“I Decided to Scare Myself”, Paul Giannetta on Finding Joy Again in His New Career

Some people are lucky enough to find one career that they really love in their lives. For director Paul Gianetta, he found two. 

After spending over 25 years at some of Canada’s most renowned agencies, including Maclaren McCann and Leo Burnett, two years ago he decided to switch sides and pursue directing full time. It’s a decision that has paid off, as he relishes in his recently announced representation at Toronto-based production company, Undivided. 

For Paul, agency life had lost some of its magic in recent years, as he reminisces the office-based camaraderie and constant back-and-forth of ideas that underscored each day at work. “Coming in every day, being part of a crowd, and even sitting in a room with your partner in silence thinking about ideas – that was a big part of what we did. It was something I fed off of, but that faded for me.”

“I didn’t feel excited or scared anymore. So, I decided to scare myself,” Paul says. After all, what’s scarier than swapping a career that you know inside out? Finding happiness and fulfilment outweighed any fear or reservation however, as he explains, “Now I’m focusing on the part of advertising that made me happy. After watching thousands of directors on set throughout my career, I thought, maybe it’s my turn.”

Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s surrounded by cartoons, comic books, music videos, and “some of the best movies ever made,” Paul’s “maybe it’s my turn” attitude can be traced back to here. Influenced by the booming popularity of music videos in the ‘80s, the daring yet memorable beer ads of the ‘90s, and a penchant for comedy shaped by the lighter touch of British comedians including Dave Allen and Benny Hill, Paul describes the advertising landscape of the time as “rich, and as celebrated as every other genre” – a thing that he just had to be a part of too.

He found his way in via the Communications Arts Programme offered at the OCAD in Toronto, a welcome deviation from the typical career choices promoted at school – “doctor, lawyer, accountant or tradesmen – I didn’t realise that advertising was a career until I saw it on the curriculum, so I said, ‘hey, I love ads’ and off I went, and here we are.” 

Remarkably, Paul secured his first professional role just two days after his graduation, landing at one of the shops he’d long admired. “When I began my career, I went for agencies that were making the things that I really love. I started at Maclaren McCann who were making the famous Molson ‘I Am Canadian’ beer campaigns.” After this, he joined Leo Burnett Toronto, which was the number one spot for TV productions at the time, and became Paul’s home for over 21 years. 

From commercials for dog food to dryer sheets, cereals, beers and Pop-Tarts, Paul’s career has seen him work on “giant multi-million dollar global campaigns to one thousand dollar ones”. It includes campaigns that have embedded themselves into culture and are still quoted today, such as an ad for Pop Tarts which coincidentally landed on his Instagram feed a few months ago, “It was just a silly little ad. A Pop Tart jumps up and down and the tagline is, ‘BAAAAAAM!’ People are still loving it, and I get the warm and fuzzies from that”. 

So, when I ask Paul what most excites him about this new chapter as a commercial director, I guess it’s no surprise that his answer is simply: “I’m excited to have someone watching say… ‘Oh, I love that ad’ again.” It feels inevitable that this will happen, as it’s rare to speak to someone that knows the industry, and audiences, quite as well as Paul does.

“I've been through the production journey thousands of times; storyboarding, writing, director searching, to completion in post production as well. That whole A to Z journey has helped me to understand where the genesis of the idea lies, and what needs to be output for the client's business needs.” This familiarity with every aspect of production from the side not often seen or experienced by directors is an invaluable tool in Paul’s toolbox, allowing him to approach a script from not just a creative angle, but a logistical, pragmatic one too. 

With the logistics accounted for, it leaves room for Paul to tackle a brief on his own terms, as he dips into the different “pools of knowledge” he’s accumulated over his career. “One of the key things that it’s important to bring to my role is something new and unique to a script, and having gone through all the different styles and genres and writing so many different ads over the years, I can bring different perspectives to things. It gives me the confidence and the breadth to approach things in many ways.”

For Paul, the ads that resonate most strongly with him are the ones that make him laugh. They’re the ones he most enjoyed writing, and the ones he’s most looking forward to shooting, with the added bonus of undoing a sense of envy he’d felt over the years, “I wrote them and then I saw a director that nailed it, and I was both in awe and envious, and I was like, ‘I'd love to be able to do that one day’.”

He continues, “I wanted to challenge myself – if I was going to do this, I wasn't just going to do simple, pretty pictures.” He’s striving to “bring back some levity, and bring back a smile”, by taking on “simple, funny scripts that make people laugh and exhale again”. He wants to recapture the comedy found in relatability, craft work that resonates with Canadian audiences’ affinity for subtle humour, and allow people to see and recognise themselves in a moment playing out on screen. 

He’s chosen Undivided as the place to do this, telling me that it was an “immediate yes”, when he was asked if he’d like to join the roster. Having known founders Nikki and Scott, and EP Barclay for a number of years, the choice was made even easier, he says, “not every day do you get to feel supported by a team that is amazing at what they do, but are also amazing people. I'm completely blessed to be involved with them.”

Barclay chimes in to share a similar sentiment, commenting that “there’s an admiration in the community and a love for working with Paul. So it was an easy decision for us, plus, it was decided over a golf game, so that in itself was something that drew us closer together!”

“When it comes to the word ‘support’ it’s funny how it becomes cyclical. Paul was there to support myself as a young producer as well as Nikki in her early career” Says Scott. “We are lucky to have had Paul in our corner and ultimately as a friend, so it’s our honour to support him in his evolution to directing and excited to see what he will do”

There’s two words which have cropped up frequently during our conversation: ‘lucky’, and ‘blessed’. They’re more than words, but feelings too, conveyed in the open and joyous way that Paul talks about his career and love for the industry. It’s a two way street though, as it feels apparent to me that the industry is ‘lucky’ and ‘blessed’ to have him as part of it, too.