Tim Pope is chewing over his stop-start career as a commercials
director. The co-founder of Cowboy Films is on something of a roll at
the moment - currently shooting the follow-up to his colourful Renault
Scenic commercial through Publicis - but it’s been a long hard slog and
the ad industry has apparently taken some convincing. ’The problem is
that people have a lot of preconceptions about me,’ he explains.
’They assume that I’m some kind of Goth. As you can see, I’m not. I used
to have long hair, but it was never vertical.’
Pope is, of course, alluding to his long-standing relationship with the
Cure, which over the years produced some of the most intriguing,
inventive and just plain daft promotional videos ever. Bearing in mind
the throwaway nature of pop culture, these quintessentially English
films have stood the test of time - measuring up easily to today’s more
extravagant, effects-laden fare.
He shot 37 promos in all - high points including the intensely
claustrophobic Close to You, which was shot almost entirely in a cramped
wardrobe, Boys Don’t Cry, featuring a ’junior’ version of the band
miming to the song, and Friday I’m in Love, with its ever-shifting
scenery and frenetic walk-on characters.
The latter provided the raw material for the Renault Scenic ad. His
other, often overlooked, promo credits include films for the likes of
David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Neil Young and Iggy Pop.
’I was so aware that I was marketing (the Cure),’ Pope says. ’It wasn’t
just a question of going out and doing wild and wacky stuff. I was
trying to sell them but at the same time trying to hide the fact that I
was selling them. In a way, it was like doing an ad campaign over many
years. It may have looked fun, but in fact it was all incredibly
disciplined.’
Does he resent the fact that he’s still, by and large, remembered for
this body of work rather than his more recent commercials output? ’Well,
I’d rather be remembered for something than nothing at all,’ he says,
philosophically.
Besides, Pope is convinced that things are about to change. He is fired
up about his new Scenic commercial, which breaks on Christmas Day and
was written by the Publicis creative team, Steve Glenn and Paul
Campion.
’Maybe it’s a mistake to put all my eggs in one basket, but at least it
shows I’m committed,’ he says. ’If it turns out how I want it to, it
will become my new calling card and show people what I’m capable of
doing (in commercials). I believe I’ve finally mastered it.’
Now in his 40s, Pope has been involved in advertising for longer than
you’d imagine. His first outing was for Tuborg lager back in 1986, which
cleverly superimposed animation over live action (and which he still
ranks among his best work). More recently, and perhaps more
surprisingly, he’s been responsible for the tongue-in-cheek KFC campaign
for Ogilvy & Mather.
It’s perhaps this stubborn refusal to be typecast or compartmentalised
that has held him back in the commercials arena. ’It is tricky,’ he
admits.
’It’s important to me that I move on and try different things, though
central to everything I do is capturing the spirit, whatever that spirit
happens to be. People also seem to have a problem with me directing
films, which I really don’t understand. Why do they find it so
hard?’
It’s a practical problem as much as anything else. Pope’s last movie,
Crow - City of Angels, which briefly held the number one position in the
US box office, took him out of circulation for more than three years as
he was immersed in the machinations of Hollywood. A not entirely happy
episode, he still believes it provided valuable lessons for the
future.
’I learned a lot from it very quickly,’ he says, ’particularly from my
mistakes.’
His next feature project - which he stresses is a long way off - is a
version of Giles Foden’s Whitbread Prize-winning novel, The Last King of
Scotland, which is currently being developed for the screen. ’After
Crow, I was offered a lot of mega Hollywood movies, which involved
blowing things up. But I wanted to do something more challenging over
which I could have more control and more input,’ Pope says.
For someone who wears his feelings about his art on his sleeve, Pope is
surprisingly evasive about his past. ’North London git. Not a poshy,’ is
all he’ll say. He will admit, however, that he went to Ravensbourne
College of Art, where he studied TV drama. ’It wasn’t a fantastic
course. It gave me a wall against which I could bloody my head and, I
guess, pushed me into pop videos.’
From there, he joined a Covent Garden-based company which groomed
politicians to appear on television. He particularly remembers going to
11 Downing Street to give Denis Healey a few pointers and then
purloining the video equipment to film a Specials gig later the same
evening.
Sitting at a boardroom table in a chunky-knit sweater, playing with a
polystyrene cup, the fast-talking Pope looks far more like a friendly
fisherman than the unapproachable Goth he feels the industry sees. He is
keen to affirm his commitment to commercials, notes that Cowboy Films is
his baby (together with his business partner of 17 years’ standing, Lisa
Bryer), and that the company roster includes heavyweight directors such
as Matt Forrest and Nick Lewin.
’Not a lot of people know that I’m the boy in Cowboy,’ he laughs.
Forming lasting relationships, like the one he has managed to establish
with Publicis’s executive creative director, Gerry Moira, is, he
believes, the key to achieving the quality of advertising he aspires
to.
And could he be lured back to pop videos? ’If the music was a lot
wilder, I’d be in there no question,’ he says. ’But once you’ve worked
with Iggy Pop, why bother to work with anyone else? I find commercials
much more fulfilling these days.’
