Ben Callner

Verizon: First Date
2nd Prize Non European Test
Representation: pogopictures.com

When did you first pick up a camera?

I started making home movies with friends and family at around eight years old. I think our first ‘hit’ was a remake of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs. I played the part of Barf, John Candy’s half-man, half-dog character.

What does winning at the YDA mean to you?

A lot! It’s an affirmation that what I’ve been doing and working on for so long is starting to pay off. And that my parents aren’t the only ones who think that I’m OK.

What was the most challenging aspect of making your spot?

Finding a place to stand! Everyone was crammed inside this beautiful but insanely cozy one-bedroom flat. I was glad I brought breath mints.

Who or what is your biggest inspiration?

For me, it’s whatever gets me seeing things. Sometimes it’s a talk with my brother. Other times it’s a good song with the right feeling. And often it’s 10 cups of coffee.

What do you think is the future of advertising?

I honestly have absolutely no idea. But if I had to guess, I would say it’s 10 per cent puppy, 10 per cent kitten, 30 per cent baby, and 50 per cent cleavage.

What commercial do you wish you had made and why?

Jim Jenkins directed this incredible AT&T cinema spot in 2008, called Bedtime. It shows a mother talking on the phone to her husband, who is presumably away on some sort of trip. She starts to hand the phone to her son, who is lying in bed, when suddenly Martin Scorsese runs into the room saying how the ‘plot’ of the phone call is all wrong. “It’s too ordinary. Too pedestrian,” he says. 

He suggests the father should be a dark, mysterious man who’s in prison, the son so detached from him that he calls him Frank and yearns for vengeance, while the mother should be unhappily married and “drinking from a bottle”. 

After this onslaught of unwanted direction, Scorsese leaves the room. The tagline is, “We don’t interrupt your phone calls. Please don’t interrupt our movies.”

It’s one of those things where the concept, direction, casting, editing, everything – are so brilliantly done. The first time I watched it I laughed so hard I cried, and then 10 minutes later found myself staring at a wall with this stupid (some might say creepy) grin on my face. It was so good… I think I was in shock.

Where do you hope to be this time next year?

I would love to be on some beautiful beach, drinking a cold beer, and putting the finishing touches on the undeniably touted “Best Commercial Ever Made”. But if I can’t find a post house on the beach or if it’s impossible to have an ad deemed the “Best Ever” before completion, I hope to be directing and challenging myself to learn more, see more, write more, and just plain out do more with each day.

If I wasn’t directing I’d be…

A struggling (and some might even say delusional) singer/songwriter. Seriously, at least once a year I write down on a piece of paper, “Operation Rockstar!”. And then for a solid week, I go crazy writing and recording music, planning my tour, what venues to play at, who to ask to be in my band, etc.

Once the mania subsides, I listen to what I’ve recorded and immediately regret the week I’ve just wasted.