Beastie Boys, ‘Bluey’ and Dior Sauvage Ads: The Work That Made Pete Novosel

Pete Novosel is an Australian director and writer currently based in Los Angeles. He is known for his sharp, offbeat comedy and ability to inspire brilliant performances.

WIth past experience working as a creative director at ad agencies, Pete has received numerous prestigious awards, including Clios, D&AD, One Show, Effies, and Cannes Lions. Pete is repped by FRANK in the Canadian market.

Pete sat down with LBB to look back on life growing up in Western Australia, agency life in America and his upcoming work with Google…

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Pete> I grew up in rural Western Australia, and my only real access to music videos was a show called ‘Rage’ on ABC. It was on Friday and Saturday nights for something like six or seven hours but it didn’t start until way past my bedtime. So I’d set the VHS to record overnight (on long play obviously) then spend Saturday and Sunday mornings dubbing my favourites onto a second 'greatest hits’ tape.

All that to say, I’ll never forget seeing Beastie Boys ‘Sabotage’ for the first time. I grew up skateboarding, and my brain basically exploded when I found out Spike Jonze, the same guy who directed ‘Video Days’, which changed how skateboarding was filmed forever, also directed that music video.

The ad that has literally never left my brain is a PSA for Channel Nine called ‘Vitamins’. Thirty years later and I can still sing it word for word.

LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

Pete> I was an ad creative director for a long time, and the last agency I worked at before making the jump to directing was 72andSunny in LA and New York. I’d always wanted to direct (film and commercials) but my time there was probably the most influential in terms of giving me the confidence to say, OK, I think I can actually do this.

Special shoutout to the unsung hero of 72, Jason Norcross. He’s the very best there is and he really taught me the craft of writing as well as how to be a good partner to a production company.

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Pete> That’s always changing, but right now my kids are four and six, so we’re deep in the ‘Bluey’ stage. For anyone even remotely interested in storytelling, every episode is a clinic. I’m not ashamed to admit I still can’t get through the cricket episode without tearing up.

LBB> My first professional project…

Pete> The first thing I got paid for was in 2015. After I blindly quit my job and was out there with no real plan, someone I used to work with at 72 heard I was trying to get my directing career off the ground.

She‘d since moved to an agency that did a lot of experiential work, like physical installations for brands at big tech events. Sony was one of their clients, and they needed a film that would play on the screens in their booth at CES and I was in (Jess Reznick if you’re reading this I’ll forever be grateful for that call).

They basically wanted a music video to announce their new speaker, which I was more than happy to shoot for them. But I secretly cast a comedy actor as an extra and wrote this side thing about partying with yourself. After each setup, I got one take with my guy in front of the camera before we had to move on without anyone noticing.

It’s still one of my favourites to this day. I also can’t bring myself to take it off my website. It really set everything in motion.

LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Pete> I’m currently trying to get an original screenplay financed. So when I see a bad Super Bowl ad that also clearly cost $5million to make, it bums me out to think that money could have financed a whole movie… maybe even two.

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Pete> My absolute dream is to shoot a perfume ad one day. It all started with the Dior: Sauvage spots with Johnny Depp playing guitar and randomly digging a hole in the middle of the desert. I love it. Genuinely.

Adam Driver’s ‘Hero’ ad for Burberry where he’s running on a beach with a bunch of horses is right up there too. I think they’re some of the single greatest pieces of comedy filmmaking ever made.

I’m a firm believer that the more ridiculous the premise, the straighter it should be played, and those ads take it to a whole other level. They’re incredible. They don't even know they’re funny. That’s what makes them genius.

To be clear, I’m not making fun of them. I admire them. I’m a fan. Perfume ads, in general, are fascinating to me because of the version of the world they portray. There’s something so earnest and surreal about them that I just cannot help but love them.

LBB> The creative project that changed my career…

Pete> I was in a band in my late teens and early 20s back in Australia. Figuring out the creative process, as well as the business side of the industry which can be pretty grim at times, alongside three of my best mates at a fairly young age was the most useful lesson I’ve had, both in life and in creativity.

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…

Pete> Super boring answer but I’m proud of all of them, good or bad. And there are definitely some bad ones. But those are usually where the best lessons come from.

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Pete> I’m pretty selective with the jobs I take on these days, mostly because, like I said earlier, when I say yes, I really go all in.

So the recent project that excited me the most will generally always be the most recent project I worked on. And right now, that’s a thing I shot last week for Google with Stephen Curry. That one was especially fun. I got the call a week before the shoot, we prepped the heck out of it, shot it, and it went live a week later.