How did you get started in advertising and directing? I sort of took the long way to get where I am. I studied advertising at the University of Texas and started as a copywriter at a small agency in Portland, Oregon, just after college. But I had an itch for New York City and television, so I went east. I started off as a production assistant and then worked in every role, from an assistant camera to an assistant director and everything in between, just to keep learning and growing. I did find a niche as a technical director on several hidden camera TV shows, and that opened a lot of doors for me to start directing commercials.

Tell us about your relationship with Washington Square Films (WSF). What has it been like working with the team there? I had been a fan of WSF and what it built for a long time. When the company approached me to work together, I jumped at the opportunity. It is a small but mighty company that prides itself on not just creativity but also transparency, and that was a great fit for me. I also think it’s particularly skilled at knowing the director’s strengths and really playing to them. I only have good things to say about WSF. Plus, it has cool initials.

Your style involves setting up hidden cameras and capturing events that are mostly improvised. What inspired you to create ideas in this style, and what equipment do you use to achieve it? If the hidden camera gag works properly, the experience is really unmatched. You just can’t fake or script what you can get out of those scenes, which often become a funny sort of dance between the actor, the unsuspecting participant and me in the control room. I’m really just chasing those moments. Luckily for my therapist, when they don’t work, the pain is immense. The good news is we’ve built up quite the toolkit to bail us out when things aren’t going our way.

In terms of equipment, I always hate when people say, “It’s hidden camera; it doesn’t have to look good.” I want my hidden camera work to look like a film, which isn’t always easy given how far you sometimes have to place cameras and what you have to place them behind. Luckily, I have an amazing team, and we’ve developed a lot of tricks to light these types of shoots so the hidden shots look indecipherable from open cameras. I have been a gear nerd my entire career, so I’m always trying out new things and pushing the envelope with what can be done technically.

Tell us about some of your most successful hidden camera campaigns. Did anything unexpected happen that made it into the final product? For the first No Lay’s, No Game spot we shot in Barcelona, we surprised a young guy at his door with coach Thierry Henry, who was looking for a place to watch the game. The catch was if the house didn’t have Lay’s, he wouldn’t stay. In order to try to get Thierry to stay, the guy brought potatoes to the door and offered to make potato chips. All totally unscripted. Complete surprise to us. Thierry was caught off guard and cracked up. It was all organic and one of those things that you could never write.

Real people shoots—and hidden camera shoots especially—are inherently risky. But oftentimes, big risks return big rewards. It was cool that Lay’s took that risk, and it has led to even crazier shoots.

What are the advantages of relinquishing some creative control and allowing improvisation to happen in advertising? Reality is stranger, and often funnier, than fiction. There’s also an authenticity that you can’t manufacture, and I think audiences feel that and engage with it more.

However, the process is much, much harder. There are so many variables you can’t control, and it is definitely more stressful than a “traditional” shoot. In pre-production, I constantly ask hypothetical questions about the shoot to myself and our team. You try to think of contingency plans if certain things happen on the shoot and then come up with contingency plans for those contingency plans. Most of the time, there’s only one chance to get a “scene.” Pick-up shots don’t really work because the energy of the participants is different, and it will be obvious that they are faked. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.

If you could choose any product to create an ad for, what would it be? Easy. Whataburger. Whataburger, if you are reading this, I’ll clear my schedule.

What do you think of the photography and advertising industries right now, and where do you see it headed? Tough question. In a way, technology has democratized filmmaking, and outlets for that matter. There’s just so much content out there, so there’s more competition for eyeballs. But I feel that big ideas can transcend their “media buys.” I think viewers appreciate the production value and scale from big ideas.

What other directors do you most admire, and why? Definitely Henry Alex Rubin and Jeff Tremaine for their hidden camera work. Both of those guys are super smart and very, very funny. The works of Joe Pytka and Spike Lee in the ’90s made me want to get into advertising. Both Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater are kind of hometown heroes to me.

Do you have any advice for people just entering the advertising industry? Be patient, which can be hard for any creative that is also ambitious. Life and your career don’t happen on the timeline that you’d like them to. If you keep working hard and taking chances, things will happen for you. And try to be kind. It can be hard to remember that in the heat of battle, but being kind will help you in the long run. ca