‘POINT OF VIEW’ of good entertainment ... seems like the only concern for now !!!

THE STORY SO FAR

It seems like a lot longer now, but years ago I made the rather drastic decision to pursue my forgotten childhood dream and become a film director. So, I sold my soul and began the long, uphill journey that continues today.... 
Love them or hate them, commercials are an excellent way of practicing your art and getting paid a lot of money in the process. If you can get them. And therein lies the rub. When I first began sniffing around the business there were around 700 or so commercials directors in this country. There are now over 2500, all-competing for roughly the same number of adverts as were being shot by the 700 several years ago. Competition is extremely tough. What makes it even tougher is that of those 2500 there are a very small percentage who do the lion's share of the work (and certainly the lion’s share of the decent scripts!), leaving the rest of us to fight over the scraps that they toss from their lofty positions. But then if it was easy, everybody would be doing it (although on some days it feels like everybody is!).

The main reason I began doing commercials was basically because the guys I fell in with at the outset of my career saw them as the best way to forward a career in film and were expending a lot of time into trying to secure scripts (One of them, at least, was right as he has subsequently become one of the most sought after directors in the country). Of the 80 or so commercials I have shot I'm probably happy with maybe 10 of them due mainly to the scripts and the amount of leeway I was given creatively. in ad terms the simplest ideas are generally the most successful. 

Making commercials can be enormously enjoyable, particularly if you have a good relationship with the creative team from the advertising agency. They are very fast turnaround, very well paid and give you the opportunity to play with the "toys".