I didn’t know about how a production company worked or any of that stuff. I was given a few no budget jobs. But film clips are where I cut my teeth.

Jr: Yes! We heard about the work you did with Magic Dirt from Jack (Hutchings). He told us that working with you was the seed of his career.

G: When Jack came in, I saw him like he was a comrade. We were both beginning. Even though his reel wasn’t that great, he seemed like a cool guy, and I could see the potential in what he wanted to do. We just clicked straight away on that first job. We’ve been best friends since and I’ve cut everything I can with him. Same with Greig (Fraser) (http://www NULL.greigfraser NULL.com/). He was working as a runner when I rocked up to Exit. It was all punk-ass with Greig shooting, just the two of us, setting up the camera ourselves. It really cemented that fact of starting relationships with people very early on in your career and going through the world together. What I’m doing, what Jack’s doing, and what Greig’s doing – we’ve kind of all climbed up and helped each other on that ladder. I read recently that you choose people for their hearts not their CVs. I guess that really rings true for me. The thing about doing commercials is that I get to work with a whole heap of people, and even though they all do the job, you realise that they all do the job differently. And discovering and negotiating that difference is the most important thing.

Jr: That’s one of the best pieces of advice I think we’ve ever had. Early on in Junior we were all about networking being a stupid fucking buzzword and it was all about making friends. And obviously to keep developing together.

G: It might sound wanky, but I see them as sacred alliances. That first Magic Dirt clip (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=vk7qGU2hNmg)I cut with Jack, we both sweated over it frame by frame probably more than we ever have on any job since. But there was someone who was as dedicated as I was trying to make it as good as it could be. Same with Greig. When you are in that zone, you become a machine and you try to find other people who will become machines as well, to encourage and bounce ideas off each other. It doesn’t feel like networking, it feels like you are hanging out with your friends.

Jr: There are a lot of creatives who go straight into university then straight into production companies or newspapers or advertising agencies and they become very involved in the corporate or professional world, and they’ve lost sight of getting in touch with human nature. As a storyteller, storytelling is about real human experience and it’s hard to do that when you’ve been living in a professional world. Do you try and look back on your childhood – is that where you get your ideas from?

G: For me I just try to immerse myself in as many different things as possible, and get inspired from a whole lot of different areas. Talk-back radio, or public transport, or high fashion mags. I search for inspiration like I’m trying to quench a thirst. I’m always trying to find stuff that makes me think ‘Fuck, I wish I did that’, just to push you a little bit further. The more experience in life you can get the better. You know those books, ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be’ – they’re full of those things. Getting the sack can be a really good thing. Getting your heart broken can be a really good thing. Having an argument with someone could be a really good thing. Seeing someone shot…? I don’t know… I’m just trying to think, you know, all these things people try and shelter themselves from. They’re hard things, but that’s where you learn things. You don’t know you are alive until you have to struggle a little.

Jr: Have you ever been through a really dark time?

G: Oh yeah. Absolutely. I think it’s in my personality that I constantly ride that line between light and dark.

Jr: It’s all about hindsight! You can look back and say, “Oh it was horrible but jee, that was really good for me to go through’.

G: There are definitely a lot of things happening for me in my life at the moment where I can’t wait for the hindsight to kick in so I can say ‘Ahh, I know why that was happening, and now I can use that in my work.’

Jr: Haha! Yes. I think we all do.

G: The good and the bad, you’ve got to have it. But you know, sometimes you see work that feels so immersed in someone’s personal experience that you can’t actually access it. I think good art is where it feels like it is coming from your own heart, but someone else can access it as well.

Jr: As a young twenty-something did you travel and see the world? Or did you stay in Melbourne?

G: I started to travel later than I wanted to. My first trip overseas was to Japan by myself – I think I was 28. It was the most amazing experience. I don’t think I blinked for three weeks; I just soaked up every single experience. I thought Japan would have a western edge to it, but it doesn’t. They take it and they consume it and then they make it their own. Even things that were familiar were done very differently. It was an alien world. It was an alien version of what our world is. Everything you do whether it is buying a drink or walking down the street or seeing a concert or something, it’s all through very different eyes. It’s all being interpreted very differently.

Jr: How long did you stay?

G: I was only there for a few weeks. I had just finished film school. I think what it did in a very refined yet intense way was begin to hone my own way of seeing things. If we were in Japan right now, everything would be new. I try and take a step back and try and see everything new, keeping your eyes wide open and observing. I try to see everything with fresh eyes all the time. We’re all trying to find inspiration, and find the clues about who we are and why we are the way we are.

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

ADVERTISING, FILM, TELEVISION, THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, CREATIVITY, EXIT FILMS, GLENDYN IVIN, THE INTERVIEW SERIES, TIPS

The Monday Morning WHIP // 33

DoingDigital I don’t care what your mum says, you won’t get a job with print ads alone. They’re over. Forget about them. Bury them in your backyard next to your dead rabbit named Ginger. You don’t make friends with print ads. (Note: Science and print ads are proven to make you LAME.) But if you’re smart, you’ll make some friends who know Flash, and they’ll make your digital wet-dreams come true.

Given you’re reading this on a website I have to presume that you’re familiar with the internet. Most young people are.
So why do so few kids looking to get into advertising not have digital ideas in their folio?
They’re an absolute must have these days, yet very few people have them. What I can’t understand is why.
Almost every junior that comes to show me their book has mostly print ads in it. When I ask why they have no digital work, they almost always say that they don’t know flash.
Well guess what – you don’t need to!
Ideas are ideas. This applies even more so on the internet. Other people with specialised skills will help make them happen for you.
Most of the creatives employed on the digital side of the ad business are designers. And sure they can make things look nice, but they very rarely crack huge ideas.
So there are always opportunities in advertising for people with digital ideas. But you will never get access to those opportunities if all you have to show is a book full of print ads.

ADVERTISING, WHIP | Tags: DIGITAL, FOLIO

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