Respect The Process

LA-based director Jens Gehlhaar's spots for Nissan, Square, Skylanders, and Sodastream are just a few examples of his design sensibility and impeccable ability to merge immediacy, timeliness and humor through a variety of different projects. As a creative director, Jens has worked on a broad range of styles and concepts for Coca-Cola and MTV, KCRW, and This American Life, creating perfectly crafte...

Kiran Koshy is both an agency Creative Director and Commercial Director. His story is compelling because like many of us, he followed his bliss into filmmaking. His journey just earned more frequent flyer miles. His voice as a storyteller rings out so loud and clear in his work.  You'll be inspired by what he accomplishes with little money, so be sure and check out the spots at kirankoshy.com or w...

Commercial Director Clay Williams makes the kind of spots I see on tv and salivate over. His humor is sly, subtle and understated even when the premise is crazy. Clay shares his thoughts on filmmaking, working with improvisational actors, crew and more. Once an agency creative at TWBA/Chiat/Day, Clay started directing and never looked back. His collaborative nature is something we should all aspir...

Director Toby Wosskow hit it out the park with his spec spot for BMW and shares his tedious plot that made it work. Not only did BMW run the spot on their site, but the agency hired him to shoot everything under the sun, including the Foot Locker's "House of Hoops x Nike" for the NBA finals this year.  Since our interview, Toby's film "Sides of the Horn" was just picked up by Sir Richard Branson p...

PRETTYBIRD President & Co Founder Kerstin Emhoff is recognized for her successful and enduring relationships with top agencies, clients, artists and managers, and her experience and unique style across various mediums and platforms. Under her leadership, PRETTYBIRD has collected Grammys, Emmys, D&AD Awards, Cannes Lions & Grand Prix, Clio's and MTV Video Music Awards – in addition to being named ...

"Half The Picture" Director Amy Adrion stops by the podcast to talk about her amazing, insightful film. HALF THE PICTURE consists of interviews with high profile women directors including Ava DuVernay, Jill Soloway, Lena Dunham, Catherine Hardwicke and Miranda July, among many others, who discuss their early careers, how they transitioned to studio films or television, how they balance having a de...

I love chatting with innately funny people, and Tal Wagman is one such a person. We met shooting our wildly popular "Built To Amaze" campaign for Toyota via Saacthi. Now Tal has moved his humor mill over to Zambezi working on Vitaminwater and Venmo. We chat about RottenApples , a website database that informs us whether or not a film or show is tied to a person accused of sexual misconduct. It's a...

The Moon Unit is a creative services boutique that helps storytellers develop ideas into words, gorgeous visual treatments, mood boards and pitch decks and more. Katniss and I skyped to cover a lot of ground. After describing a great pitch and treatments, we dive into how a director can best manage her career. Click the links and check them out. Thanks, Jordan Commercial Directing Bootcamp is Augu...

Mr. Marc Kelly 's is a Director, 1st AD and more. When I saw his name role up in the credits of " Blindspotting ," I cheered and had to hear more about this film. Marc takes us behind the scenes with filmmaking tips and tidbits, working with Director Carlos López Estrada , Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal and the crew. Then we delve into race, inclusion, gentrification, and karaoke. The opens this weeke...

Director Liz Hinlein shares how she has successfully navigated her career making brand films, VR gigs, tons of spots and her feature, "Other People Children." You've seen Liz's Dove Real Beauty starring Shonda Rhimes, I promise. We chat about the commonality in directing these various gigs, staying humble while leading, and the fun in teaching others when we've learned. And because she's also a ta...

Filmmaker Ramaa Mosley directs commercials, documentaries, feature narratives and more. Like myself, she believes we do different jobs for different reasons and creates her own opportunities. You'll love the part of this chat when she explains how originality is overrated. I disagreed but then came around.  Ramaa is also the Executive Creative Director and one of the Founders of  Adolescent Conten...

Veteran comedy director Rick Friedberg has written a book you must buy. You learn and laugh as this "rule book" for success tells you, as the title says, how to survive the Hollywood machine.  We chat comedy, managing a career, and a long-lost project we shared together and so much more. Buy the book on Amazon , click here or off www.rickfriedberg.com  today! thanks, Jordan Commercial Directing Bo...

Dynamite directing duo Jeff & Pete , aka Jeff Gonick and Peter Novosel, are following their dreams by leaving their cushy advertising agency jobs as creatives to become helmers of comedy commercials. And boy are they good. Landing at top shoppe Caviar, they've helmed funny stuff for Dr. Pepper, SunTrust and more. Plus their fun fellows. After their origin story, we chat about their process and how...

Commercial Directors are not well-served by montages of shots. Advertising agency folks and clients want to see you can tell a good story in :15, :30 or :60 seconds. So for years, I have resisted the montage reel. But friends, this weekend I succumbed to the siren of the montage. After listening to the new breed of filmmakers, like Oren Kaplan and Matt Enlow (Of Just Shoot It Podcast fame) and oth...

Filmmaker Tony Ladesich proves my point you do not have to live in New York or LA to be a working filmmaker. Tony shoots national commercials for Sprint,  all while living in beautiful Kansas City. We discover we know some of the same filmmakers there, as well as we share a positive outlook toward balancing personal projects with our professional ones. A great chat. Click his name to see his great...

Whenever he's shooting a commercial, actor David Lautman spends his time between takes studying every crew member's job and how she or he does it. This film school by astute observation, combined with his infectious personality has helped David branch into directing. We chat about writing our own stuff to shoot, doing those Tongal contest spots and the importance of not waiting for the golden tick...

Joseph Matsushima stopped by to talk about the Blocker AR app. Blocker is an augmented reality director's viewfinder. It makes it easy for filmmakers to communicate their vision. Place 3D characters on set or in your living room, frame your shots. The website says to then create storyboards to share, but I'll use it more for previsualization. I tried it and it is badass and in the iTunes store. Th...

Filmmaker Demetris Campbell started shooting with the fabled Fisher-Price PixelVision 2000, an early video camcorder that recorded onto audio cassette tapes. Then his wife got him shooting for her wedding clients. Now Demetris runs Doughnut Media and has gathered a slew of clients. His social videos are top-notch. Check out their Vimeo page or pop over to jordanbrady.com and be happy. We also chat...

Commercial and content director Robjn Taylor has always made films sense he can remember. And that passion is still alive. You hear it in his tone when we talk about career, being a DIY filmmaker, and tricks of the trade. I love how Robjn is finding his voice as a filmmaker and honing that with each spot he makes. Very evident in his work. Check out his site and the spot I posted at jordanbrady.co...

By going off the grid for just 72 hours, I returned with a fresh attitude towards my work. Look folks, I love the hustle and thrive off it, but clearly I needed a reminder that human connection is vital to a rich, fulfilling life. My lovely and talented wife, filmmaker Jeannette Godoy, showed her film "Free 2 Be Me" to open the Esalen Inspirational Film Festival this week. They also screened "I Am...

Filmmakers Matt Enlow & Oren Kaplan are not a team, they have thriving careers as comedy directors independent of one another. But they do host a stellar podcast all about filmmaking called "Just Shoot It" . I love their show so when they had me on, we decided to share the dual interview. More a conversation really. Learn about branded content, promos, pitching and working in the digital branded s...

Joseph Matsushima , Co-Founder of Denizen Company, makes true viral hits for big brands like Disney, Warner Bros., Star Wars or just for the fun of it. We chat about his company ethos and how they operate. Check out their work and case studies and soak it up like a sponge. I love how they thought to put Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow on the Pirate of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and marve...

I shot a ton of fun Buick work with uber talented writer Dan Birney and his equally dashing art director/partner Dan Councilor of Engage M1, and together we all knocked it out the park. You've frequently heard me on the show bless the creatives for coming up with the stuff for us to shoot, and here we dive into how the creative team chooses you shall helm their project. We also discuss the new age...

Creative Director Pat Pujolas is a writer, be it novels, jingles, witty commercial copy, or quirky sitcoms and animation. Pat has done it all and done it well. We talk about collaboration, specifically ours working on the Scooter the Neutered Cat spots for givethemten.org to save cat lives. Pat's confesses he went insane in a wintery cabin while writing a book, and it's a barrel of laughs hearing...

Commercial Directing Voodoo is my first paperback book, really a handbook, packed with valuable tips and filmmaking tricks I've learned making commercials for twenty years now. It's $10 on Amazon and you'll love it. Free when you attend Commercial Directing Bootcamp , by the way.  It's meant for you to scribble in and jot down notes during your projects. Hope you like it! thanks, Jordan This episo...