REEL DE ORO

Luciano Ruiz grew up working as an actor and from that place he gradually discovered artists in the audiovisual world. Advertising, theater, cinema, and massive comic strips for children and teens. Afterwards, he worked as an agency producer and one day decided to take the leap to directing. He joined Casta Diva few weeks after leaving the agency and since then, he has not stopped. He began by going to Madrid to shoot two commercials and when he returned, he started a series of unending pitches and devolutions, bigger earned commercials, smaller ones, digital ones, for TV, all sorts of things.
He has recently worked in Mexico with P&G, he returned to Argentina to co-direct a 10-day commercial for Chevrolet, created a piece for the big clothing brand Ver and also won a big project for the Government of the City of Buenos Aires.

1. Knowing all the artists in the audiovisual work, why did you choose directing?

There is something challenging and fun about the fact of being the interpreter who channels others´ interpretations. Taking a text, ideas, messages, situations that have nothing to do with you to metabolize them to transmit them with a unique criteria, and I mean transmit because that is the most fun part, thinking up a script and establishing a goal, but after, adding the rest of the artists of the team so they propose diverse paths and alternatives to reach this point. And to find shortcuts or longer paths but with better landscapes. I think directing is, partly, knowing how to draw bridges and baste hundreds of things to generate a whole, then the question would be, “why not choose it?”

2. What do you enjoy most in your profession?

Touching the space bar for the final result to play out. Go through all it implies to make a commercial and see how that translates into 20 or 30 seconds. That is marvelous. Inevitably, you finds inspiration in a whole lot of stimuli when thinking about a piece. Then, theat inspiration is altered, it is discussed, you gradually shape your own idea, and afterwards it is deformed. But, when you hit the play button, a bit of that initial drive remains, and to see it materialized is what I enjoy most in this profession.

3. What projects are you working on? Do you have something in fiction or documentary?

For the time being, just commercial projects. I am 100% focused on growing in the industry, knowing more agencies, more clients, and making myself known. And distributing my days among the different tasks related with this activity: handing in projects that have already been shot, constant devolutions to which I devote a great deal of time and care, as well as the anxiety of starting advertising things that are about to come out.

4. Does Luciano the actor co-exist somehow with the director?

Yes, undoubtedly. I suppose everyone applies their background when directing, and not only when it is linked to artistic aspects. An engineer who directs can also apply that, and believe me, it would be very useful! I think that working so long as an actor makes me empathize with actors at another level. I understand the frustration of having someone ask you for something and not understanding because he doesn´t convey it clearly or any other reason. So I am very incisive and puntilloso with that, in having a dialogue of equals and flowing with each one of the actors I work with. Putting myself in their place and interpreting things the way I imagine them, listening and also fostering proactivity and [their] proposals. A thousand times, as an actor, I wanted to add things I was sure were going to help me make my characters grow and many of those times there was no space for this to happen. So, yes, I tell myself, all the experiences I had as an actor are present in each shooting and I feel comfortable with that.

5. How do you see the future of advertising?

I hope that super prosperous because I am 26 and being immerse in this, if the future isn´t promising, I am going to have to find another profession, which is clearly not my idea. But, beyond that, I think it is impossible to know. Would have anyone been able to imagine 10 years ago that someone was going to brief you with contents, and stories to be told in 6 seconds? I think not, and surely, today it is impossible to image what new formats are going to be like. I do think that immediacy is going to be increasingly determining in advertising production and in the consumption thereof. But the expressions it can have are infinite.

6. Where is Luciano Ruiz heading?

Where my projects take me. I know what things I want to try out. I know very well what styles and resources I want to experiment with, and I also know who I feel like working with and doing things together. There are a whole bunch of things I know and I am totally determined, but I also want to allow myself to be surprised. Maybe what I had thought to bring to a commercial to make it more human and intimate, I end up transferring into a stronger commercial, or I see myself facing the playful challenge of directing a flock of babies without this being my expertise. So I remain permeable, eager to go through all the angles of direction and always in the aim to grow, remaining in action all the while, and never stopping work.

Production company:
Casta Diva, Argentina
Contact: Romina Zollo

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