Ask the Director: Peter Harton

Your way into filmmaking was like...

Before I became a director, there were a lot of intermediate steps. Well, I started out as a set runner on a Danish talk show. I made sandwiches for the guests who came in. After that, I had a job on a dating show where a person, for example, a woman, had to ask three different questions to three different men. Based on the answers, she would choose who she would go out with. There was a curtain between the men and the women, so the woman could not see the candidates. When it was announced who she was going out with, I was the one who drew the curtain.

After that, I started working in the camera department of TV shows, where I mainly pulled cables. Then I started focus-pulling on TV productions, and after that, I started working as a camera assistant in non-studio-based productions. Here I traveled a lot.

Later, I started filming myself as a television photographer and shot documentaries. After that, I switched to the film business and became a clapper loader, and focus puller. I started to focus on movies and did a lot of commercials, feature films, and music videos. Over time I started assisting directors and worked as a 1stAD for many years.

I had an office with a few people in an agency in Copenhagen. The agency provided the space to a couple of people. We didn't pay for the office, and we weren't paid to be there, they just liked having us around. One day the agency asked me if I wanted to shoot commercials for them, and that was my way into advertising as a director. Eventually, I started directing commercials on my own. I've been a director ever since. I've done some TV shows here in Denmark, music videos, and I'm still working on my first feature film - that takes time. I'm still very busy with my work as a commercial director.  

How would you describe your work?

My work is anchored in humor and Mark Twain once said, "Explaining humor is a lot like dissecting a frog, you learn a lot, but you end up killing it." You either like it or you don't. It's a matter of taste.

I like stuff that's more or less like live-action print campaigns. I prefer something that can be communicated easily without too much explanation. I also like smart dialogue-driven comedy, which I do mostly these days. On top of that, I appreciate a certain degree of self-irony.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

There is no place I go to specifically, and I don't watch many commercials. I think I get inspired by observing the interactions between people in general. And directors that inspire me: Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, Swedish director Roy Andersson, Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári, Noah Baumbach, Alexander Payne, and Todd Solondz. And also conversations with fun friends. My inspirations come completely by coincidence.

Where are the differences between doing a series vs commercials? What do you like more?

Working in fiction is really exhausting, and it takes a long time to write and sell. With commercials, all the pre-production and editing is a quick process. But I like both. It's nice to have a good mix of both worlds. Commercials inspire me because I get to meet many people and travel the world. Commercials were my film school. The beauty of working in commercials is that you're expected to make decisions quickly, have to answer many questions, and you're usually working with much higher budgets than you would on a TV show. So over time, I've become very aware of what I like and don't like, and I have learned how to communicate it. But when you travel a lot, and you have a lot of advertising jobs, it's nice to take a break and do something where you can focus on one thing for a long time. So I like both worlds. But I can't do advertising for a year. Last year I directed a theatre play for six months, but after that, I was happy to go back to directing commercials, and now I'm at the point where I want to take a break again. So it’s great to have a mix of everything. I feel blessed.

Selection of your favourite movies? ⟶ That's really difficult to answer. I have different movies for different moods. Today it’s The Ice Storm (Ang Lee), Crimes & Misdemeanours (Woody Allen), Breaking the Waves (Lars Von Trier) and Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton).

If you asked me this question next week, my answer would be different.

Cool Instagram accounts? Nope. I mainly use it as an outlet. I have friends and colleagues who are deeply involved and have a great understanding of it. I follow the industry, bands I like, and stupid stuff. I don’t spend tons of time on it. When I’m sitting on a toilet I quickly check out what’s going on.