“People Would Ask Me for Coffee On Set”: Digby on Directing as a Black Man

Whether it was ‘The Lion King’, ‘Speed Racer’ or a little-known American anime adaptation called ‘Robotech’, Jerry Digby - known professionally as ‘Digby’ - has always loved animation. Now a director and co-founder of his own production company, Baby Lion Media, he looks back on his love for the art form as a key component in making him a “well-rounded” creative today. 

Growing up in Turkey, Germany and the US, Digby spent much of his childhood absorbing a wide variety of animated influences, as well as drawing and reading comic books in his room - one of his other main passions. After developing his digital art skills at high school in Germany, he graduated and got a job as an album cover artist at Sony Music in Frankfurt (while pursuing a semi-professional football career) before returning to the States to study animation at college. 

Somewhat ironically, the director says that he didn’t take his film classes seriously at college. Discouraged by the “snotty, highbrow” film student archetypes he encountered, and much more interested in animation than live-action, Digby wouldn’t discover a passion for directing and storytelling until later. After graduating college, he split his time between New York and Miami working on fashion shoots for a few years before moving to NYC full-time to work at a production company called Curious Pictures. While he joined Curious to kickstart his CG career - and enjoyed hanging with models and photographers during this role - he soon discovered that working in post left him with an unsociable schedule.

“I always call computers ‘time machines’ - you go to work early in the morning, and then you leave at night, so it's just dark and dark,” he says. “Those were my daytime hours. I'd be working for hours on frames within a 30-second commercial and that wasn't what I wanted to do. I just knew that I wanted to tell more stories.” 

Fortunately, Digby came across an opportunity to direct a solvent abuse PSA for the Partnership for Drug-Free America - an unpaid gig that other more established directors were less keen on taking. Grasping the chance with both hands, the young animator and his equally inexperienced art director friend bit the bullet, resulting in an AICP Award-nominated film that aired for several years afterwards, and changed the trajectory of Digby’s career.

“We did it ourselves with maybe 100 bucks and a bunch of favours, but we actually got the nomination for ‘Best Art Direction’, which put us up against million-dollar Nike commercials and big car jobs with big directors,” he explains. “I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I can do this’.” From there, Digby left both his jobs and started fresh as a PA on film sets in New York. For several years, he learned through “the school of hard knocks” and gained the reputation of being ‘the guy that directors wanted to work with’ by doing everything on set, from assisting the director to driving the trucks.

(Photo: Andy Kim)

After moving to LA, he made it his quest to learn the craft, build his network, and create a reel that would stand up for itself as quickly as possible - well aware of the myriad directors in LA that were already much more connected than him, and who could finance their own productions to develop an impressive reel out of the gate. A signed director in name only, Digby initially struggled with imposter syndrome, as he was still working as a PA on sets and doing odd jobs in the industry to make ends meet. He says, “To me, it was [meant to be] like: you work, you build your reel, you get signed, and everything's all gravy - you made it. But that's not the case. Not for me, at least, and I'm sure for a lot of people too.” 

He continues, “So, the imposter syndrome was there because I'm telling people I'm a director, and yet I'm PA-ing on sets for people, or assisting or editing or other stuff to pay the bills - because the bills don't stop.” Luckily, Digby would earn some moments of reassurance - and an opportunity to stretch his directing and artistic wings - when larger projects started to come along. One of his first big directing jobs, a Hasbro campaign for ‘Toy Story 3’, allowed him to design sets and draw storyboards for a three-day shoot. “I remember flying out and walking on set, and it hit me - ‘holy shit, what did I get [myself] into?’,” he says. “There were kids, talent wranglers, teachers… I had done stuff before that, but this was my first big job with the company that I was signed to.” Fortunately, thanks to his extensive preparation in pre-production, all the skills he had accumulated thus far - and a little bit of self-belief - he composed himself and led a successful shoot for the toy company. 

After big projects, however, it was quickly back to reality. While Digby waited for the money to come in and for opportunities to arise off the back of such work, he went back to the hustle. “It's a luxury to be able to even just focus on directing,” he says. “I’ve had people telling me all my career: ‘You’ve got to just direct!’.” But to keep the bills paid and to work his way up, Digby had no choice but to do everything else, on top of directing.

He adds, “I've colour-corrected a spot that was on the Super Bowl, I've edited, I've assisted, I've done VFX - I've had to hustle every freaking day of my career, and not just doing what I wanted to do. I directed a job, and then I was driving a truck the next day. I've never had the luxury of just concentrating on one thing.” Though, Digby has found a silver lining to these experiences too. Through all these roles, from location scouting to ADing, editing and even catering, he has derived new skills and strengths to add to his arsenal. “Having multi-faceted abilities makes you more marketable,” he says. “I can shoot for the edit and talk to animators and VFX artists about what I want… I can be specific with my instructions.”

Now directing for Baby Lion Media, the Black and Latino-owned production company that he co-founded with executive producer Ramon ‘Ra’ Nuñez, Digby has the freedom to choose his jobs more selectively and curate his reel, instead of chasing pay checks. Known for his documentary work, the director enjoys conceptual projects that give him a chance to inject some reality and relatability into a piece of work, with a focus on visual storytelling. Recently, he pushed this to its limits with an experiential piece for Netflix’s ‘Resident Evil’ series.

“We had people there for four hours,” says Digby. “No one has an attention span - people don't watch 30-second commercials, but we had this live thing unfolding in front of people and they actually wanted to see what would happen next. Those projects speak to me.” 

He adds, “As a minority, even to this day I feel like I don't belong in this industry… it doesn't seem like I should be doing that kind of project. In an industry where people want to put things in tidy boxes because maybe it makes them feel safe, I love to do things that seem unexpected.” He continues, “Maybe that teaches us something. Maybe creatives, brands, agencies should take that chance. It could be amazing because it's not the normal person doing the normal thing - they could bring something new to the equation… The projects that really float my boat and get me excited are things that don’t seem like I should be doing them.”

(Digby directing the 'Resident Evil - 72 Hours' experiential project for Netflix)

Drawing on his experiences within the industry, Digby explains what it was like to be “fitting in” among a group that he stood out in. Starting out, he quickly found that the few other Black people on set were often fellow PAs or members of the crew, rather than the creatives, producers or directors. And, as he moved up the ranks creatively, he noticed the persistence that this disparity maintained across all areas of production, requiring him to consciously code-switch and try to blend in, right up until starting his own production company.

“A few years ago, I would be [directing] on set and people would ask me for coffee… people aren't used to seeing people of colour, minorities or women in positions of power,” he says. “The industry is one way and usually, when you see a young Black guy on set, they're probably a PA or doing some kind of labour or whatever. When the industry is at the point where there are more minorities doing jobs like directing and stuff like that, then people won't make those kinds of assumptions.” He adds, “I would get the coffee, you know? But then later, when I’m introduced to that crew member or whoever as the director, there’s that ‘oh shit, I’m so sorry!’ moment.”

While he acknowledges that the industry is taking steps to improve in DE&I, saying that ‘inclusion’ was simply a buzzword early on in his career, he expresses his belief that perceptions are unlikely to change until more minorities are represented in these creative roles. In addition, seeing minorities in positions of power is also empowering for people from the same or other underrepresented groups of society, says Digby.

“It will let them dream and dare to think, ‘I can be like that person’. We have stories to tell and we have talent. And just as much as the establishment needs to see minorities doing things, we need to see [it] ourselves. Because until we do, we won't feel like we fit in. But if we see it, we know we belong, and we know we can kick ass.”

For the director, it’s paramount that minorities are able to tell minority stories themselves, especially after decades of driving culture when it comes to style, music and fashion. Historically, Black stories have often been communicated in the commercial world through the lenses of white directors and largely white creative teams which, according to him, provide an ‘interpretation’, as opposed to an authentic, lived experience and perspective. 

(On set with Academy Award-nominated Taraji P. Henson - courtesy of Ray Yau)

The flip side to this, however, is ensuring that minority creatives are still granted opportunities across the breadth of the general market. “We have a different perspective towards things, which can make things fresh,” he says. “So we're an asset - agencies and brands aren't doing us a favour by letting us in on a bid. We have a chance to bring a unique perspective to what they're trying to create.”

He continues, “It’s not like: ‘Black History Month has come, let's pitch [Black directors] all these minority jobs’ or ‘let's get Latino directors to do Latin stuff’ - we don't need to do just minority work. Coming up, I didn't get jobs because I was Black, but I definitely lost jobs because I was Black. Because I didn't have the experience in my reel, I wasn't developed or I didn't have the right resources.”

As a minority-owned business, Digby shares Baby Lion Media’s goal of breaking this cycle and says that they focus on developing young diverse talent both in front of and behind the camera. Aware of the struggles that these talents face, having experienced them himself, he says that he wants to “foster a new generation of talent and fight for them,” instead of simply going after the obvious hot targets when adding to the roster.

As a director, he says that you require more than just short-term opportunities to grow, adding that you need a company that believes in you and provides support and guidance. Tired of being put in a box by companies and not being helped to develop, he decided it was time to create his own, and Baby Lion Media has been going strong ever since. 

With his company, Digby’s proud to provide real opportunities for talent following in his footsteps, instead of ‘back pocketing’ them - a scenario he often faced with production companies that were looking to utilise minority talent only when convenient to them. “I’ve had relationships with some of the top production companies, but they wouldn't give me the time of day. I would PA for them, but I wouldn't be considered as a director for them,” he says. “They wouldn't put me on the roster, but they would get briefs for jobs that needed a minority director and then they would hit me up.”

While aware that more DE&I initiatives and opportunities have arisen in the industry since he started his career - and even since starting Baby Lion Media - he expresses his concern that any self-congratulating over the smallest progress may breed complacency. “I’m afraid that people are gonna start patting themselves on the backs thinking that the job is done. I've seen that done years and years ago when it wasn't even close - and it's not close to being done now,” says Digby, adding that companies sometimes pull up short at the bidding stage. 

“You can feel good about having minorities on bids, but they're not going to get the jobs because they don't have this stuff on their reel - they don't have exactly what they're looking for, or it's not amazing and [the client] doesn't want to take that leap of faith,” he continues. “I see these programmes come up and I know people who think, ‘oh, there are all these programmes for minorities, it must be better now’. But it's not - it's just getting started, to tell you the truth.”

(Photo: Andy Kim)

Speaking candidly, Digby admits that he shouldn’t even be in the industry anymore, saying he “should have given up a long time ago” after swimming against the tide for so long and because of how slow the progress has been. Comparing it to a “war of attrition” or treading water, he says, “At some point, you’ve got to get out of the water or you're going to drown. Life is passing you by… it’s not sustainable.” Sharing that most of the people he came up with have since moved on to other things, in search of a consistent cash flow, health insurance or family life, he describes himself as an anomaly - or “the idiot that kept banging his head against the wall.”

To catalyse the progress that the industry has made so far, the director says he would like to see creatives take more risks by providing imaginative opportunities for directors who may not have the ideal spot on their reels yet. He notes that helping to add something potentially transformative to someone’s reel, instead of leaving them to take less stimulating or challenging jobs out of a necessity to keep the lights on is something creatives can, and should, take pride in. Hoping to encourage the industry to practice what they preach, he says the industry should try to discover and develop new, underrepresented talent more regularly, rather than relying on familiar faces or the on-paper favourite for the job.

In 2023, Digby is focused on directing his own conceptual projects with strong visual storytelling and narratives, as well as helping other talents step into the spotlight. Since driving location vans coast-to-coast in the fashion industry and doing every odd job there is in the business, Digby has earned opportunities to work with some of his greatest inspirations, from David Fincher to Dark Horse Comics’ founder Mike Richardson - realising some of his own dreams. Now, he’s looking forward to helping the next generation achieve theirs too.

With his business partner Ramon, Digby’s sights are set firmly on disrupting the culture through storytelling. Similar to the 'Resident Evil' project, Baby Lion Media is especially utilising experiential as just one innovative new avenue to upset the status quo - through Digby's own creative means and by bringing through younger talent into the medium. By supporting experiential production and mentoring up-and-coming talent, such as diverse digital programmers in the AR and VR spaces, he hopes to give more fearless, underrepresented creatives an opportunity to reach their full potential - something many of his peers missed out on after being unable to tread water any longer waiting for the industry to change.

He says, “We founded Baby Lion to develop new talent and add more perspectives so that the directors creating the content closer represent the population who's consuming it. We're building a multifaceted company that represents talent. A rising tide lifts all boats and our company's success will be fuelled by developing all of our talents to help them find success. In fact, I didn't do a lot of our biggest jobs but I definitely helped make them happen and I love that. Ramon and I are who I always wished I had in my corner as I was coming up.”