Building a Spectacular Spec Reel Pt 2
Written by jessel from on September 11th, 2008 | 3 Comments
Last week I posted Part 1 of the Building a Spectacular Spec Reel series. If you haven’t read that article, read it first. It will be the foundation for what follows in the next few articles in the series. In that article, I discussed two crucial factors in putting together a spec reel: Concept and Genre.
Think about those two elements before you do anything else.
Okay, now that you have some inkling of your concept and the genre you want to focus on, it’s time to get down to specifics.
What company will you make a spec spot for?
Avoid High-Profile Brands
Nike, Apple, Budweiser, McDonald’s, etc. Forget about these massive companies for now. Stick to smaller brands or even regional ones.
The problem you’ll encounter doing a spec spot for a well-known brand is that advertising creatives know these brands all too well. Some of them may even have worked on these brands. They will be very familiar with the strategies and objectives of these companies. They’ll know if you’re not doing it right and it will directly affect their objectivity. They’ll be subconsciously comparing your spec spot to the multi-million dollars spots those companies are running now.
The secret is to take a small, unknown company and produce a spec spot for it with high production value and make it look like a Fortune 500 company. Of course, I’m not saying that making one for a high-profile brand will guarantee failure. It could work but why make your job tougher? 
Now that you have your concept, genre, and company…
How do you get it done?
Build Your Team
Hire veterans who’ve done it before. You don’t want your shoot to be the blind leading the blind. This is one of the biggest downsides I see with traditional film schools. In film school, you produce projects with other film students serving under the various roles. Sure, you have an instructor to guide you but it’s just not ideal. This process is meant as a learning tool instead of a career-building tool.
Hiring industry veterans allows you to fast track your career and will provide you with the experience and expertise you need to get high production value. These veterans will be able to teach you and advise you on the best ways to achieve specific results.
How do you get them to help you?
Ask! It works. If you show passion in your project and you have a fresh idea, it’s amazing what people will do for the art and for free or cheap. When I directed my first short film, I had the least experience on the set; even less than the student volunteers. But I convinced real film professionals to help me out.
Here are some of my crew members on my short film.
1st AD Dennis Benatar - assisted Sergio Leone in Once Upon a Time in America
Sound Recordist Sam Kopetzky - worked with Ed Wood
Sound Editor and Designer David Weishaar - Emmy-award winning Sound Mixer on Frasier
Professional editors and actors.
Getting Dennis Benatar to work on my film is the reason I believe this works. I just found his contact info online and I e-mailed him my script. Since the script’s concept involves the hazards of domestic violence, he came on board. He even brought his 2nd and 2nd 2nd AD to help out.
It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is “no”. If that ever happens, you move on down the list.
Some resources to get your ideas going.
SpotLab - The Grand Poobah of spec spot resources. They’ve been around for at least 5 years and have many success stories of directors breaking into advertising.
The Spec Spot - One of my favorite sites to check out the competition. Submit your spec spots here to get it rated and critiqued by your peers.
SpecBank - A source for spec scripts from advertising creatives. It costs $50 for a 6-month subscription. I can’t really vouch for their services since I’m not a subscriber. But give it a shot. $50 is not that much when you consider the potential benefits to your career.
BestAdsonTV - Catch up on trends and what brilliant creatives are coming up with in advertising. An excellent source for inspiration.
Advertising Age - The leading advertising industry rag. You could spend months surfing their site and never get bored.
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Tags: Advertising, Directing, directing commercials, directing reel, Film Career, spec reel
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September 15th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Hey Jessel,
Thank you for mentioning the web site I founded, SpecBank.com.
To provide a little more background, we solicit creatives at ad agencies across the country for their unproduced concepts. When we receive scripts, they’re accessible in The Vault, which currently contains around 230 production-ready scripts. Every week, members receive a New Script Email with new concepts. There is never an additional charge to use a script (the creatives are happy to have new spots on their reels) and once a script is shot, it’s removed from the database.
The $50 membership fee includes access to the scripts, plus exposure for completed spots on our Samples page. We’re working on adding networking functions, too.
We recently interviewed Jeff Nicosia, co-founder and Creative Advisor of SpotLab (formerly Group 101 Spots), to share what he knows about creating and marketing a reel. In the interview (there’s a link on the homepage of SpecBank.com), he expands on a lot of the points you make above. Including: the biggest mistakes fledgling directors make; how to find seasoned crew for your shoots; and how to approach production companies when your reel is done. It’s free for anyone to read… check it out!
Thanks again for the shout out. I wish you luck in your career.
If you or your readers have questions about The Spec Bank, please contact me at info@specbank.
Thanks, shoot smart,
Dan Sorgen
info@specbank.com
http://www.specbank.com
September 15th, 2008 at 5:54 am
@Dan - I always believed there are not enough resources for directors out there besides going to film school. And in film school, you don’t really get taught too much about breaking into the industry. I think that’s why many film grads don’t do much with their degrees. That is the primary reason I put up this blog. Anyways, good luck with your site.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
[...] discussed the broader issues of Building a Spectacular Spec Reel in Part 1 and Part 2, we now get down to the nitty-gritty of putting together your spec [...]