Pepsi

Family

So I make my deal and get the shooting script for SPACE JAM. It’s actually not titled SPACE JAM yet. I don’t remember …

DIANE KEATON

DIANE KEATON When I first started doing commercials, Diane Keaton was doing them as well. I cast her in a commercial for …

REVENGE OF THE NERDS

Everybody’s on the internet.  Facebook, Twitter, Google, Myspace, Ebay, Netflix, Vimeo, Hulu, etc. etc. etc. timewastersall. Everybody’s trying to figure out how …

LOUISE LASSER

I really don’t remember exactly when I worked with Woody’s ex. I just remember it was extremely difficult. Louise Lasser was playing a transmission …

Sight and Sound

I discovered the magazine while I was trying to survive engineering school at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh). I would go the the …

No. 1s

number ones MUHAMMAD ALI Heavyweight Boxing Champion My NUMBER ONE NUMBER ONE is Muhammad Ali. Not only do I think he’s the …

DOORS

I started collecting authentic material to reconstruct a Santa Fe property. A guy from the village of Mora would bring a pickup truck …

TAKES

TAKES I ran into an old editor I knew and we chatted a bit and he remarked to the friends I was …

VOGUE

Madonna had asked me to do a documentary of her BLOND AMBITION TOUR and I was interested, but not really interested, in …

The Hurdler

THE HURDLER I was filming a Kodak spot for the Los Angeles Olympics and we had some authentic Olympic hopefuls. The amateur conditions …

TOWNE

I had just won a cinematography award and Hannah asked me for a favor. Robert Towne wanted to do a screen test of …

Paella

On my second tour of living (?) in New York, I fell in love with the Spanish Restaurant, El Faro, in The …

I was re re re re reading Larry McMurtry’s book of essays, FILM FLAM, a journal of some of his impressions of …

VW RT 66

I was doing a road film on Rte 66 and got a call to do an electric truck commercial for Cummins Diesel. I …

Lunch with George & Ed

Ed McCabe and I were having lunch and Ed said that he and George Lois were upset that the FOUR SEASONS restaurant …

WILL WORK FOR FOOD (VENICE)

WILL WORK FOR FOOD I discovered Venice by accident. I was traveling from Milan to Vienna on a tour of concert halls, La …

Hotels

Back in the day, I always stayed at great hotels, THE BEVERLY HILLS in Los Angeles, THE ST. REGIS in New York, …

Miller Time

I was filming a mindless Miller Beer spot in Louisana. All Miller wanted were scenes of interesting people (no women) having a …

The Plumber

I’ve already spoken about ‘scripts’ and how ridiculous most are. On the two films I’ve done, the writers simply didn’t know what …

DIRTY DIANA

I had a huge fight with the record company about the video. They wanted to pull the footage and edit themselves because the …

Stunts

Ray LoFaro had moved to Hollywood to try to get into films. He and I worked on a few things, a CHARLIE …

Trust

One of the things I find missing in work today is TRUST. Trust in using people that will get the job done no …

haskellwexler

…an unlikely name. I first became aware of Haskell in a curious way. I used to read the classified columns in the …

NYVSLA

NYVSLA When I first started working in New York, I found that the various talents there far exceeded those in Hollywood, especially …

San Jose De Gracia

SAN JOSE DE GRACIA This is a fabulous Church in the village of Las Trampas, New Mexico. When I was restoring Las …

Perrier Paris

We were in Paris nearing the end of the epic Perrier shoot. I wanted to get a sunrise shot of the Seine. An …

Patrick Blanc

I began to stay at the Pershing Hall Hotel in Paris after Andree Putman redesigned it, despite the fact that it wasn’t …

STEINBERG

We were doing a documentary on William Steinberg, the noted Conductor and Music Director of The Pittsburgh Symphony. At the time, that symphony …

GATSBY

THE GREAT GATSBY is the best book I have ever read. I have no idea how many times I’ve read it but each …

MOS

MOS is a term that says the film has no soundtrack. There a myth that it means Mit Out Sound, credited to …

BO PLAYS ON

When we were filming Bo Diddley and Bo Jackson onstage for the BO KNOWS commercial, a musician showed Bo Jackson how to …

AICF SPOTS

This was Dave Kennedy’s passion and I’m glad that I was able to help a bit along the way. The campaign opened …

Applause

Out of the blue, I get a script for an Anheuser-Busch commercial for the Super Bowl involving soldiers at an airport and …

Downhill 2

Bud Light wants to do the first beer commercial that features a woman. It’s a spot about the fears of a downhill …

Alain

Alain had been the sous-chef at Citrus under Michel Richard, but Richard got sick of Los Angeles and moved to acclaim in …

The Teamster

The teamster came to me. ‘What happened to the Clydesdales?’ ‘The brewery got taken over by a European conglomerate and they don’t …

JOSEF ALBERS

I was trying to finish the film on motocross racing and hit a wall. It was just a bunch of guys riding …

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS Lucas Carton, La Tour D’ Argent, L’Ambroisie, Louis XV, Le Restaurant, L’Orangerie, Le Saint-Germain, Ma Maison, Citrus. My …

MAN VS MACHINE

We had pillaged Kubrick’s 2001 for an idea for a commercial with Garry Kasparov playing chess against a computer. The idea was …

Mr. Rogers

At QED we were almost a happy family, probably because we were there for a cause, working for minimum wage under extreme …

Tony Scott

About the same time I became aware of Sir Ridley’s work, I saw his brother, Tony’s, astonishing as well, but different. I found …

Ridley Scott

I first became aware of Ridley’s work at David Dee’s place. David was the premier editor in New York and his partner was …

Howard Zieff

Howard was a legend in the transformation of advertising into a sorta art form. When I was doing documentaries (and hating ads) I …

Hines Ward

HINES WARD So we’re shooting a Super Bowl commercial with the Steelers and Seahawks for Disney.  Of course, the clients ask for …

Deion Dreams

I was in New York and had just finished filming a spot with Deion and Denis Leary. It wasn’t as pleasant as it …

THE KID

The chess script with Kasparov called for a little girl to stymie him. I thought that was a predictable ending, but I asked …

SUNSHINE PARKER

Sunshine Parker was an important actor in a few Henry’s commercials that we did. He was a perfect codger. We first used him in …

THE FOOL ON THE HILL

Frank Lowe strode across the stage in Cannes using the classic British staggerwalk made famous by Alec Guiness in THE BRIDGE ON …

BUFFALO (AMERICAN BISON)

I’m working on a Census campaign directed towards American Indians (not Native Americans) because of their lack of representation in the Federal …

LAMBO VS MERC

When I got the Cindy Crawford Pepsi script, it had her getting out of a limo with high heels. Made no sense. Why would …

ADRIAN LYNE

The Brits were on top of the world in the seventies. Ridley, Tony, Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson were doing mind blowing commercials. The …

THE UNIVERSE

Matt had written a script for one of the NASA ‘docs’ we were doing. It was our only ‘formal’ film. All the others were …

Brad Johnson

I’m walking to valet to get my car after having lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel and someone calls, ‘Joe!’ I turn and …

BOND

‘BOND, JAMES BOND.’ Everyone knows of my dislike of Steve Jobs because of his treatment of my friend, Neil Aspinall, who saw …

White Coach

Here we go again.  I’m doing a Lincoln commercial with Dwyane Wade. He just won an NBA Championship but isn’t that well …

Scripts

I hate scripts. I hate reading them. I hate the stupidity around them, the tacky screen directions. Plays are different. Scripts are written so …

RP

RP stands for RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION in England. It’s sometimes referred to as THE QUEEN’S ENGLISH, although the present queen doesn’t speak it. It’s estimated …

RETRIBUTION (OF A SORT)

I had just gotten to Cannes for the ad festival and a friend and I were chatting as I was checking into …

MJ PLAYS MJ

I get a Gatorade script that has Michael playing himself, one on one. Okay.  It’s an idea that has been done before. All I …

CINEMASCOPE

Stanley Kubrick was famous for being obsessive about screenings, even going to theaters personally to observe the existing technology. There’s a funny …

THE DREAM REDUX

THE DREAM REDUX I’ve spoken a lot about THE DREAM as it was a project close to my heart after watching western …

JINGLE DANCE (PANDEMIC DANCE)

PANDEMIC DANCE The Jingle Dance got its name from the metal cones attached to the dress of the Ojibwe Indians of Minnesota. …

Captain Jack

Captain Jack Phelan was the organizer and coordinator for all my shoots in Ireland. Jack was ex-Irish Army and was a terrific human …

16mm

16mm (sometimes disparagingly referred to as spaghetti). That’s all I knew. I got into film, partially because I was studying chemical engineering. A …

THE ÉCLAIR

…not the pastry. Before I started the sojourn at NET, a miracle happened. The French developed a sound camera that revolutionized cinema, the …

The Bolex

Of all the cameras that I’ve used, the Bolex was probably the most important. When I developed newsfilm at night, the news photographers …

VINCENT’S PIZZA

When I was a kid, magic came into town.  Pizza! Braddock, Pennsylvania. Pizza? We would all chip in and one of the …

True Colors

Chuck Klausing was hired to coach the Braddock High School Tigers football team. I was just starting High School, but I was …

Local Hero

LeBron has just shown up for a McDonald’s shoot. We’re in his old neighborhood, Cleveland. The commercial is about his return to Cleveland, …

Showdown

…was the original name for the McDonald’s commercial with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. I’ve discussed the problems with the original production, mainly …

BLM

A while ago, McDonald’s asked me to do a few spots for a campaign called BLACK AND POSITIVELY GOLDEN. McD was changing its …

John Steadman

John was an older (really older) actor that was auditioning for a part in a Henry’s Beer commercial about a bunch of …

The Jordan Reach

Russia around Berlin Wall time. Moscow. I’m shooting the Red Army singing, ‘YOU GOT THE RIGHT ONE BABY, UH HUH!’ I’m walking around Moscow and …

Water

US West Water

The Dream

US West The Dream

The Woman

US West The Woman

I am Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods I am Tiger Woods

Sloppy Sack

Tiger Woods Sloppy Sack

Toaster

Stamps.com Toaster

Vaccum

Pepsi Vaccum

Two Kids

Pepsi Two Kids

Deli

Pepsi Deli

Vince Lombardi – 8

Nike Vince Lombardi – 8

Moses Rebound

Nike Moses Rebound

George Plimpton Introduction

Nike George Plimpton Introduction

Deion

Nike Deion

US Tech – Running 30

Nike US Tech – Running 30

Showdown II

Michael Jordan Showdown II

Victory

McDonalds Victory

Showdown

McDonald”s Showdown

Warriors

Johnson & Johnson Warriors

Webb

John Hancock Webb

NFL Color

IBM NFL Color

Mid Market Color

IBM Mid Market Color

Player

IBM Player

Big

IBM Big

Gallery

IBM Gallery

Dream On Diner

IBM Dream On Diner

Business and Technology

IBM Business and Technology

Love is in the air

IBM Love is in the air