How To… Make Your Own Creative Opportunities

Starting out as a director is tough. Even if you manage to get signed to a production company there are more directors, smaller budgets and it’s a tougher fight for the good scripts. So creating your own opportunities is essential for new directors to make work that you are really proud of and get yourself noticed.

The traditional route to getting ads made has changed. By understanding these changes, you can turn them to your advantage. 

Work direct with brands. It can be hugely rewarding, as they are usually more willing to take risks and give you more creative control. You’ll end up with work you want to show your friends, and of course your mum. Work with a brand or cause you love. You’ll bring insights and enthusiasm to the project that most people won’t, which will give your work the edge on what’s gone before. 

Start by looking close to home. A company you have some connection with, no matter how tenuous the link, is going to make it easier to reach the people who matter, faster. Don’t be afraid to go for bigger brands and bombard them with emails, talk your way through the door, just be prepared for more layers of bureaucracy. Try and find out as much as you can through research, even better if you can get a meeting and find out first hand. Once you understand the problems write yourself a brief to respond to. 

I came across Parker Dairies in a documentary. I couldn’t believe the service was still going, it bought back a sense of real sense of nostalgia that became the hook for me, I wanted to help revive this dwindling service. The dairy was small enough to get a meeting with the right person and find out their problems. Competition from supermarkets and people forgetting the service existed were their main difficulties. 

What is unique about Parker Dairies is they deliver your milk and groceries before all the other competition out there. They work through the night until dawn and it’s this little benefit that led me to the idea of a team of friendly vampires working to get you your groceries before the sun comes up.

Everyone has a different way of writing ideas but there are a few key things to keep in the front of your mind. What’s the benefit? Is it relevant? Who is the audience? Is it emotional? What can they own that no one else can? These are the pillars of ad writing I learned on the Watford Advertising course. 

Be ambitious not foolish. Working direct with a client usually means creative freedom but limited budget. I wrote a number of ideas for Deliveries Before Dawn that just weren’t going to work due to the expense. Keep budget in mind: there’s no point presenting an idea that the client can’t afford, no matter how many favours you can pull in. Keep your script and treatment concise and to the point too.

Once you’ve got your brilliant, award-winning film you need to get it out there. This is the trickiest part, I find, because the chances are your film is going to live online and the brand won’t have the cash for a media spend. Picking a public holiday or event that you can link your film to can really help it along. We chose Halloween for Deliveries Before Dawn which gave it some traction. Share it, get people to vote for it, engage anyone and everyone! 

Keep a notebook. Observations, human truths and ideas are everywhere; keep them written down as they will often feed into your work later down the line. And keep writing ideas. Pick a brand and write an ad, pick three objects and write a short film about them, try writing a comedy sketch. Keep working the whole time, even if the ideas don’t come to anything they will eventfully lead to another project down the line. It’s a lot of work but if you love writing and directing good ideas then that wont bother you. Ultimately it’s part creative, part hustle. You have to love both.