Commercial Directors

With the exception of the time they plastered my office at Ogilvy with photos of animals having wild sex (literally), I really like the Perlorian Brothers.

Fond memories come to mind When I made my first glorious TV ad I showed it to them before showing it to Nancy and Janet. The Perlorian Brothers, then Group Creative Heads were very supportive of that particular piece. I warmly remember their supportive words, “You are so fucked.”

When they left Ogilvy to become directors it was expected, but no one expected them to rack up a Gold Lion at Cannes 6 months later. Ladies and Gentleman, ihaveanidea presents you the hottest directors of 2004 and beyond, the Perlorian Brothers.

ihaveanidea: As a duo, I imagine you’re frequently asked about how you divide up the many tasks involved in directing.

Laszlo Perlorian: That’s true. That’s very true. We are asked that.

Bruce Perlorian: Frequently, in fact.

ihaveanidea: Well, many people have commented on your practice involving body hair as it relates to your work, some calling it excessive or odd. Can you elaborate on the significance of what you do?

Bruce Perlorian: It’s really far from excessive or odd. We simply consider each new undertaking as a kind of rebirth it’s a chance to start anew, et tabula es rasa as they say. And this is something we take very seriously.

Laszlo Perlorian: So, even before we were making commercials, we would make any new beginnings more significant. Just as babies are clean and new, we remove all body hair just prior to beginning a project.

Bruce Perlorian: Fresh like little hatchlings. As soon as we hear that the estimate is signed out come the razors. As we go through pre-production, shooting and post everything grows back fresh and new.

ihaveanidea: But some babies have lots of hair when they are born. I mean, I, for one, was practically shaving in the womb. You know?

Laszlo Perlorian: Well, I think you have to view it as a kind of symbolic act.

“…we remove all body hair just prior to beginning a project.”

ihaveanidea: Like a cleansing ritual.

Bruce Perlorian: No, that happens after the wrap.

ihaveanidea: I see. It was interesting to learn that you both trained to be professional poets. Was it a difficult transition from poem-writing to commercial directing?

Bruce Perlorian: Surprisingly not. Although we both enjoyed considerable success in the field

Laszlo Perlorian: Poetry’s wunderkinds, they called us there’s a lot of pressure that goes with something like that.

Bruce Perlorian: I think we had both reached the point where the stress and workload were wearing us out.

ihaveanidea: There is, of course, a longstanding tradition of crossover between these fields, back to Walt Whitman’s memorable verses for the Woodworkers’ Guild and e e cummings efforts for Ovaltine. Do you think we’ll see more and more poets entering the field in the near future?

Bruce Perlorian: I think it’s less about crossover and more about (to trot out a clichd notion) this idea of convergence. The poets directing and writing commercials, and agencies doing more unconventional things for their clients. As advertising becomes more and more recognized as a legitimate art form, more and more barriers fall away.

Laszlo Perlorian: In a generation, there won’t be any distinction between a poem and an advertisement.

ihaveanidea: One thing that many of the creatives that you’ve worked with have commented to me about are your treatments. They’re rather in-depth at times, I understand.

Laszlo Perlorian: They can be quite voluminous.

Bruce Perlorian: They’re often in excess of 100 pages, more if you count the appendices and diagrams.

Laszlo Perlorian: Lately, we’ve been having them hardcover bound. With those gilt edged pages. They make a nice gift for us to give to the agency.

Bruce Perlorian: We’re seeking out a slipcover supplier for future treatments.

ihaveanidea: Slipcover.

Laszlo Perlorian: The presentation of the hardbound treatment is a tremendously moving experience, a kind of coming together.

ihaveanidea: A ceremony.

Bruce Perlorian: Exactly.

ihaveanidea: Would you like to comment on the work you do with underprivileged inner-city youth?

Laszlo Perlorian: Sure. We do no work with underprivileged inner-city youth.

ihaveanidea: Ah. Well, but if you did work with underprivileged inner-city youth

Bruce Perlorian: I imagine we’d be helping them believe that anything is possible when they commit themselves to following a dream.

ihaveanidea: That’s admirable.

Bruce Perlorian: Thank you.

“We’re actually workshopping a technique now that removes the recording medium altogether.”

ihaveanidea: Now, you’ve recently been working in formats other than 35mm film: 16mm, betacam and miniDV. What prompts you to employ a different stock on a project?

Laszlo Perlorian: Each scenario demands a particular approach. And the choice of film and video is part of all that.

Bruce Perlorian: We’re actually workshopping a technique now that removes the recording medium altogether.

ihaveanidea: This is a live performance, a play?

Bruce Perlorian: Yes, a performance. There is a camera present, but it doesn’t contain any film. The story is “recorded” instead by the collective experience of everyone involved.

ihaveanidea: How does the audience react to seeing a commercial performed live?

Bruce Perlorian: It’s not really intended to be a performance for an audience, really. It is pure expression and doesn’t rely on an audience for validation.

ihaveanidea: U.S. directors more often than not prefer a very limited involvement, if any at all, in the post-production phase of their work. Do you typically have time to contribute after the shoot day has passed?

Bruce Perlorian: We are as hands-on as possible during the finishing.

Laszlo Perlorian: We will almost always have our own positive print made of the dailies.

ihaveanidea: Does this mean that the agency and client sometimes opt for your cut over the editor’s?

Laszlo Perlorian: Oh no no, that kind of manual splicing can take us, on average, three or four months to complete, by which time the spots have usually been aired.

Bruce Perlorian: You have to realize that traditional craftsmanship takes time.

Laszlo Perlorian: But it’s really satisfying to have that kind of involvement in the process.

ihaveanidea: Hearing you speak about your process, I’m reminded of something that Mao Tse-Tung once said (and pardon my rusty Cantonese): “We should check our complacency and constantly criticize our shortcomings, just as we should wash our faces or sweep the floor every day to remove the dirt and keep them clean.” Is it accurate to say that you subscribe to this philosophy?

Laszlo Perlorian: Well, being from Hunan province, the Chairman would have said that in Mandarin, rather than Cantonese. But I would say that we do, by and large, have that sort of self-critical gaze and we’re always washing and sweeping our past work off the reel in favour of the surprising and new.

Bruce Perlorian: And washing our faces.

ihaveanidea: And shaving.

Bruce Perlorian: Constantly shaving.

Interview by:
Ignacio Oreamuno
ignacio@ihaveanidea.org
President
ihaveanidea