The Talent
From Junior Creatives to ECDs, delve into career highlights (and lowlights) in our in-depth profiles.
Nicha Witayapaisitsan: Cooking with creativity
The SOUR Bangkok copywriter discusses Gen Z behaviour, Thai advertising’s human truths and turning everyday digital habits into ambitious platform ideas.
Aaron Marshall: Fade in
The Supergood senior creative and copywriter discusses sport, culture, self-expression and making advertising that comes from lived experience.
Jimmy Smith: Entertainment value
Amusement Park Entertainment’s Chairman, CEO and Chief Creative Officer discusses cultural storytelling, fearless ideas and why advertising must earn people’s attention.
The people who make the spots you love, covering all aspects of production, post and sound.
On the rise with Jessie J. Rowlands
Director Jessie J. Rowlands talks about her YDA winning film RISE which scooped a Gold Screen in the Short Film - 10 mins and over category. She gives us the scoop on the inspiration behind the film, the shoot in Zimbabwe, and how conviction is contagious.
How Jesper Ei Karlsson set up shop
Swedish comedy series Kiosken deservedly won a YDA Gold in the First Series category. Here, co-creator Jesper Ei Karlsson shares the importance of characters you care about and how to make authentic quirkiness.
A bird's eye view of Tobias Eckerlin's YDA win
Director Tobias Eckerlin's affecting short film, A Sparrow's Song, won a YDA Gold in the Film School category. Here, he talks to us about building trust with his team, the symbolism of birds, and the real-life figures behind the film.
How Tanner K Williams brought Beat Bunny to boiling point
Returning YDA Gold winner (and shots Awards The Americas New Director of the Year) Tanner K Williams tells Jamie Madge how he turned intimacy, pizza and meticulously planned choreography into one of the year’s most talked-about music videos.
Aime Octave takes us to Rwanda
Director Aime Octave's film Echoes Beneath The Hill won a Gold Screen in the Film School -10 Mins and over category in this years YDA, plus the film received a Special Mention. Here he talks about his filmmaking background, the personal inspiration behind the film, and what is coming next.
How Losing Voices broadcasts the silenced
With press freedoms under threat, Elias Ben Dahhou, whose powerful film won YDA Gold in Film School, Passion Projects and Changing the World Frame by Frame, explains his mission to raise up the voices of those who’ve suffered from speaking out.
Tom Oliver sounds it out for Ella Douglas
Director Tom Oliver won Gold Screen for Creative Use Of Sound at this years YDA. Here he shares how he fell into directing, used the power of post, and taking things one project at a time.
Olivia de Camps' bold and beautiful YDA win
Picking up a Gold Screen in the Commercial category at the YDA, as well as a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, SMUGGLER director Olivia de Camps' spot for The Ordinary defies usual beauty commercial conventions. Here, she talks about bucking trends, taking chances and winning big.
Sophia Smith is in bloom
Director Sophia Smith won Gold in the Short Film - Up to 10 mins category at this year's YDA. Here she talks about instagrammable phenomena, her journey into filmmaking and her potential future in the industry.
What's your first memory? Who were your influences? Find out more about your favourite creatives in our in-depth series.
The Way I See It: Ted Rogers
Currently associate artist at the Tracey Emin Foundation, Ted Rogers – choreographer/dancer/painter and all-round Renaissance polymath, who’s work includes promos and ads for brands such as Gucci, Very and Future Islands – is also a fine storyteller. Here they share with Carol Cooper their candid, moving tales of movement.
The Way I See It - Kai Hsiung
With ancestors including a turn-of-the-century cross-dressing ventriloquist, an education activist who protested with a severed finger and a film editor dad who literally set the BBC on fire, Kai Hsiung comes from a line of creative individualists. The retiring Global MD of RSA Films shared with Carol Cooper her candid reflections on workaholism, cancer and her 34 glorious years with the Scotts.
The Way I See It: Tony Burke
Tony Burke is a filmmaker, author, advertising creative and recovering alcoholic. In this extended TWISI, he talks frankly about his descent into alcoholism and how family, friendship and an unusual brush with faith helped him get sober, write his debut novel, and write and direct the acclaimed 2025 feature film, PROTEIN.
The Way I See It: Lauren Greenfield
Photographer, filmmaker, documentarian, agency chief and acclaimed chronicler of youth culture over three decades, Lauren Greenfield is currently enjoying the praise – and an Emmy nomination – for her latest project, the revelatory six-part series Social Studies, about teenage social media use. Here, she sits down with Tim Cumming to talk truth, vérité, and what it feels like to go viral at the Super Bowl.
The Way I See It: Michael Sagol
Over the course of his 20-plus years in production, Michael Sagol, founder of Caviar Los Angeles, has EP’d thousands of commercials, ushered in a new generation of comedy directors and grown the company into an Oscar, Emmy and Lion-winning powerhouse. He tells Selena Schleh about shooting hoops with Jordan, refusing to wait tables and his dream of selling Sagol’s Bagels.
The Way I See It: Charlie Crompton
Until recently, as the Founding Partner of Rogue Films, Charlie Crompton was at the helm of one of the UK’s most respected and awarded production companies. Having stepped away last year to take on a new adventure, he talks to Danny Edwards about trying to follow in the footsteps of The Jam, attempting to conduct and support creative talent, and having “a hittable face”.
The Way I See It: MJ Delaney
Merman director MJ Delaney can count the Clintons, Spice Girls, Ted Lasso, and the new Christmas M&S ad among her oeuvre, but did you know she had slightly more canine ambitions as a child? Here, she talks to shots about the Welsh breakthroughs, words of wisdom, and perspective-altering baubles that have shaped her career.
The Way I See It: Ellen Kuras
The Corner Shop director and DP Ellen Kuras reflects on her career and creative philosophy, tracing her path from history student to pioneering filmmaker, spanning documentaries, commercials, TV and features. Discussing her feature directorial debut, Lee, she explains how cameras can be used to create meaning and challenge traditional narratives.
The Way I See It: Edgar Wright
Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Scott Pilgrim, Last Night In Soho; regardless of your Edgar Wright entry-point, the frenetic filmmaker’s wit and passion makes fans of all who view his work. With a recent eyebrow-raising McDonald’s spot (shot through Moxie Pictures) an indication of more commercial work on the horizon, we caught up with Wright to chat about working with legends at an early age, the creative testbed offered by music videos, and how making yourself your own ‘dream viewer’ is the way to please those crowds.
The Way I See It: Sharon White
Sharon White, current Chair of John Lewis Partnership, is the first ever female to hold this position. Previously she’s held such notable roles as Chief Executive of British media regulator Ofcom and was the first Black person – and the second woman – to hold the title of Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury. In 2020 she received a Damehood in the New Year Honours List. She talked to shots about her pride in the John Lewis Partnership, car-crash weeks as a working mum and inspiration drawn from Michelle Obama.
The Way I See It: Luke Scott
From a boy on the set of his dad’s film, Alien, Luke Scott, award-winning director and the CEO of the Ridley Scott Creative Group, has gone on to gain his own valuable perspectives on filmmaking. His two-decade career has encompassed art directing, set building and directing TV (Raised By Wolves), features, ads and viral content for Prometheus and Blade Runner 2049. He shares his views on panopticons, prime ministers and the folly of space travel.
The Way I See It: Dede Laurentino
The multi-award-winning, Brazilian born Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy UK, André 'Dede' Laurentino, tells us about a difficult adolescence, life-changing trips to Europe, the feelings of inadequacy he has often struggled with, and why every creative person is punching back at the world.
Lucy Knox's hidden gem
Director Lucy Knox's YDA Gold-winning documentary, Opal Fever, captures the experiences of women living in an isolated opal mining town. Here, she shares the joy of finding stories on the ground and going back to her video art roots.
Markus Tangre's pulling the strings of a YDA win
Bacon director Markus Tangre picked up a Gold Screen in the Short Film (Up to 10 mins) category at this year's YDA for his beautiful and thoughtful film Ivar. Here, he talks about puppetry, experimentation, and making films people can engage with.
How Kevin Koch scored with Naples
After winning YDA Gold for Sotto il Vesuvio, director Kevin Koch explains why limited film stock, unpredictable crowds and a little footballing fate helped shape his vivid portrait of the city.
YDA Winner Clément Lefer gets lost in the post
French director Clément Lefer won Gold in the Documentary - Up to 10 mins category at this YDA. Here he talks shooting his beautiful film The Missing Post Office, working with Katsuhisa Nakata, the 91-year-old former postmaster, and his future filmmaking plans.
How Kitalé Wilson found the light
Wilson, who won YDA Gold in the Documentary category for his profound portrait of street photographer Richard Sandler, tells shots about the life flowing through his subject's work and how an analogue artist deals with 'digital dust'.
Fausto Becatti: The beautiful friction of photography
South African born photographer and hungryman director Fausto Becatti loves being on set but loves, even more, wandering the streets with a camera in hand. He talks to Izzy Ashton about the “deliberate” act of shooting on film, and being inspired by the friction of his surroundings.
Whetstone & Gendron's passion to succeed
Picking up a well-deserved gold in the Passion Project category at this year's Young Director Award for their U-Haul film, The Way to What's Ahead, directors Devin Whetstone and Micah Gendron discuss casting, craft and collaboration.
Gustav Bondeson's curveballs and beautiful chaos
Director Gustav Bondeson's ad for RF-SISU, Where Do We Play, won a YDA Gold Screen in the Charity Commercial category. Here, he chats about embracing the mayhem of directing 50 kids on ice skates.
Sai Karan Talwar's multidimensional villain
YDA Gold Screen-winning director Sai Karan Talwar discusses how his short film, I AM THE PRIZE, uses performance and character to explore shame, contradiction and the cost of living by an ideology.
Laura Almstrup's doom-scrolling degradation
Young Director Award 2026 winner Laura Almstrup, who bagged Gold trophies in the Passion Project and Changing the World Frame by Frame categories, explains her mission to expose the extent to which hypersexualised online content is harming women, girls and boys too.
Lisa Mausbach turns an apology into a dark comedy
Director Lisa Mausbach's surreal film, Sorry, produced by SOUP for Fleurop, scooped a YDA Gold. Here, she discusses why tension creates humour and how working with animals helped her stay open-minded on set.
Souf Kinani's moving story
In the first of our interviews with the directors who picked up a Gold Screen trophy at this year's Young Director Award, PinkRabbit's Souf Kinani discusses ideas, identity, and the weight of telling a personal story.
‘Un’ Wuthisak Anarnkaporn: The surreal deal
The Thai director discusses character-driven comedy, creative risk and why the people surrounding an idea matter more than the idea itself.