Bruce Van Dusen, director of over a thousand TV commercials, three films and a documentary, on his career and new book, 60 Stories about 30 Seconds

Director Bruce Van Dusen has had a long career making commercials,
which is extremely rare. He's discovered that making a good
commercial is finding a balance between art and commerce, and the
end product must be exactly what the client wants while getting the
viewer to pay attention. Working in commercials doesn't necessarily
bring out the best in people- unlike a movie or TV show, there's
even less time and more pressure on a commercial shoot. The crew
must gel instantly, work quickly and create a spot that's going to
be usable at the end of the day. A commercial director is in the
unique position of not necessarily being completely in charge on
set. The client is always present and is able to tell the director
exactly what they want, even without any authority or experience.
The director has to listen even if it seems stupid, or they get
blamed for a bad result. Straight out of film school, Bruce first
wanted to make serious documentaries. He greatly admired Frederick
Wiseman's films, and Frederick happened to be listed in the phone
book, so Bruce called him up. Frederick gave him a piece of advice-
you'll spend a lot of your time trying to raise money for your film
rather than making the documentary. This set Bruce down a
completely different path, and he decided he would do anything to
get a job working in movies. He started working as a production
assistant, and saw how much money some of the big names in the
movie business made making commercials on the side. At age 23, he
quickly found some local clients, started his own business in New
York and established himself as the king of low-budget commercials
by undercutting all the other directors' rates. Over time, Bruce
became an established name, doing bigger and longer commercials,
and he was able to find a niche in longer-format emotional
commercial “stories” dealing with actors. Once he created a rapport
working with the same clients, there was more trust, more art, and
more confidence in his work. He finally made a documentary, The
Surge: The Whole Story, and directed three films, including Cold
Feet, a small 1983 indie that made it to the Sundance Film
Festival. Most recently, besides writing a book about his
experiences, Bruce made a spot for The Lincoln Project. Find Bruce
Van Dusen: https://www.brucevandusen.com/ Instagram:
@brucevandusen1 IT'S A GIVEAWAY! Enter to win Bruce Van Dusen's
book, 60 Stories about 30 Seconds: How I Got Away with Becoming a
Pretty Big Commercial Director Without Losing My Soul (or Maybe
Just Part of It). Like and comment on our Bruce Van Dusen post on
Facebook and we'll choose a winner from the comments.
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episode, with extensive show notes and links:
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