Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/877064
DGA QUARTERLY 31 But the work can be both thrilling and rewarding, say four longtime directors who spoke to DGA Quarterly about what it takes to create seminal advertising, turning pro players into brand ambassadors, let- ting their personalities shine and making them household names. That Was Then R Y A N B U C K L E Y, dubbed "the king of the Super Bowl" by The New York Times for his 50-plus Big Game ads, started directing promos for ESPN in the early '90s at the beginning of his career. "It was my film school," he says. At the time, few athletes had become famous pitchmen, and many didn't understand advertising 's potential for building their own brands. So it could be tough to get cooperation, like when Buckley and his crew asked a well-known NHL player to shoot a goal on cue after a practice session. "He told us to go f- ourselves and walked away," Buckley recalls. "It was an auspicious beginning for my directing career. But we got Joe Pytka, far left and below, touts decades of experience working in commercials with such superstar athletes as, from left, NBA players David Robinson and Michael Jordan, as well as former heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman. B somebody else to do it." Along with salvaging the shoot, he picked up a few valuable les- sons, he says. Athletes aren't actors by trade, and some may have no interest in pursuing a dual profession. And if the pro is in the thick of regular season, as opposed to pre- or post-season, their intensity and skills are often reserved for their day jobs. But experiences varied widely at that time, the directors say, and Brian Beletic had an encounter with Detroit Red Wings cen- ter Sergei Fedorov in the late '90s that has informed every sports ad he's done since. Beletic, a first-time director at the time who's now with Smuggler, walked Fedorov through an ESPN ad scenario that called for the hockey star to "be an assassin," metaphorically speaking. "Because it was out of context and not a real game, I asked if he could turn on that killer instinct," Beletic recalls. "He looked at me and said, 'Like a light switch.' I understood then that athletes are their own breed of talent. It taught me to leverage what they're good at and tap into their confidence." He'd see that same light switch later, in 2010, in filming Nike's