A Witches Curse, Wheat Fields and Beauty with a Twist: 20 Years of Directing with Calum Macdiarmid

Calum Macdiarmid began working life as an in-house illustrator at MTV. Once inside the company he sidestepped into animation before discovering his passion for directing.

After a few years freelancing for various TV channels - BBC, Channel 4, Living, Bravo - he was picked up for commercial representation by Great Guns where he produced work for agencies such as RKCR / Y&R, M&C Saatchi, Publicis, Iris, Ogilvy, Mccann and Wieden+Kennedy. Over the course of his career Calum has shot on every continent in the world, working with talent from Jessica Alba to Twitter legend James Blunt.

As well as producing commercial film and music videos Calum has also directed six short films; ‘Worship’, ‘Stamen’, ‘82’, ‘Bossman’, ‘Stillness’, and ‘Made With Love’. Each film has won awards at a multitude of international festivals likeRaindance Film Festival, London Film Festival and Hollywood shorts. In addition to this ‘Stamen’ has garnered millions of views, and‘Stillness’ achieved a placement in Nowness, and ‘Bossman’ went viral before it was technically released leading to Drake funding the development of a feature-length version.

But by far the most interesting spotlight ever placed on Calum was that of 'white witch' who once put a curse on him in response to a promo which aired on television. The curse was three pages long….

Name: Calum Macdiarmid

Location: London / Greece

Repped by/in: Great Guns in UK / US / Asia, The Deli in Canada

LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?

Calum> My favourite scripts are the ones with a clear sense of the emotion that the creatives want to elicit but an openness on how to get there. I love it when there’s a chance to collaborate and push the ideas to that next level and make something genius.

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?

Calum> Before I write anything I like to meditate on the spot and try to think about where this film is being seen and what is the singular communication that will create the most impact for the viewer. I’ll pick out keywords and then brainstorm around those thoughts,in an almost selfish way, what would make me excited about watching the spot.

LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with, don’t have a big affinity with, or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to research and understand the strategic and contextual side of the ad?

Calum> If it’s a brand I wasn’t previously aware of I’ll put a good few days into researching it both online but also speaking to people. It's amazing how often I’ll mention a brand that I thought was unknown only to learn a friend knows it and seems to have a passionate relationship with it.

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?

Calum> I think trust is the most important aspect in commercials.

Making films requires investment of a lot of money and, as such, clients and agencies can be understandably nervous as they enter into the subjective world of creative execution.

Occasionally I’ve been in situations where there is so much anxiety that as a director you find yourself curbing your creativity and making substandard work in an effort to appease that anxiety.

Conversely, when there is trust in the relationship it opens up everything and creates a situation where you are only fighting your own limitations and that is when the magic happens.

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about? Is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?

Calum> I go through phases. I broke into commercials through art and animation. I was initially fixated purely on aesthetic brilliance. Beauty and textures. ‘Beauty with a twist’ was how the reps described me. Over the years though I’ve gone on to explore various genres from food, to comedy and poetic pieces that sit in places like nowness.

Recently though, I've been very interested in cinema. I had a policy of always doing a new short film every two years, this expanded into an obsession (they always seem to be obsessions!) with storytelling. This led to my first feature film which I shot last year and which is currently in post.

As a side effect my work has started to explore more character led spots coupled with more cinematic moments.

LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?

Calum> There’s now a story I love to tell about a shoot for a vodka brand. I wanted to capture some wheat fields undulating in the wind so I could match cut it to a shot of liquid. However we were shooting everything for real in the actual wheat fields the company used, which were a six hour drive south of Moscow, in the middle of nowhere.

People sometimes make jokes about the rust belt of middle America being a little backwards, but this part of middle Russia was on a whole other level. We weren’t going to find any wind machines around there but we did manage to find a man with a helicopter.

He turned up wearing a full white linen suit and appeared to be part of the local mafia.

I remember him flying just a few metres above us to maximise the wind effect on the fields and watching as snacks, jumpers, cups of tea, and maybe a few runners all started to take flight.

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?

Calum> I feel that half my job is using passion and enthusiasm to sell agencies and clients unusual ideas. If you can’t sell an idea to them then it's either a bad idea or you’re not doing your job properly.

Attempting to be a dictator doesn’t do anything but create an unhelpful atmosphere… and besides, at the end of the day, it's their money.

LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?

Calum> There have been some great movements recently such as ‘free the bid’ that seem to push things in a better direction. Occasionally there are times where you find you’ve not made the shortlist because of this — but it's all for the greater good. I have a couple of daughters so I am hoping by the time they are working the industry might have opened up even further.

I’ve done mentoring and apprenticeships and always found them just as rewarding for me as for the apprentice.

LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work?

Calum> I love technology and am loving all the bonkers new AI footage that is coming through. I came from animation so I ain't afraid of a computer! If AI eventually becomes a standard part of the working practice, I’ll be pretty happy returning to my roots and have already explored a few projects in this way.

Having said that, my current work is mostly focussed on raw authenticity and storytelling. I think that while AI is expanding all over the internet it actually helps make the more authentic films even more valued.

LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why?

Calum> I’ve been directing for about 20 years now, shot in most countries, won a bunch of awards etc and yet at the same time I’ve got this paradoxical, almost teenage, excitement about filming that sees me getting super obsessed over some new techniques or shooting styles.

The results of this mean I’ve got a few very different genres of work on my reel… so I’m going to pick one from each!

CALM Romesh

Sobi

When I’m killed

Braun - Jessica Alba