ALREADY GONE PSA
Writer/Director: Benjamin Wilt
Camera: RED ONE
Award: Bronze Telly
This was my first commercial project with a decently sized budget. One of the executives from this non-profit organization came to me with this idea to create a PSA based on a book. I had produced some radio dramas earlier in my career and having listened to them, he had really been impressed the writing and production and thought I'd be right for creating this particular spot. I'd never endeavored to write/direct a commercial project of this magnitude but that was certainly not something I told him. I assured him that I was more than capable of writing and directing his PSA. I went away from the meeting and after doing a bit of research on what he was trying to convey, I wrote the spot and presented it to he and the others on the executive team. In addition to presenting the script, I also presented a budget of a much greater amount than I thought they would ever approve. Much to my surprise, they did indeed approve the project. After a few moments of celebration and panic, I then began an enormous amount of research on how best to approach producing this project. It was honestly one of my hardest productions because I had so much to learn but also quite rewarding in that we pulled it off and it exceeded the organizations exceptions, winning several industry awards and providing exactly what they needed to create awareness about their concern with this particular issue. I had long before been working towards directing a film but this particular spot convinced me that I would also enjoy directing commercials.
This was also the first time that I'd ever worked with the RED camera and it was a wonderful experience. Though the budget was decent, it wasn't enough to shoot film and the RED allowed me to get the look I was obsessed with getting. I've since used several other digital cinema cameras but I will always have a special place in my heart for the RED ONE due to it saving my bacon on this project.
