How to...Work Well as a Duo

The Benefits of Directing as a Duo

Adam Foulkes (left) and Alan Smith (right)

Alan Smith: Directing can be a fairly isolating profession. It’s easy to disappear into your own bubble of unfettered creative genius and rampant self-importance. Even more so in animation where you tend to be the writer/designer/animator/sound designer/control freak. So it’s very handy to have someone else around to force you out of your own private little comfort zone and learn how to communicate with the wider world. There are great highs and some pretty despairing lows in this job so having someone to share that with makes the whole process a lot easier. And a lot more fun.

Working as a double act forces you to put any random thought on the table and not be afraid of being shot down in flames. Mocked, yes, humiliated, occasionally, but it’s a safe place to say anything you want. And occasionally you realise that the other one might just be right.
There is also the obvious advantage of doubling your creative capacity. We work better if we have several projects on the go rather than overly obsessing over one, particularly if they are very different in tone and technique. Sometimes you get a little stuck on a project so it’s good to leave it to the other guy for a while and work on something completely different, which allows a fresh perspective when you return.

Adam Foulkes: The feeling that you're in it together. You get to bounce ideas off each other and discuss if they’re any good . Or if they're absolutely terrible. If there's a complete idea drought then there's always someone there to say ‘Fuck it, let’s get lunch’. That usually does the trick.

The Challenges of Directing as a Pair

Some couples work better than others...

Alan: You Will Not Always Get Your Own Way. This has been a long and sometimes painful lesson. Apparently, we are both quite opinionated, so accepting when to stand your ground and when to let it go was perhaps the hardest part.

Adam: Being told your idea is poor when you think it’s pretty good. You have to be prepared to argue if you think it’s right and then sit through the awkward silence. Its a good time to make the tea.

Alan: For the record, I do occasionally tell him his idea is good. And I make the tea.

How to Become Part of a Duo

Sometimes you just find yourself part of a duo... 

Alan: It wasn’t a conscious decision at first. Neither of us was really looking for a life partner. We had both been forging our own lonely creative paths but when we saw each other’s approach to film-making it was a bit of an eye opener. We obviously thought in a similar way but the results were still very different. It only occurred to us then that working as a partnership was even a possibility. Initially we thought we’d work on our own projects alongside each other in a mutually supportive way but then scripts started to come in and we found ourselves collaborating on ideas. We both enjoyed the more comedic side of film-making but up to this point our work tended to be quite contemplative and serious. In an effort to make each other laugh we started to bring much more humour and general silliness into our stories. So we found our true path.

Adam: We met at the Royal College of Art where you make your own personal films. We had similar interests and influences so it felt natural to stick together when we stepped out into the real world. We made a showreel where our individual work was shown as separate directors. But somehow, maybe because it was motion design and animation, people just assumed that we directed the work together. So we thought, yeah, why not direct it together?

Choosing a Duo Name

Nope, we don't know what a boosh is and why this particular one is so mighty...

Alan: It helps if you think of a great name and stick with it. Which we didn’t. It all became very confusing when clients wanted to know who they were actually working with, rather than having to navigate through a minefield of clever pseudonyms. So after several false starts we finally realised that maybe we should just use our actual names. Sometimes it’s the simplest things…

Adam: When we actually thought properly about it we just liked the sound of Smith & Foulkes. It could be an upmarket Tailors or Butchers. So we went with that.

Should You Ever Go Solo?

Ant's Saturday Night Takeaway just doesn't have the same ring to it...

Alan: After twenty years of (mostly) harmonious partnership it’s hard to know if we’ve become mutually self-reliant. We both quite enjoy temporarily running the ship for a few weeks when the other isn’t around, but it’s always a relief to be back together.

Adam: We did sometimes split projects but it wasn't as much fun and there's something to be said for not being too possessive over a piece of work. It’s good to have the other one around to remind you it’s not your own personal art film. I imagine directing on your own would be quite a lonely affair.