The Work That Made Me: Justin Reardon
Justin Reardon is an American film director with a career in the arts that spans over 20 years. Justin’s career began in Chicago as an advertising creative (Leo Burnett, DDB), winning every major award, including two Emmy nominations, a Grand Prix at Cannes and a spot in the Clio Hall of Fame for creating the iconic Budweiser “Whasssup?!” campaign.
Justin’s work as a film director includes an independent feature film starring Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Luke Wilson and Anthony Mackie; an academy award qualifying short film (‘Zoltan: The Hungarian Gangster of Love’) and two decades worth of award-winning commercial campaigns for the biggest brands in the world.
In 2015, Justin launched The Royal Budapest Film Co., immediately earning the confidence of his international affiliates, first, gaining traction on large international commercial projects before growing into a popular production partner for top entertainment companies such as, A24, Netflix, Amazon, Universal, Paramount, Blumhouse, Topic, and Ley Line.
Justin now balances his career between directing and producing while his wife and long-time producing partner, Barbara, is co-owner and managing director. Justin and Barbara live permanently in Budapest, with their two children Lola and Leonardo.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Justin> 'Max Headroom' made a huge impression on me. It was a hyper-pop personality of the future. It was abstract, exciting and unlike anything we had ever seen before (until Coca-Cola bled it out). And because there was no internet, we had no way of really knowing that it was just some actor in make-up sfx, fuelled by some fun editing tricks. But it was the mystery that built the intrigue for me. While I'm sure most people have forgotten the creative piece, the impact of making something fresh has always stuck with me.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Justin> It was definitely the beer ads of the 90’s (specifically the Miller Light “This is Dick” campaign), that convinced me that advertising was a place that would accept my type of thinking. It was inspiring to see so many weird ideas broadcast for millions of people to see —especially on live sporting events. It was also the mid-1990’s where fresh thinking was across all mediums and advertising was pumping out some of the most creative thinking anywhere.
While finishing up my university degree in design and illustration, I specifically recall being on the fence about applying to film school but the vibrant creative energy from the ad industry back then sparked an obsession in me that I loved. I was less interested in the advertising part, and more focused on the pursuit of making what I viewed as being entertaining pieces of pop art. Ironically my biggest career spike came from making entertaining beer ads.
Full circle I guess.
LBB> The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…
Justin> This is a very difficult question because I’m always revisiting creative work that has inspired me in the past as a point of reference for the work I’m doing today. It helps motivate me to keep pushing and not be affected by the creative lulls that can weight you down.
I enjoy an extremely random mix of music from bass like: Minor Threat, Grateful Dead, Daft Punk, Doc Watson, Bad Brains, Charlie Parker, Dead Kennedy’s, Fugazi, Illes, The Pogues, Beastie Boys…. Often I listen to playlists filled with songs that bring me back to past moments of creative inspiration.
They serve as bookmarks for specific spikes of energy that have invigorated my creative juices in the past. Especially as life becomes more complicated, I need a way into my creative world almost immediately as I have no time to waste.
LBB> My first professional project…
Justin> The most accurate answer is….When I was around 10 years old I created artwork for a promotional item (a magnet) for one of my stepfather’s clients.
My family owned a company that sold promotional items, and so for years I tried creating artwork for their clients, unsuccessfully of course. But one day, one of my designs actually got produced. A year later my school had an open contest for a new school logo— and my design won. They used it for about 20 years.
I basically grew up surrounded by logos. I was probably the only kid who knew who Saul Bass was. This first professional project is significant for me because through all of the failure, I found success. I learned this lesson early on and it stuck with me.
LBB> The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Justin> Very difficult to whittle this down to one “piece of work” because we’re in such a bad place artistically these days.
While there is a ton of talent and incredible technology furthering craftsmanship, we have no creative leadership. The bar is set so low that everything being created these days needs to have a backstory explaining its relevancy to the viewer, rather than the art speaking for itself.
For example, I recently saw an artist sell a banana taped to a canvas for $6.2 million. While it’s not the norm, it does take “art” backwards because it brings focus away from the truly innovative talents. Much like giving too many awards out in advertising… it diminishes the value of the best work by including mediocrity. In entertainment, it’s remaking the same movies over and over again by just rearranging the pieces instead of coming up with new, fresh and exciting ideas. But I don’t ever feel as “angry” as I do “bored”.
LBB> The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…
Justin> I don’t ever remember being “jealous” over somebody else’s work, mainly because I’ve always felt that great work can produce a trend of opportunities to make more great work.
I feel like creative artists are all in this thing together and one person’s success can open doors for others. I think the people that do the best work put a lot of themselves into it; it’s personal.
Ideas in different hands lead to different executions. I've been jealous of great clients who give their creative teams the freedom to be successful. But that’s when I usually set out to find a new path where I feel I can generate the type of opportunities that me to flourish.
Success is a person thing. Find out what you want and go for that.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Justin> There are so many necessary spikes in the timeline of a career that occur, and are responsible for pushing your career forward. While I was a big part of the original success of the infamous Budweiser “Whassuup?!” campaign, it was a series of spec ads that I wrote & directed that launched my directing career.
When I left advertising, I moved out to LA a week before 9/11. In the aftermath, every opportunity I had of potentially riding my advertising successes onto a roster of a commercial production company dried up immediately. I just continued relying on my ideas, writing commercial and music video treatments for well known directors hoping to get my shot.
Eventually, I met with a producer from Kansas City who wanted to start a production company by first launching one director through a spec reel. Kansas City??? Yes, it was a very obscure opportunity --but I had stacks of scripts that I had written, many teetering on sketch comedy with a logo.
The result was my seven spec spot reel became one of the first and biggest viral sensations on the internet (Before Facebook and YouTube existed), amassing over 24 million hits in just four months. If I tried to explain the details of this experience, it wouldn’t be believable. Another story for another time. This project spawned a whole new chapter of my career and life...
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Justin> When I was signed with Anonymous Content I was writing endless amounts of music video treatments, on great tracks, for bands that I absolutely loved. But not once did I win any of the pitches.
It was really frustrating because in addition to all the fun and the unique ideas I was developing, I had a strong music background, writing, recording and playing in bands; I felt I was a perfect fit for music videos and desperately wanted to shoot, at least one!.
One day I received a really cool Fat Boy Slim track that a label wanted me to write on. Despite it being a very modern electronic track, I wrote a treatment that described the surreal adventures of a Hungarian villager, a local Don Juan, who travelled around his village with his boombox and pet baby pig. There was cow-milking, egg sucking, head shaving and even a dance-fight with gypsies, all captured in a timeless black and white 16mm film style.
The entertainment was fueled with a surreal sense of humor that was very personal to me.
Again, I lost the project to another director.
I hated that my ideas were going nowhere, and decided to ditch the Fat Boy Slim track and shoot it as a short film instead. I shot it in small village in Hungary, with all Hungarian talent, in Hungarian language, and filled it with mostly Hungarian classic rock from the band, Illes.
It went on to win top prizes at several US film festivals, was a top four finalist at London’s Raindance Festival, and qualified for the 2013 Academy Awards. This film was also instrumental in landing my first feature film and was the inspiration for my wife and I starting our production company in Hungary called, The Royal Budapest Film Co.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Justin> I directed a fun independent feature film called, 'A Many Splintered Thing'. The script was filled with unique ideas that were surreal, twisted, and fun. Lots of big stars came aboard.
Shooting it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. During the editing process an early teaser trailer was released, prompting a really positive groundswell. The producers of the project thought there was a more “commercial” version of the film that could yield even more success. They themselves decided to take control of the film, recut it, use a different director to shoot some additional scenes, finish the VFX and grading, and wipe away all of my music choices.
In the end they changed the name to “Playing It Cool”.
It was literally my most perfect nightmare ever.
To this day, I’ve never wanted to see the final version of the film. However, this “cringe” experience was a huge motivating factor for me to build my own production company with my producing partner and wife Barbara Reardon. We do exciting and fun work in commercials and entertainment, building our brand's successes through putting “creative first”... where it belongs.
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Justin> While this isn’t a “directing accomplishment”, very recently my wife Barbara and I co-produced a dark comedy feature film through our production company, The Royal Budapest Film Co., for A24. It’s a dark comedy starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd called “Death of a Unicorn”.
While it’s not totally finished yet, the “teaser” trailer was just released and it definitely creates the right impression of the unique film it is. And we have some more exciting projects to follow.
