credit: Steven Fernandez

There is absolutely nothing more important to a commercial director’s career than a demo reel. Not education. Not connections (although this is important). And not experience.

A jaw-dropping reel will facilitate a director’s entry into the advertising world and keep him there. A demo reel serves as his resume and calling card. A demo reel shows the advertising agencies and clients what he’s capable of.

Think about it. You can’t just knock on the door of an agency or client and say you want to direct their commercial and you have nothing to show. (Actually, there are instances when you can do this but it’s tougher. I’ll explain that in a future article. ) Commercials cost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. Would you trust just anyone to direct them?

But how do you put together a demo reel when no one will give you a job to begin with?

If you went to film or advertising school, you most likely walked away with a nice, newly-minted demo reel hot off the DVD burner. But what if you didn’t go to film school?

That’s where the spec reel comes in. A spec reel is a collection of ‘fake’ (speculative) commercials produced specifically for the purpose of showing a director’s talent. From my experience and from those I’ve talked to in the business, anywhere from 2 to 4 commercials should be enough for a spec reel. Two amazing commercials on your reel will get your foot in the door.

So what do you need to build a spectacular spec reel?

Concept, Concept, Concept - This is your chance to show your stuff. Be creative. Be unconventional. Be innovative. You don’t have a client telling you they want their product front and center. You’re not forced to pepper the ad with supers and wall-to-wall copy. There will be plenty of that once you break into the industry.

From now on, don’t change the channel during commercial breaks when you watch TV. Watch the commercials. See what the trends are and what styles are in. Once you get a feel for the styles, CHANGE THEM. Don’t just copy what you see. Think of something different. The creatives you’ll be sending your reel to will have seen those commercials already (some of them probably produced those commercials) and they’ll be looking for the next big thing. The worst thing you can do is do another generic Nike commercial. Why would the agency hire you when they already have hundreds of proven directors doing the same thing.

Many directors claim that ideas come from the agency and the director’s job is to execute them. So they slack off on the concept part. That is true. But agencies want to see that you can think for yourself. They want to know that you have ideas of your own.

If you’re having a difficult time coming up with an earth-shattering idea, here’s a little secret. Befriend a creative director. It will be tough gaining their trust if you haven’t done much but remember, they’re people too. They know what it’s like to start at the bottom of the ladder. Play to their ego. Most of them would love a young person asking them for advice. Most of them love to talk about creative concepts. These guys have a drawer-full of potential award-winning material that clients have turned down. They’re just itching to get these made. A friendly creative director just might share his ideas with you. I tried this once with a friend of mine and he told me to come by his office and choose from a long list of concepts.

Find Your Inner Genre - In the advertising world, you WILL get pigeon-holed into a specific genre. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get jobs outside your genre but it’ll be tougher. This is not necessarily a bad thing. By being known as a specialist, you’ll be on top of the agency’s mind when they’re producing a commercial in your genre.

The same thing happens in the film industry. The Farrelly Brothers do comedy while the Wachowski Brothers do Sci-Fi Action. You can try to branch out once you’ve gained some credibility.

Having said that, you want to make sure that your reel reflects the genre you want to specialize in.

The advertising industry’s genre definitions are somewhat muddled. It gets even worse when you work in various parts of the world. But here are some general categories: Comedy, Narrative, Lifestyle, Table Top/Food, Animation, Automotive/Industrial, Sports, Beauty, Children, Animals, Underwater, etc. As you might imagine, some of these categories overlap depending on the concept. Just focus on what you enjoy the most and have the best ability in.

So these are two ideas you need to start working out. I will post follow up articles on this topic in a few days so keep your eyes peeled for them.

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Tags: commercials, demo reel, Directing, Film Career, spec reel