Jake Scott is behind some of the biggest promos and spots in the business. Now, with a new film out, he talks to Simon Wakelin about commercials, features – and his dad ...

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Jake Scott has a visual repertoire that makes him
one of the most sought-after directors in America
today. The British director, son of Ridley Scott, has
been based in Los Angeles since 1988.
Scott’s music video background is as extensive as
his work in commercials, directing for the likes of
Soundgarden, Radiohead, Oasis, The Strokes, U2,
plus REM’s classic Everybody Hurts that garnered
multiple MTV Video Awards, including best
director. He has also been inducted into the Music
Video Production Association’s Hall of Fame.
As I meet up with Scott in his RSA Films office, it’s
clear he’s hungry to delve back into commercial
projects after the release of his new feature film,
Welcome to the Rileys, starring James Gandolfini,
Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo.
“I needed to direct a film as far away from
commercials as I could possibly get,” admits
Scott. “I was pretty grumpy watching other
directors create films. I’d rant and rave
because I really wanted to make another
film and, as a result, would sometimes get
a bit snappy with agencies. Thankfully I
discovered this wonderful character-
driven piece, this intimate story that I
knew was right for me.”
The script came to Scott through Michael
Costigan, president of RSA’s film and TV division,
Scott Free Productions. Scott happened to be
struggling to get another film off the ground at
the time, but immediately responded to Welcome
to the Rileys. The film follows Doug Riley, an
emotionally shattered man mourning the loss of
his teenage daughter while also dealing with his
agoraphobic wife. When Riley goes away on a
business trip to New Orleans he meets a 16-year-
old stripper who vaguely resembles his lost
daughter. He begins to father her, informing his
wife he is not returning home. She, in turn, leaves
their house for the first time in years, driving to
New Orleans to pursue her husband.
For Scott the script was the antithesis of the
vacuous fare he is offered in Hollywood.
“I can’t do the studio route, I just can’t do
it,” admits Scott. “I can’t work on that
generic level. It’s best to have creative
autonomy and self-generate your work.
Some commercial directors seem to have
mastered the studio system. David Fincher
and Spike Jonze come to mind – but even
Spike had a rough experience making
Where the Wild Things Are and Mark
Jake Scott is behind some of the biggest promos and spots
in the business. Now, with a new film out, he talks to Simon
Wakelin about commercials, features – and his dad
scott
great
Jake Scott (centre), surrounded by
some of his team on the
Xbox job, (clockwise from front
left) stylist Casey Storm, first
assistant director Jonathan
Watson, editor Carlos Arias
and DP Mark Patten
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“It was a lovely idea, the whole concept of
connecting these sports through movement,”
recalls Scott. “I was aware that I hadn’t made that
milestone commercial in the US and was
frustrated making mainstream American
advertising. I was desperately trying to find a
spot that would click.”
“This was the big script that year and
there was a lot of pressure to make it
special. I remember being up against stiff
competition. There was a mix of guys;
probably [Frank] Budgen was in there.
All with much stronger work than me.”
Bidding on the job, Scott maintained that high-
speed photography wasn’t the way to go, instead
pitching that the spot should be shot real-time to
celebrate sport and athletic movement.
He also felt that conscious art direction would
cloud the issue and work against any pure Nike
statement that the agency was seeking. “I think
that was about as simple as my pitch became,”
says Scott. “For me it was not about doing
anything spectacular but keeping it visually
restrained and very naturalistic. I’m pretty sure
that’s what got me the job.”
Scott shot tests for the spot, figuring out how to
make transitions from one sport to the next. “We
shot lots of material but none of it really worked
because the transitions felt dead,” he remembers.
“Sure, it worked on paper but it was really boring
stuff when you looked at it.”
There was one shot, however, that caught
Scott’s eye. It was a moving shot tracking
a girl running along the street. “I was
parallel in a van shooting her, moving
along and I suddenly realised we had to
move with all the athletes to make the
spot work,” he recalls. “It was really that
easy. It became like a musical, almost like
writing a score from that point on.”
However, all easier said than done. Scott had to
design a number of unusual rigs to track each
athlete in their respective sport (such as a skier
on a mountainside or a snowboarder flying
though the air off a halfpipe). “It was this mad
adventure working out how to film each sport,
but once we were in the edit it flowed beautifully.”
Scott notes that many commercial directors
who move into films get a bad rap from
critics because there is an expectation that
they will fail. Yet he feels the success rate of
film directors moving into commercials is
far, far worse.
Romanek recently had a terrible time on
Wolfman. I know for a fact that he
walked from the project because he just
couldn’t deal with the studio.”
Scott has also been busy shooting commercials
and a new music video while promoting his film.
The promo is Massive Attack’s prophetic Pray For
Rain, for which he favoured using the Canon 5D
in low light and shooting in naturalistic settings to
create what feels like a lyrical, apocalyptic
Western for the band.
Scott also directed a big campaign for Xbox
Kinect through the San Francisco-based
AgencyTwoFifteen, shooting in Prague earlier this
year on a bunch of Canon 5D rigs. The shoot
proved to be more difficult than the Massive
Attack promo because, ironically, there was
plenty of light on set.
“You had to light the set in a certain way for the
gain on the Canon chip to respond,” he explains.
“Plus the images we got weren’t very moody and
were a little bright, so I played around with it in
post to make it all feel like 16mm. I like the Canon
5D but you’re limited to working with stills lenses.”
Scott shot for 14 days with up to 30 5D
camera rigs running simultaneously on
each take. “We move around each actor
playing the game, moving from camera to
camera as they responded to their
avatars,” explains Scott. “It evokes the
classic Eadweard Muybridge freeze-frame
photography, but it’s not just time slice.
As you move around from one camera to
the next the actor still continues moving.”
Scott admits he has enjoyed his return to making
spots following Welcome to the Rileys. He feels
lucky to have a career in commercials. “It’s tough
to make any film today, but I really enjoy making
spots because you continue to flex creative
muscles,” he says. “Maybe not as profoundly as
you do when making a film, but you’re keeping
your skills sharpened. A film pushes you to the
limit and you don’t have much time to get what
you need.”
Indeed, Scott only had 28 days to shoot Welcome
to the Rileys in New Orleans. He chose Canadian
cinematographer Chris Soos for the film (who
also shot with him on his Massive Attack promo),
both agreeing to push the 35mm stock to add
grain and achieve a subtle underexposed quality
to the image. The look accentuates the mundane
existence of a middle-aged couple living separate
lives since the death of their child. Interestingly,
Scott also chose not to storyboard on the film.
“It would have destroyed the
spontaneity,” he explains. “Sure, when I
had distinct ideas about certain
sequences I’d thumbnail it out to get the
structure of the scene, but you essentially
find yourself guided by the actors and
how they move on set. We had a very
defined visual world in terms of distance
to subject and quality of light so the film
has a very restrained feel. But as long as
you work within those self-restrained
parameters you’re free to move around. I
ended up shooting in places I’d normally
avoid, which was an eye-opener for me.”
Scott also allowed takes to run longer, nabbing
genuine unscripted moments that made it into
the final cut. “I think that decision elevated the
script,” he says. “These were deeply felt
performances and many memorable, real
moments were right there in those silent
moments. Handled a different way, it would have
been overly sentimental.”
One of Scott’s biggest commercials – and
probably his most epic – was the Emmy-Award
winning Move for Nike through Wieden +
Kennedy. Shot over 10 days, it became Scott’s
first iconic spot in the US.
(Above) Scott’s seminal Move spot
for Nike; (right) two stills each
from (top to bottom) Philips’
The Hunt, new feature film
Welcome to The Rileys and a
recent campaign for Xbox Kinect
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“Most of the time they don’t do it very well,” he
says. “It’s often because the shorthand isn’t
there. Very skilled people make commercials and,
as a result, it all looks deceptively simple. People
like Fredrik Bond or Noam Murro are extremely
skilled at telling stories in very lean ways. I think
that’s the secret of great comedic spots, such as
the work of Tom Kuntz. It’s all down to instinct.”
One aspect of shooting on his latest film that
Scott enjoyed was directing the performances. He
maintains that any performance given by an
actor is directly proportional to the amount of
freedom they are given on set.
“I learned a lot from a directing
standpoint,” admits Scott. “I realised it’s
where you place the camera, or where you
place your subject in relation to the
camera in addition to direction. Even a
very skilled actor can fuck up their
performance. I think that’s where you
come in as a director. There’s usually a
reason for things screwing up. You have
to figure it out, be totally honest. If the
moment isn’t authentic you can work it
out and the actor will usually agree.”
Scott didn’t use monitors on the shoot. Most of the
film saw him leaning his chin on Soos’ shoulder or
sitting on an apple box beneath the lens to watch
the performances. “It’s the old- fashioned directing
method,” he explains. “There’s a reason why it’s
so useful. You see the performances in front of
you, not off on a monitor somewhere. I wouldn’t
even watch playback and trust that we had it.”
Scott turned to Brit editor Nicolas Gaster to slice
the footage. “It needed to be paced in the same
way that the main character moved,” says Scott.
“He’s in stasis, in a crisis of procrastination. That’s
when he meets this girl and things start to bubble.
This informed the editing and became a reflection
of the rhythm present in the characters. The first
20 minutes are very still, reflecting the inertia and
the coldness of his relationship with his wife. Once
we arrive in New Orleans the film begins to move.”
Other commercial fare of note this year
includes Parallel Lines for Philips, who
collaborated with RSA on a series of short
films. RSA submitted 45 treatments to
Philips, who finally settled on five
directors ­- Jake Scott, Greg Fay, Johnny
Hardstaff, Carl Erik Rinsch and Hi-Sim.
Each spot carries the same dialogue translated in
different ways by each director. Scott chose to
create a mystical, horror-themed short entitled
The Hunt, following two men plodding through
woodlands in slow pursuit of their prey.
The sound of birds, the trickle of a stream and
the earth underfoot add to the drama. As the duo
creep through the bush they spot a mystical
beast up ahead, a beautiful unicorn. Their awe is
replaced by fear as the unicorn spots them,
charging in attack, as the hunters themselves
become the hunted. “That was successful and
very well received,” says Scott on the project.
“We all shot on a small budget and I enjoyed
working on the same overarching theme.”
As the interview comes to a close, the subject
turns to what kind of pressure he and his
brothers Luke and Jordan have felt growing up
with Ridley as their father. Has he found it
difficult to be accepted professionally?
“You don’t notice it, to be honest,” he
replies. “My father is obviously an icon
and he’s made some amazing films. But
as he’s made his journey, we have all
been carried along and experienced it
vicariously. It was part of my development
from a very young age. He’s very open
and shared a lot with us growing up.
As a result, you get insight into the
process. The best part for me was being
on set since I was a young kid. On the
other hand, it excludes you from a
normal life. I’ve lived my whole life on
film and commercials sets.
“I think it’s a tendency in some to say, ‘Well,
he’s had it good’, to which I say, sure, but in
order to be any good you have to do the work
yourself. I am the one standing there with my
actors and crew. It’s me directing. Its not my
father coming out and doing it for me. I don’t
call him up when I have a problem on set. It
doesn’t work like that.”
Scott admits that Welcome to the Rileys was a
reaction to his background. He needed to prove
to himself that he could garner strong
performances in a powerful drama: “It’s me
pursuing a voice of my own, the same as any
artist,” he says both of the film and his
commercial career. “I speak to my father on a
daily basis. I’ve just turned him on to the painter
Neo Rauch because he’s painting a lot these days.
We have a great relationship.
“I can tell you he’s very excited about making the
Alien prequel. I’m very impressed where they are
taking it visually. It’s great to see it come back
around to him again.”
jake scott
Representation:
rsafilms.com
Key work:
•Nike, Move
•adidas, Improvisation
•Volkswagen Passat, Check Point
•Philips Parallel Lines, The Hunt
View on shots.net
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