1. Adman rides the wide, blue continental drift
SUSI BANKS
ADVERTISING
JEREMY PIPER
California-based copywriter turned film director Ben Nott enjoys the surf at North Narrabeen on Sydney’s northern beaches
FANATICAL surfer, award-
winning advertising copywriter,
TV commercial director, ad
agency founder and now promi-
nent movie director Ben Nott has
journeyed from Sydney’s north-
ernbeachestotheglitteringlights
of Hollywood, but a theme run-
ningthroughhislifeandworkhas
been his love of surfing.
As Nott himself notes: ‘‘It’s
sadly ironic how I’m often so busy
on creative projects, many based
around surfing — but all I really
want is more time to go surfing.’’
One of the first ads he created
as a junior copywriter at Siimon
Reynolds’s ad agency, And-
romeda, was a controversial pos-
ter for Kadu surfwear entitled
‘‘Shark’’, which won the Grand
Prix at the Cannes Advertising
Awards, making Nott the youn-
gest creative to win the award.
Nott’s latest achievement has
been to complete co-directing
feature film Drift, starring Sam
Worthington. The $11.4 million
filmwillhaveitsAustralianprem-
ier on Thursday in Perth, where
the story is set and principal pho-
tography took place.
It follows the fictional story of
two brothers in the 1970s who
were part of the early surf indus-
tryinAustralia.InacoupforNott,
Worthington — the knockabout
Aussie actor made Hollywood
A-lister who is also a keen surfer
— plays a surf cinematographer
in thefilm. Drifthad itsworld pre-
miere last October at the Hamp-
tons International Film Festival,
where it was a hit with audiences.
After working at several ad
agenciesinAustralia,Nottmoved
to Amsterdam then London,
where he worked as a writer and
art director for big creative agen-
cies such as Saatchi & Saatchi,
M&C Saatchi and Bartle Bogle
Hegarty. Many awards followed
and in 2000 he moved to Los An-
gelestofurtherhisfilmcareerand
enjoy the surfing conditions.
He set up his film production
and advertising company in LA,
World Wide Mind. Since that
time he has created and directed
more than 100 TV commercials
for international companies such
as Nike and Adidas, 10 music
videos for artists including The
Cardigans and Tom Jones, two
documentaries and many short
films. He has also written four
screenplays with three optioned
in Hollywood.
Nott is also a founding partner
in ad agency Droga5 in New York
— and Sydney — with principal
David Droga.
Now involved in many pro-
jects, Nott is part of product-
development, writing/art direct-
ing advertising and producing
and directing anything from a
video game, a mobile phone app
to co-directing a feature such as
Drift. He says projects come to
himatdifferentstages,andhisex-
perience as a creative across
manymediumsgiveshiminsights
to contribute.
‘‘Southern California is a great
placetobeatthemomentasthat’s
where many start-ups happen,
with Venice Beach now being re-
ferred to as Silicon Beach.’’ Nott
has made his home there and his
officeisnearbyonthefashionable
Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
WorkonDriftbeganfouryears
agowhenNottstarteddeveloping
the script with producer Tim
Duffy and writer Morgan O’Neill,
who then became Nott’s co-
director. One of the actors
attached to the project, Myles
Pollard, attended NIDA with
Worthington and got him inter-
ested in the project.
Says Nott: ‘‘I felt very lucky for
the opportunity to work with all
those talented guys.’’
The US distribution rights for
the film were snapped up and it is
soon to have a general release in
Australia and internationally.
Although Nott has achieved a
high level of financial success by
most standards, he says money
has never been his main motiv-
ation for taking on a project.
‘‘Myexperiencehascomefrom
always following the best ideas
and the best execution, putting
creative ahead of money and
lookingforthecreativetruthinan
idea.
It’s called show business; some
peoplethinkit’sallshowbutthat’s
only half of it — it’s business too.’’
A few years ago at an auction,
Nott bought a vintage surfboard,
which was Australia’s most ex-
pensive and possibly oldest.
Carvedintothedeckofthecollec-
table wooden board was the word
‘‘NOTT’’, his family name. Nott
doubts he would ever part with
the board, even if it did cost him
$10,000.
Nott says he would ideally like
to be ‘‘bi-coastal’’, working be-
tween LA and Sydney and spend-
ing equal amounts of time work-
ing on projects in both countries.