The life of a documentary filmmaker can be a grueling one, spending months in the editing room putting your film together once you’ve actually figured out a topic, done all the interviews and figured out exactly how to approach the subject.
For filmmaker Doug Pray (Scratch), it’s been especially tough as he’s spent the last four years making three documentaries at once, including the already-released Surfwise about the eccentric family values of surfer Dr. Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz and Big Rig.
On Friday, his latest doc Art & Copy takes a fascinating look at the world of advertising–and yes, we do mean FASCINATING–through the eyes and words of roughly a dozen of the pioneers in the field from those at the core of the groundswell of the industry during the ’60s to some of the more recent and unavoidable ad campaigns that everyone knows.
Earlier this week, ComingSoon.net sat down with Pray for what ended up being a really interesting conversation, not only talking about his movie and the world of advertising but other headier topics including:
* How he juggled making three movies at the same time
* How he got involved with making “Art & Copy”
* His thoughts on why creative people decide to go into advertising
* His own foray into directing commercials
* How hard it is separating the art of filmmaking from the commerce and how that relates to the world of advertising
* How to tell the difference between a good commercial and a bad commercial
* How he’s gone on sabbatical from docs in order to develop a few dramatic films
* And More!
Check out the exclusive video interview below.
Art & Copy opens at the IFC Center in New York on Friday, as well as in Chicago at the Music Box, Denver at the Starz Filmcenter and Seattle at the Northwest Film Forum on Friday, August 21.
