The Directors: Sean + Steve

Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams are a Canadian LGBTQIA+ directing team known for their visually stunning and emotionally raw storytelling that showcases the lives and experiences of real people. They create moments that feel unrehearsed, spontaneous, and authentic - even on shoots that are meticulously planned. With a background in commercial advertising, documentary filmmaking, and journalism, their award-winning work adds a polished finish to the beauty of regular life. The duo’s latest cinematic achievement, 'Satan Wants You,' was one of the buzziest and most talked about features at SXSW 2023 - with Variety praising the documentary and critics awarding the film with a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Name: Sean + Steve

Location: Vancouver, Canada

Repped by: BOLDLY - North America

Awards: SXSW Buzz Selection, Best Documentary (Fantasia Film Festival), Best Documentary (Vancouver Film Critics), Rogers Audience Award (Hot Docs)

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

Sean> I’m a sucker for a great story, which is why I really like scripts that involve an interesting character journey, whether that’s physically out in the world or internally through an emotional landscape. Interesting locations, opportunities to create a world that you can experience in a sensory way beyond just visuals are also a huge draw for me - think sunlight passing over someone’s face while their eyes are closed, driving down a highway with the all the windows open, working on the tarmac of a busy airport as a 737 jet takes off. It’s our job as directors to make people feel something. So a script that speaks to both the heart and mind, blending spectacular visuals with heart-tugging narratives - that's what gets me excited.

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

Steve> I have a secret to tell you. Treatments excite me in a weird kinda way. I spend a lot of my spare time searching for and reading these things. And nothing beats the surprise of finding a really good one. For me, building a treatment is the first step in a world building exercise that turns imagination into reality. From finding the right combination of images to digging deep for the right typeface that speaks to the brand and emotion of the creative vision to finding the colour palate that represents the brand and the overall campaign, I don’t know, I guess it gets me going. It's about presenting ideas clearly, crafting a blueprint for how the final product will look and feel. From art direction to camera movements, every element is chosen to create a cohesive world that will guide both agency and client through our plan of execution. 

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 do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Steve> Our goal as filmmakers and commercial directors is to reach as wide of a specific audience as possible with our work. We are constantly thinking about who the audience is, what are they expecting, and how we can tweak or twist those expectations so they are surprised.

Research is key, especially with unfamiliar brands. We immerse ourselves in the brand's world, diving into their identity, values, and audience demographics. It's not just desktop research - we read the comments from real customers online, look at which of our friends follow a brand and talk to them about it. Thorough research ensures the commercial resonates with the target audience and accurately represents the brand. It's vital for a successful, impactful campaign.

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

Sean and Steve> This is a tricky question as there are so many important working relationships that exist throughout the process of creating an ad. For us, one of the most crucial relationships for a director is undoubtedly with the creative team, particularly the lead creative or copywriter. From the production side, our relationship with our producers and our director of photography are equally important. These partnerships are the cornerstone of transforming a concept into a captivating commercial. Why is this so vital? Because it's a symbiotic relationship where vision meets execution.

We recently worked with two great creatives from Rethink on a large holiday campaign. At the core of the relationship was open dialogue, thoughtful feedback and the camaraderie of pulling off a complicated shoot. At the end we all relied on each other to make it happen and reflect back fondly on the experience. Creating relationships like this is part of the magic and why we love this crazy industry.

We also have to mention that working relationship with the producers, both on the agency and production side. They work tirelessly to pull off these campaigns and the work they do is invaluable to the success of the project.

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?

Sean> True stories, emotional storytelling, diving deep into someone’s personal life and lived experiences - Steve and I have been very fortunate to make a career from this kind of storytelling. Our stylistic focus is visual elegance paired with emotional depth. A large part of our directing work involves building trust and creating a space where a real person can feel free to talk about anything and share intimate details about their life on camera. Other times it involves working and building trust with actors so they can go to uncomfortable or raw places with a performance to bring these stories to life. Ultimately, our passion lies in crafting narratives that resonate deeply, whether it’s through authentic, lived experiences or compelling performances, always aiming to create a profound connection between the story and the audience.

LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?

Sean> How collaborative this process is from start to finish. As directors, we get to be the conduit for the creativity of so many talented people. Filmmaking is a team sport and the end result is often the work of dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of artists, not just the director. I also don’t think the casual viewer realises how much preparation goes into filming! Or that weeks or months of planning go into even a one-day shoot - and that’s even before the post-production team gets involved and works on it for months after the film crew has moved on to whatever they are shooting next. 

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

Steve> I’ve always said that a director is equal parts artist and salesperson. You’re constantly selling an idea, taking that feedback, and then shaping it into the best version of the original idea as possible. I often think that our job as directors is to be a conduit for the creativity of everyone we work with - from client to agency to our production team. Filmmaking is a team sport and our role is to focus all this creativity. It’s important to listen to your collaborators. It’s also important to allow an idea to grow and change into the best version of that idea, instead of holding on to something that isn’t working. Putting your ego aside and working together towards the best creative solution, even if it’s not your own personal creative solution, is part of what makes filmmaking so collaborative and rewarding.

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

Sean and Steve> Alright, let me set the stage… Picture this: We’re surprise-reuniting family members who haven’t seen each other in a very long time, but doing it during the winter, at one of the busiest airports in Canada, with real people on real flights. And get this: we had to keep it secret from our three heroes for months and only had one take to get it right. 

The list of challenges in pulling something off like this was huge but the scope of it really played to our strengths as a directing duo. We had a wonderful team around us, but really, it came down to open and clear communication, a lot of organizing, and being prepared for anything, with the awareness that we might need to pivot at any given moment. We had more to shoot than we had daylight or time, and that's a huge value-add for us as a directing duo in that we can work together as one unit seamlessly, but can also get nimble and operate in parallel when necessary. We really love these kinds of high-pressure, think-on-your-feet shoots because anything can happen and it makes for an electric few days on set. 

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

Sean and Steve> 1) WestJet

This spot highlights the unsung heroes who work over the winter holiday season to help travellers connect with their loved ones. We followed three real people across their workday and surprised them at the end of their shifts with family members that they have been unable to visit because of their work commitments. The world we developed for this is constantly in motion to echo the feeling of what it’s like to travel at that time of year. This piece showcases our ability to direct very emotional and heartfelt moments with non-actors, and capture one-take, real-life moments in a highly cinematic and beautiful way. 

2) BC Lottery Corporation

This campaign, titled 'Stop Chasing Losses,' features three actors in a Ken Burns-inspired studio setting and was shot in a documentary style. The spot is all about the character journeys. We worked closely with these actors to create a distinct emotional arc that reflected the real-life experiences of the users of an online gaming platform. We wanted to see and feel the initial thrill of winning, the subsequent spiral of chasing losses, and a distinct 'aha' moment when they realise their behaviour is a problem. This approach exemplifies our ability to blend documentary techniques with scripted storytelling, ensuring performances authentically reflect real-life experiences.

3) Knowledge Network Pride

This Pride spot tells a real-life story of discovery, highlighting an author's experience of finding a book by one of North America's first out lesbian authors, during a time when it was very difficult to find any representation of queer people in popular culture or media. The world we created for this piece is both intimate and nostalgic, featuring composed portraiture, private personal photos, and an ‘80s synth track. As queer men with a history of directing work about the queer community, this piece exemplifies our light hearted, visual approach to traditional documentary style.

4) Satan Wants You 

This film is about the origin story of the global Satanic Panic of the 1980s. It was a very emotional project based on false memories, featuring a number of real-life people who had never spoken about that period of their lives on camera or in public before. It also presented a large creative challenge: many of the participants talked about videotaped therapy sessions from the 1970s but we could not locate the original film. Our solution was to rebuild a real psychiatrist’s office with a production designer and his team in an abandoned 1960s military building with offices that had never been renovated. We cast two actors as the real-life doctor and patient, with HMU and costume design to bring that period of history to life.