The Work That Made Me: Ryan Ebner
Known for his razor-sharp casting and understated comedic performances, Ryan Ebner is an internationally award-winning director living in NYC. After 15 years on the agency side, he started directing full time in 2006. Since then, he’s crafted work for great brands like Skittles, Rebel Ice Cream, Sour Patch Kids, State Farm, AT&T, Ford, Snickers, Liquid Death and Slim Jim. And his most recent narrative film, 'The Light Side,' premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
His bone dry sense of humour comes from his stoic, Scandinavian upbringing as a native of Fargo, ND. And he often draws on casting that blends his Midwestern sensibilities with colourful characters who bring a nuanced realness to his spots. Balancing hilariously absurd situations with grounded, super-real performances continues to attract agencies and brands to his irreverent style.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Ryan> In 1981, my best friend called me frantically and said, “Get over here. There’s this channel that’s just playing bands singing their songs.” It was the birth of MTV. And one of the most influential moments in my creative lifespan. The first video I ever saw was 'Planet Earth' by Duran Duran, and I remember thinking, “WTF is this?!”
While dancing on a floating glass iceberg, the lead singer belted out the lyrics “look down/look all around/there’s no sign of life,” which was precisely how I felt about growing up in Fargo, ND. I’d always been fascinated by the relationship between images and sound, but music videos flipped a light switch and inspired me to start shooting at a very early age.
Back then, we were editing our stuff tape to tape between two Betamax units. It was so lo-fi compared to the tech today. It taught us creative ways to solve production issues and to keep it super simple. It’s a shame the music video medium isn’t as prevalent as it once was. It’s an amazing art form that motivated me to find my creative calling.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Ryan> The catalyst for me wanting to get into the industry happened when I was a sophomore in college. A family friend had an ad agency in my hometown and had given me a bunch of old communication arts annuals to have as references in school.
I became fascinated by the creative thinking in those award books and continued seeking them out - One Show, D&AD, any annuals I could get my hands on soon became my main obsession. People say award shows shouldn’t matter, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Those publications were more integral to my formal education than any textbook.
LBB> The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…
Ryan> There are three films that I have on constant rotation in my living room during the day: Mandy by Panos Cosmatos, Blade Runner 2049 by Denis Villeneuve, and The Neon Demon by Nicholas Winding Refn.
That combo might feel a little odd for a comedy director, but there’s something to the visual and audio aesthetic that consistently fills me with awe. I find beauty in the darkness of each film that keeps drawing me back. They’ll just run in the background all day.
I’ll stop every now and then to watch a scene, and I see something new every time. Nearly every frame of Blade Runner 2049 is a masterpiece. The Neon Demon’s cinematography is so underrated I almost get angry. And Mandy is perhaps one of the most heavy metal movies I’ve ever seen. The story, the acting, the scores, the performances. All of it combined creates a level of artistry that I cannot get enough of.
Do these films inspire my work? Maybe not directly. But I firmly believe that you need darkness to create great comedy.
However, in an effort to not sound too pretentious, I’ve also seen Adam McKay’s Stepbrothers over a hundred times.
LBB> My first professional project…
Ryan> The first project I ever shot was a new brand development campaign for Anheuser/Busch called 'Spyke Beer'.
I was a copywriter at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. My partner, Paul Renner, and I had an idea to recycle old B-level sci-fi movie footage for a funny beer commercial concept.
We decided to shoot some test commercials. Paul and I took the agency video camera to the local parks, shot four spots, and cut them together. The whole thing was so lo-fi and raw. The whole process felt like I was again in high school, making films with my friends.
After months of concepting, we flew to St. Louis to present the idea in person. In the big meeting, “the big guy” watched them all and laughed the whole way through. When the lights went up, Auggie turned to his marketing team and said, “These are great. But why are we still working on this? I thought we killed this product?”
We did end up repurposing one of the concepts as a pro bono piece for the SF Department of Health, so it wasn’t a complete bust.
LBB> The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Ryan> Hands down, the thing that made me the angriest was remote directing. I did a few of those during the pandemic, and it was the worst.
The most important part of my job is interacting with the actors. I enjoy being with them on set. The remote directing thing nixed all of that. I was so disconnected from my actors, and it showed me how important personal communication is with them on set. Face-to-face interaction, eye contact, body language, and facial gestures all play a role in directing a performance that feels authentic and effortless.
Thankfully, they developed a vaccine. Remote directing made me think about drinking bleach.
LBB> The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…
Ryan> There’s so much great work out there that I admire, but, I have to shout out to the TikTok world. I see some really, really, funny stuff out there. Stuff that is so raw, real, and creative that would never get approved in the current marketing world. For instance, a few years ago a little video was circulating that was PURE GENIUS.
It showed a montage of funny videos of people falling, and just before they made impact with the ground, the scene seamlessly match-cut to footage of flamboyantly fabulous performers from “voguing” contests falling brilliantly to the ground and “nailing the landing.”
It’s such a great message: When life gives you lemons, make lemontinis. Visually, it’s brilliant. The editing is flawless. The concept is a great example of how you can mash two worlds together to create a completely new context. It’s a killer idea that makes me jealous.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Ryan> Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away…I got a big opportunity from some good friends. My best buds at Mother/NY had a killer campaign they sold to Spike TV back when they acquired the rights to the Star Wars trilogy. (I’m a fan.) The spots were so smart and simple that I couldn't believe it when they asked me to pitch. It was a big, big, big win. It was the type of job that could quickly establish a young director with some high-profile, super-funny spots; Spike TV 'Golf'
Needless to say, we had an absolute blast making them. Because we were dealing with legit George Lucas-approved characters, we had to follow the Lucasart rules. One of which was hilarious.
For the entire prep and shoot, I was not allowed to call our Darth Vader actor, Darren, by his real name. Instead, a Lucasarts handler shadowed us to ensure I always addressed him as “Lord Vader.” And, of course, Lord Vader wasn’t allowed to respond to me verbally because why would a Sith lord respond to a lowly human like me? So all day I was yelling “Lord Vader…” while giving him notes.
The campaign basically put me on the map. The friends I've made in this industry are some of the best people I have ever met. I am eternally grateful for their help along the way and continue to be humbled when they still call me to shoot funny, dumb stuff for them.
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Ryan> I used to say, “The work I’m the proudest of is the thing I’m working on next.” But recently, I have been proud of a lot. I’ve had good opportunities in the last few years on brands like Favor, Ragu, Liquid Death, Skittles, and Rebel Ice Cream.
I’m especially proud of the short film I did a few years back, 'The Light Side'.
I’d talked for years about this idea, or shooting that concept, blah, blah, blah. For The Light Side, I just wrote it and went out and shot it. I had a ton of support from my friends at Harbor Picture Company, like EP Kelly Broad, as well as my extraordinary producer, Dom Ferro, and awesome cinematographer, Stoeps Langensteiner. Making it was one of the most satisfying creative experiences I’ve ever had. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, which was an added bonus.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Ryan> I don’t have any projects that make me cringe because of the work. But I do have a shoot that I look back on with regret because of how I handled it.
One of my first jobs after signing with HSI was for a fast-food account. It was a big win with a decent script from a hot agency, and everything went great during the entire prep. But the morning of the shoot, stuff begins to unravel. We ended up going four hours over schedule, the tension was high, and the agency never asked me back.
I cringe at the mistakes I made that day. I couldn’t adapt to the creative hurdles - the agency was asking for different shots, angles, etc. It's pretty standard stuff, but I didn’t have the experience (or the confidence) yet to adjust to the changes. The experience taught me early on to stay open-minded. I don’t have all the answers, and when I am open to collaboration, things really start to gel.
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Ryan> Skittles 'Accidental Shrinkage'. Working on Skittles is always the dream. The work that brand has done throughout the years is the Holy Grail for comedy directors. It’s dark. It’s colourful. It’s totally weird. This script called for us to create a unique wizard character.
We all agreed we wanted to push the character design to be weirder and less expected. I did a deep dive into Midjourney for wardrobe and character styling generation. It was a rabbit hole that blew me away.
Eight months before, I’d dabbled in AI image creation, but all the references came out looking like fantasy, role-play game illustrations. The software just wasn’t there. But for the Skittles job, just months later, the algorithm had completely upgraded. I could not believe how responsive and realistic the AI was now.
There’s a lot of fear of AI taking our jobs in the film and TV world. It will certainly impact a lot of us, but after this experience, I believe AI will be an invaluable tool to help directors bring their ideas and visions to life. I’m excited about it.
