Noam Murro: “Dont Follow Your Dream! Follow What You’re Good At!”

Kicking off the second day of the D&AD Festival in London, DDB Worldwide’s president and international CCO, Chaka Sobhani, took to the stage for a conversation with director and Biscuit Filmworks founder, Noam Murro.

Titled ‘Film with Feels’, the talk centred on how and why film moves us, how to identify an idea that will become a great film, and ultimately, where to find those ideas in the first place. And of course, along the way, Noam also gave some spirited career advice.

Getting straight to the point, Chaka began by asking Noam about the form itself - the “purity” of film, and why it moves us. “It’s all about content,” replied Noam. “And for me, content means: does it move me or does it not?”

He continued, “We used to look at other people’s work and say, ‘Fuck… I wish I’d done that’. That’s the equivalent of ‘shareable’ today… and that’s the main thing that’s missing today, the idea of ‘I wish I’d done that’.”

By focusing on whether the idea moves him, rather than how the idea was shot, his evaluation of film becomes “almost a binary choice”, where he decides simply if a film is good, or not. “You can’t have all that middle stuff… is it good, or is it not good?”

While Noam shared that he respects the “romantic” point of view of filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson who shoots exclusively on specific mediums like 70mm film, he is open to using anything that services the idea and story. “I really don’t care what you shoot on, and I don’t think anybody here should care… People say they’re shooting on the Alexa bleh bleh bleh - whatever. I really don’t care. You either see the image, or you don’t.”

“Then it’s: ‘Is it relatable?’ Can it make you cry? When you put it together, does it make sense?” Noam continued to make the comparison with vinyl records: “If the music is shit, it doesn’t matter if you’ve pressed it onto 180 gram vinyl.”

Pressed by Chaka on his own filmmaking aesthetic and approach, Noam said that it’s “all about form” - a concept which he believes the industry is losing. Without meaning to negate the importance of craft, he explained that form is how you tell a story, and without form, “it becomes diarrhoea.”

“Clarity is the mother of invention,” he said. “And in order to get there, you need form. It’s not [about] what it’s shot on, it’s always about one thing: how does it service the story? Not ‘How does it service me?’ Or the viewer, the brand, the creative director…”

With all these stakeholders involved in the process - especially in commercial filmmaking - Noam said he makes an effort to focus on feeling, rather than tech or insights from data. He added that, because many different entities want to make their mark on a project nowadays, great work has become few and far between. “Our job is to keep pushing through that system… if you protect the writing - not the director, the production company, yourself - you will have something great. You cannot expect something that is cobbled together and changed 1,000 times [to be great] - even if the minute it left your mind it was great.”

Probing further, Chaka asked how Noam recognises these great ideas when they land on his desk or inbox, as a director and head of a production company. He responded assuredly, “The best idea, the best anything - newsflash - it does not exist. There’s no 10 [out of 10].”

He continued, “The trick is how to take a seven and make it a nine, or a six and make it an eight. The job is not to take a 10 and make it a 10. Usually you take a nine and make it an eight, or in my case an eight to a six and a half,” he laughed. “But really, it’s about taking something and trying to ‘plus’ it… You choose something by its potential, not what is on the page at the moment. ”

According to Noam, the key to ‘plussing’ an idea comes from collaboration - working with, and being transparent with, all partners involved. “Honesty and conversation is what it’s about.” But where do these ideas come from? 

“Everything is a good story, I really believe that,” said Noam. “Humanity is a great story.” From people on the subway to your local supermarket cashier, the director pointed out that most people, “have a better story than anything you can begin to think of.” 

He explained, “Where they come from, where their parents came from, where they live, where they work, who their spouse is, how hard it is for them, how far they travel for work, how much money they make. Their story is so much more interesting than anything we, sitting in this room, can think about. And it’s right there in front of you. Think about that person… They have an incredible story. It’s always there.”

He added, “So there’s no big ideas, it’s just how much you pay attention [to them]. If you pay attention, you feel something in your heart… those are the movies I want to make.”

Reflecting on the many movies, ads and other projects he’s already made, Noam was finally asked for the advice he’d give his younger self. Joking with Chaka about the typical answers to this question, he described the “two sides of bullshit” this exercise usually elicits. The first is a “fuck it” attitude of indifference or carelessness, and the second is the common advice of “go with your heart, do what you want”.

Countering both of these approaches, he gave his own thoughts: “Do what you’re good at, for fuck’s sake! If you’re good at writing, go write. Don’t write because it’s ‘a good thing to do’. If you’re good at directing, go do it,” he said. 

“Nothing’s changed, that’s the interesting part of this discussion. Stories haven’t changed. Film hasn’t changed - just the format or whatever. The business hasn’t changed. We haven’t changed. It’s a little harder, it’s a little different, it’s a little this, a little that. But it’s always the same - it’s fucking hard, and it’s going to take everything you’ve got if you want to do it (and you all can do it). It’s just a matter of how much you want it.”

He finished, “Just do what you’re good at! It’s really that simple! If you stick to what you’re good at, everything else will come. It’s not that complicated! But it’s not like [I’m saying] ‘follow your dream’. Don't follow your dream! Follow what you’re good at!”