John X. Carey is a Los Angeles based writer/director. His work is a blend of naturalism and thematic storytelling. He has won over 30 Cannes Lions and also received a Directors Guild of America nomination for best commercial director.
Name: John X. Carey
Location: Los Angeles/London
Repped by/in: Hunky-Dory Films (London) / Tool of North America (USA)
John> I find a script really exciting if there's a fresh new theme, or payoff to the concept, that is something that hasn't been done previously. Those are incredibly difficult to write, but when they come along, it's very special.
John> These days, creating a treatment is almost like starting preproduction. Sometimes we're actually talking to key collaborators like production designers, visual effects vendors, and others in order to figure out how to create the world of the agencies script. But throughout everything, the goal is to service the creative and try to connect with the authors of the script and not get too bogged down in the technical aspect.
John> No matter what the brand, it's important to hear the client perspective, and understand exactly the brief and where the client is coming from in terms of goals. It can be very disruptive if you don't understand the brief fully, so I always make a big effort to understand the history and evolution of a script, and what its purpose is to the client.
John> I like to collaborate with the creative team behind the script so I really understand what motivated them to create this story. I also like to know what aspects of the concept worry them. What keeps them up at night? Sometimes speaking with the creatives about these matters — spark conversations that lead to all of us improving the concept in ways you wouldn't have imagined.
John> I love concepts that have a lot of storytelling meat. It's very exciting when there's a complex story and theme that you're constantly evolving throughout the entire process. Often when I've done documentary work, like Phillips, Breathless Choir or Dove Sketches - there were many unknown factors, and we had to constantly be nimble in our approach, but I think that leads to a more interesting final result.
John> That I try to make people cry, or I'm interested in big emotional reveals. I'm actually not interested in either of those things, but rather exploring a fresh new theme or message, or payoff to a story, that the audience hasn't seen before.
I also am a very narrative filmmaker, and most of my non-commercial time is spent writing and doing narrative projects.
John> I haven't worked with one yet.
John> A film I did was about a hover bike racer, but we had very little money to make a hover bike so we ended up taking a real motorcycle and removing the wheels and designing some pieces to augment the bike and turn it into a hover bike. Then with a little bit of CGI we enhanced it. Although it's not perfect, I think the result looks convincing enough.
John> I love to talk everything through quite thoroughly in preproduction, and during the pre-pro meeting, so that they're really aren't any surprises on the day of filming. Of course notes come up on the day of filming, but nevertheless, I do a lot of over-communicating so that everybody's on the same page creatively, and we are all making the same film together.
John> Yes, to all of the above. We need new perspectives. I also think storytelling can be quite regionalist, so I'm eager to see more stories that are not from the typical lens we've seen a million times. I'm excited for the future, where we have a richer pallet of stories, and perspectives, instead of the narrow paradigm I grew up with.
John> The pandemic has made my work, and projects I select, more purposeful because I realised life is quite precious and that we are very lucky to get to do what we do and it shouldn't be taken lightly. If you have a chance to make a film, you should really make it straight from your heart.
Additionally, I also love that we do zoom meetings now because I get to know everybody in a more personal way than pre-pandemic; when it was mostly audio-only conference calls.
John> I aim for 16x9 screens because computer monitors and televisions are that shape so it's what I keep in mind. And if you tilt your phone horizontal then you're getting the proper aspect ratio.
John> AI has been helpful to the creative process. I use AI to generate art for treatments and to also brainstorm ideas. I use chatGPT for research. And I like to use Speechify to play scripts aloud so that I can hear a simulated table read of the content.
John> Yes, I feel these four pieces represent my favourite work.
Dove Sketches is a very emotional film for me because it features people who at the start feel hopeless and discouraged in terms of the way they look - but the film runs them through an experiment that convinces them of a more hopeful perspective.
Awayy Short Film. A short film based on the feature film script that I've recently completed, which is about how to overcome life's disappointments. It was a big swing in terms of its message, but I think we finally got there in the end.
Under Armour / Tom Brady/Morgan Freeman. Despite having two very famous people in the film, the message is to be humble. I love that the agency decided to make the antithesis of a hero-worship sports commercial. https://www.johnxcarey.com/work-1/under
Apple Dylan's Voice. Apple is my favourite brand and getting to work with Dylan was a life highlight.