The Director’s Take ~ Siobhan Mulready
Every director’s got a guilty pleasure show, a set horror story, and strong opinions on coffee vs. something stronger. In The Director’s Take, we get them talking. Next up is Siobhan Mulready from Taxi Film Production.
If you weren’t directing, what would you be doing?
A food journalist or presenter; basically, anything that allows me to eat often and well.
What’s the most chaotic thing that’s ever happened on one of your shoots?
The police turned up to interview me! A week earlier I had been scouting a suburban street where the sunset would light it in a particular way, so I had been very suspiciously driving around, jumping out, photographing and then speeding off to keep hunting before it got dark. It seems that one of the houses I photographed was a rendezvous point for an undercover operation and because I was in a hire car and interstate, a surprising amount of police resources had been used tracking me down. Out of nowhere a detective walked right onto set to question me. He was happy once I showed him the photo, but it was definitely a surprise. He told me undercover police had been parked outside my Mum’s house for a week looking for me!
If you could only ever direct one genre of ad for the rest of your career, what would it be and why?
Behavioural change. I come from a family of psychologists and am engaged to a counsellor (it’s a lot), so I love using craft and performance to pull on heartstrings and manipulate people.
What’s something about being a director that would surprise people who’ve never been on set?
This is particular to advertising, but how deeply you develop a sense for seconds. I can feel the difference between a two-and-a-half-second performance and a three-second performance in my bones.
What’s exciting you most about where the industry’s headed right now?
AI is going to do a lot of things, but I’m most excited about how it will eventually force brands to be bolder and to move into more interesting spaces to stand out. As social media evolves toward serialised, longer-form storytelling it’s only a matter of time before clients start engaging more meaningfully with branded content.
Check out some of Siobhan’s work below:
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