While a look at Damian Stevens' resume backs up the assertion he makes during the course of conversation - that he's "all about the work" - the director of broadcast production at Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles is also well aware of the importance of forward motion.

With a wealth of credits in automotive from both the agency producer and production house sides, the notion of being on the move has informed his working life as much as his free time (he's an avid surfer and cyclist). Coming on board at Saatchi last November following the departure of Damon Webster, Stevens, 34, has immersed himself in experience on both the agency side and in the production realm, partly to gain as much hands-on knowledge as possible and partly to keep things interesting.

Of course, it all could have turned out differently. His father was a partner in the prodco Stevens/Eberlein and young Damian practically grew up on set. But when it came time to hit university, he wasn't completely sure that commercial work was in the blood. Still, he found himself drawn to the film program at Loyola Marymount, with a minor in business "to have both sides covered."

"I'd be asked if I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, and my answer was always no," he says. "I wanted to be my own person, you know? But I did take a different path as I went into production rather than direction and photography, which were his avenues. It's cool now, 'cause we talk about shit all the time."

Starting his career as an agency producer for Foote Cone & Belding in LA in 1992 working primarily on Mazda, he went on to work on the Saturn account for Hal Riney, freelanced at TBWA\Chiat\Day, and was then offered what he refers to as "kind of a dream job" with Fallon, MN that let him stay in his home turf of Manhattan Beach, CA, and avoid the character-building Midwest winters.

"I don't know how I talked [former Fallon president/ECD] David Lubars into that. We had some mutual friends and I told him, 'There's no fuckin' way I'm moving to Minneapolis'," he recalls with a laugh. It was at Fallon that he began his working relationship with Harvey Marco, who was then the creative director for Fallon's Minneapolis office. And it was also during his Fallon stint that he produced some of the pre-Saatchi work that he's most proud of, including 2001's Emmy-winning "Photobooth" for PBS.

From Fallon, it came time to see what life was like on the "other side". He joined Moxie Pictures as an EP in 2001, a time when the company was looking for someone to bring a new vision to the fold.

"Damian has a big perspective - he knows a lot of stuff," says Moxie partner/director Dan Levinson. "He knew the agency side and he quickly learned the production side. He was valuable because he understood the client's needs and wants, but he also became a resource in fulfilling them."

Working with both commercial directors and directors from what was then Moxie's feature division The Industry, Levinson says Stevens excelled at knowing when and when not to be hands-on.

"He understands from his agency background that there are people who are creatives who do what they do, so he knew that his job was to facilitate the creatives," says Levinson.

From Moxie, it was off to Jeff Gorman Films as EP. While at JGF, Stevens worked on jobs for Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, Cliff Freeman and Partners in New York and Wong Doody, LA. The forward motion continued when he freelanced for Deutsch's LA office, working on Mitsubishi projects.

It was an opportunity to, as he puts it, "bring the band back together" that drew him to Saatchi & Saatchi's office in Torrance, CA, where his former Fallon comrade Harvey Marco had signed on as ECD. "When I found out that they were looking for a director of broadcast I was pretty interested, as he was a good friend," he says.

Stevens was also impressed with the automotive work coming out of the office, and was particularly charged by the chance to develop non-traditional and branded content for the agency's main client, Toyota. With Toyota's new marketing VP Jim Farley (who'd previously helmed marketing for the Scion brand) having an avid interest in long-form and other non-traditional advertising approaches, Stevens says his team has begun to sink its teeth into some interesting projects, with long-form work underway for four new product launches taking place between January and April.

"We're making [long form] a priority for the producers - it's not new news, but it's important for us to bring back assets from shoots that we can repurpose into other mediums. Toyota's an amazing account, because they have a great product and decent budgets."

Both of those assets come in handy when making spots like two recent Toyota ads that Stevens mentions - the Baker Smith-directed "Meteor", in which a hardy Tacoma emerges from being shelled by a meteor with nary a scratch, and the Paul Hunter-helmed "Rain", in which a parked Toyota Tundra effortlessly endures a 'rainstorm' that includes everything from mounds of dirt to bathtubs and motorcycles (interestingly, no cats and dogs).

"The latest round of work has been really great," he enthuses. "I'm praying we're going to pick up some hardware this year, because being at Cannes last year and not getting anything really sucked!"

Besides hoping to stack up on "hardware", Stevens says he's especially keen to exercise his penchant for forward motion by developing the aforementioned Toyota product launches. "That's my objective for the next year - to really blow that out."

QUICK HITS

Passion: "Surfing and cycling. I don't race anymore, but I used to - I took this last year off."
First record: "Couldn't tell ya - but it had to be one of the Kiss albums."
Favourite Movie: Goodfellas
Best thing about the gig: "The commute."

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