BBDO, Germany HTV Steffen Gentis and FHV/BBDO HTV Geertje Hoek

The most important job of an agency producer, says BBDO, Germany head of TV Steffen Gentis, is to find the right director for the script.

Despite the rapid changes that the ad industry's seen over the past two years, at its heart, it is still a people business. With this in mind, Gentis founded the BBDO Directors Lounge, an initiative that aims to connect creatives with directors face-to-face - not over conference call and certainly not solely through the director's reel.

"The chemistry between the creative director and the director has to work," says Gentis. "They've got to be people who like each other because that director is only going to make a great film if he adds a lot to the script and the creative is only going to have his idea realized in an exceptional manner if the director likes the script and likes him. So how do you know if the creative director and the director are going to get on if you just give an FTP link with an mpeg on it?"

Held in Germany, past Director's Lounges have seen up to 800 participants across Europe meet to connect with directors with the goal of building relationships that will advance a more fruitful exchange of ideas.

Gentis and fellow FHV/BBDO, Amsterdam head of TV Geertje Hoek brought the Director's Lounge to this year's Boards Summit. Delegates of the Summit were given the opportunity to view the portfolio of five directors - Dean Blumberg, Martin Schmid, Bram Schouw, Calum MacDiarmid and Aliaksei Tserakhau - whose work has yet to penetrate the US market, but has been making waves worldwide.

Boards spoke to Gentis and Hoek about the aims of the Director's Lounge and sat down with each director to speak about their current work and future ambitions.

In part 1, we get to know Dean Blumberg, Martin Schmid and Bram Schouw. Visit Boards Online this Thursday for part 2, featuring Calum MacDiarmid and Aliaksei Tserakhau.

View Dean Blumberg's reel, presented by Bouffant TV, South Africa, here.

View Bram Schow's reel, presented by Hazazah Films, Netherlands, here.

View Martin Schmid's reel, presented by Jo!Schmid, Germany, here.

View Calum MacDiarmid's reel, presented by Greatguns, United Kingdom, here.

View Aliaksei Tserakhau's reel, presented by Cosmosfilm, Belarus and Canada, here.

www.bbdo.de