Nothing beats the feeling of writing or directing a feature film, but until that day comes around, would-be producers have to keep the lights on somehow.

On February 27, PromaxBDA partnered with Inner-City Filmmakers (ICF) for a special presentation from John Chuldenko, creative director for Dangertrain, on the career benefits of short-form storytelling. A nonprofit training program for diverse, disadvantaged youth, ICF packed a small conference room in Santa Monica on Thursday night (Feb. 27) with students past and present, each eager to hear stories from someone who has created successful career by writing, directing and producing :30, :60 and :90 spots.

“If you can write and do short form you’re at another level,” began Chuldenko, who has written and directed promos for NBC’s “30 Rock” and CBS’ Monday night comedy block as well as numerous works for Disney, Dreamworks and other clients. “It takes a long time to put a feature together. It’s a significant undertaking. Short form is a great way to keep the lights on and pay your bills. Everyone does it.”

To prove his point, Chuldenko — whose own feature-length romantic comedy, “Nesting,” premiered in 2012 — screened an array of commercials that have been directed by famous filmmakers. The list included an Ikea spot by Spike Jonz, a Doritos spot by Jon Favreau, and a commercial for Clear Blue pregnancy tests created by David Lynch (featured below). Each spot not only provided its respective director with a nice paycheck, but showed a level of creativity and humor any filmmaker would be proud to achieve.

“You can and will make mistakes,” Chuldenko said. “There’s a real insulating quality when you are in film school with your friends. Everyone cares about you and wants you to make your vision. Sometimes when you’re doing a commercial, that’s not the case. The crews in LA are pros and don’t have time for you to dally. You’ve got to be on your game.”

Once the kinks are worked out, Chuldenko said that short form is a way to “prove yourself,” particularly when it comes to demonstrating skills worthy of receiving a budget for something longer.

For instance, Chuldenko told the students, “I always wanted to do a car chase,” so when a suitable opportunity arose, he wrote a short-form script for a client that involved a parkour expert being chased by a Suburban. He received the green light to make the spot, and now has a thrilling chase scene on his reel.

“[Short form] is a great way to experiment and get your chops in different genres,” he said.

Chuldenko screened samples of successful promos he has written and directed, such as his much-watched “30 Rock” spot featuring Liz and Jack playing with doll versions of the characters. But perhaps even more helpful was his sharing of promo scripts that didn’t make the cut.

Those scripts, passed around in packets for all to see, demonstrated how promos are formatted on the page, and were clear examples of the kind of quick-hard-hitting storytelling short-form demands. For those creative types fixated on making every word perfect, the scripts also demonstrated the value of kicking work out quickly: the more concepts one puts out in the world, the better chance there is of striking gold.

“On a good day, I’ll come up with eight solid concepts,” Chuldenko said. “Everyone has bad ideas. I have a ton of bad ideas.”

One person in the room who had a good idea was young director Damien Gonzalez, a 2005 alumnus of Inner-City Filmmakers. He came to the presentation armed with a recent Coca-Cola spec commercial he had cut together using tender moments from a friend’s lovely wedding footage.

Chuldenko offered to watch the clip and gave feedback in front of the class. Impressed by the emotional resonance of the spot, helped along by Gonzalez’ choice of a lilting ukulele song as the soundtrack, Chuldenko said that aside from a slightly shaky camera movement at the beginning, “there’s no reason that [spot] shouldn’t be on TV. Repurposing footage like that happens all the time.”

Chuldenko wrapped things up by telling the crowded room to “keep working. It’s really hard to become writers and directors in Hollywood. You have to keep pushing the boulder up the hill.”

He then told one last story illustrating the potential dangers of chasing your dream that involved working with a chimpanzee on a shoot. “Should [the chimp] get loose,” he said, “we were told to stay calm and huddle into the largest groups possible.”

Afterwards, Gonzalez said he became interested in promo after receiving student passes to last year’s PromaxBDA: The Conference. There, he learned what it means to work in the increasingly common role of a “preditor” (one who serves the duties of both a producer and editor) which, as an aspiring writer, has “become a driving force” in his career goals.

“That ability to command all these disciplines… being able to see that [through] PromaxBDA led me to edit the [Coca-Cola] piece,” Gonzalez continued. “Now I see the branding potential in things. I saw this wedding and saw the black and red [colors] and immediately thought of Coke.”

Image courtesy of Stephania Lipner, Inner-City Filmmakers

If you are interested in guest-speaking opportunities such as this one, please contact Katerina Zacharia at katerina@promaxbda.org.

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