Under the Influence--48 Hour Film Project Baltimore

So nearly a month ago, I posted about the trials and tribulations of making a movie in only 48 hours, and the clash of creative minds that took place over those two days of writing, shooting and editing a film for the Baltimore 48-Hour Film Project. Although a lot of the equipment we used was borrowed from Renegade and many of the people involved in the shoot were Renegades, Renegade can't take all of the credit. A lot of friends, vendors, interns, and even people who found us through Craig's List, participated in a variety of ways from writers to cast to camera to post-production, and many roles in between. So the video below is not necessarily a "Renegade" prjoect, but a mix of talent and creative vision put together by our team.

It was directed by Ad Agency Confessional's very own Matt McDermott. (He also plays "Scratch n' Sniff Guy.")
You may recognize our Creative Director Little Kenny Bigtime as an extra. He was also part of the writing team and music supervisor.
Jason Bloom, a frequent contributor to the confessional, spent nearly a day editing the film and taking it from a bunch of great shots to an actual short film.
Noah Thomason, our Director of Production (who inspired this post here) handled the camera, along with another friend of Renegade, Joe Anderson of JoeNation.tv.
Jill Kaufman, one of our associate Creative Directors, was also part of the writing team and played the film's naughty devil.
Like most people, I wore a couple hats for the film, but my identity will remain a secret on the grounds that it may incriminate me.
Of course, we didn't list everyone involved here, but hey, that's what the credits are for.

Anyway, enjoy: Under the Influence by Team Renegade.




Some parts worked perfectly, some didn't, and others worked even better than we expected. Are there things we'd do over if we had the chance? Sure. But the audience laughed and apparently thought it wasn't too bad. Last week, we learned we won the Audience Favorite Award for our group, which had a few other professional teams and a few other comedies, so we're pretty proud of that.

Finally, you can click here to check out our production from the 2007 48 Hour Film Project, The Davidson Account. We do want to warn you, again, this film also wasn't a purely Renegade project, so it does get a little blue, and the language is not exactly safe for work.

Feel free to leave any comments with your thoughts on either film.

--Captain Awesome, Copywriter

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A Creative Confession

A couple weekends ago, many folks from Renegade and friends participated in Baltimore’s 48-Hour Film Project. Our team was given a character, a line of dialogue, a prop and a genre, and we had exactly 48 hours to write, cast, prep, shoot, edit and deliver a 4-7 minute film. It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun, and a chance for creative types at Renegade (who spend most of the time thinking up creative ways to sell someone else’s wares) a chance to really stretch our creative muscles.

Wait, are you saying your needs as creative minds aren’t fully met writing :30 screamer spots and commercials featuring the product, the offer and the phone number, each three times? I’m sad to say, not always.





*Please note, neither of these are Renegade-produced, and creatively have no link whatsoever to Renegade prior to this blog post.


Yes, sometimes, a client sees a script and it’s perfect, not a word out of place. And sometimes, supermodels marry old, bald, short, fat guys.

Let’s face facts. This is a business, and clients and agencies alike are both in it to make money. A creative type like myself, who dreams of one day writing the next Bull Durham or The Usual Suspects, takes a job at an advertising agency because it pays the bills and it’s a chance to use my talents to pay the bills while Hollywood waits to decide how great my current screenplay is. (I don’t want to give away the plot, but let’s just say it features zombies, extraterrestrials and surfing—Dawn of the Dead meets E.T. meets North Shore. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, it’s just as awesome as it sounds. Hollywood, please ask for ex. 267.)

Not that Hollywood.

But for creative types, who want to make the most interesting, catching, effective product for a client, the process can actually be hell. Even after 17 revisions and multiple reviews by multiple committees, you still may not have it right.

There are so many places you can go wrong:

It’s too expensive. (Someone should’ve told me that before I proposed my first “post-apocalyptic” cable advertisement.)

The client doesn’t get it.

It doesn’t feature the product enough.

“How will this make the phones ring?”

And sometimes you just completely miss the mark.

This conflict can easily occur when more abstract minds intersect with more directed minds or more simply, when two groups just aren’t on the same page.

However, it can be even more difficult when you take 30 or so creative minds and tell them to come up with one simple, short story in the span of only a few hours.

The story should be about this.

The story should be about that.

The story should be about an ear ring that turns the wearer into actor/comedian Chris Tucker, who needs to return the ear ring to a certain church or risk being stuck that way forever.

And even once you’ve decided on characters and a story, there are still more issues.

The dialogue’s flat.

That’s a cliché.

That isn’t funny.

Why would the character do that?

Why does it have to be so raunchy?

What’s so wrong with raunchy?

The audience isn’t gonna get it.

The audience isn’t stupid.

You’re gonna get it.

You’re stupid.

Put even a handful of people in a room who are passionate about creativity and who want to produce the best product, and people are going to butt heads. Because each one has a vision, and each one has a case to make as to why they are right. After all, they do all do this for a living.

In the end, we forged our creative efforts into what we thought was a pretty good, pretty funny story. And then, on the day of the shoot, the story changed even more. Sigh.

So clients, when you get a pitch or a script or a comp, and think, What the hell are these guys thinking? Rest assured, we like this idea. I’ll bet we feel pretty passionate about this idea. And we didn’t just go with the first idea that stuck to the fridge. We think this idea works for a reason. Your audience is going to get it. And it’s going to sell your product. Of course, if we ever miss the mark, we can simply blame our Creative Director. You're welcome, Ken.

But remember, sometimes short, bald, fat guys can be endearing. Just look at Danny DeVito.

I think I’ve made my point.

--Captain Awesome, Project Specialist

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Our Dying Imagination: DirecTV owes Anchorman a Thank You

Here at the Ad Agency Confessional, we have several on-going series. And this is one I'm probably most passionate about--originality and blatantly ripping off good creative. Because as time goes on, from the page to the screen, it feels like the are less and less original ideas. And what passes for "creative" are bad parodies, rehashed bits, and routines so tired clowns with seltzer bottles think they're lame. I was actually brainstorming the inaugural piece for this segment when I saw this DirecTV commercial. Now I think John Michael Higgins (the funny guy in the spot) is a hysterical actor, as are several of the other Christopher Guest players that have appeared in these DirecTV commercials. But this 2008 ad rips a joke straight out of Anchorman (2004). Of course, if you're going to rip off comedy, Anchorman isn't a bad place to start.

At about 0:51 seconds is Paul Rudd's statistical explanation of "Sex Panther's" effectiveness.



Click here if the player doesn't work.

And at about 0:13 seconds, DirecTV owes Anchorman a thank you.



DirecTV, for shame.

--Captain Awesome

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