David Lynch, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and LEGO: The Work That Made Leo Birch

Leo Birch is creative director at JustSo – a creative studio and proud B Corp that specialises in original human storytelling for brands and broadcasters.

In his previous role at BBC Studios he led global social campaigns for major factual and entertainment properties like ‘Planet Earth II’ and ‘Top Gear’, before moving to Trailer Park and later Engine where he led creative campaigns for the IOC, Accenture, AstraZeneca, Jagermeister and Red Bull.

With experience across agencies, production companies and TV in roles spanning strategy, production and (mostly) creative, Leo’s work sits squarely in the ‘other stuff’ category – premium travel docs for Expedia, original social entertainment for Netflix, kids’ shows for LEGO, YouTube originals for Disney, global campaigns for the Olympics, ‘BBC Earth’ and ‘Top Gear’, and most recently an hour long documentary special for The LEGO Group and Formula 1… just don’t say the word ‘content’.

Leo sat down with LBB to look back on his early Radiohead obsession, his work for Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity, and ‘Planet Earth II’

The ad from my childhood that stays with me…

Leo> ‘Welcome to the Third Space’ by David Lynch for the PlayStation 2 launch. As a 12-year-old gamer I had absolutely no idea who David Lynch was, but I don’t think David Lynch had any idea what a PS2 was, so there we are.

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

Leo> I don’t know that I ever had a great epiphany about getting into the industry, but I suppose something quite formative was a Radiohead DVD called ‘7 Television Commercials’, which I somehow ended up owning as a kid and watched over and over. It was a simple compilation of music videos, but looking back there were some absolute crackers on there, including a couple from Jonathan Glazer.

It’ll sound alien to gen z, but music videos, skate films and ads were pretty much the sum total of short-form video for most of us in the pre-YouTube days. The alternatives were long-form, gate-kept mediums – television with fixed schedules and formats, or the distant world of feature films. Music videos dangled a more accessible carrot – you’d watch them and think, ‘OK, yeah, I think I could do something like that.’

Saying that, to this day I’ve still not made a music video.

The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Leo> ‘Hot Fuzz’ is an endless source of references for me – visual gags, creative pacing, frame composition, sound design, needle drops, the lot. I love how every single shot and cut serves a purpose – it’s a bit ‘Pythonesque’ in that way.

If there’s an opportunity to pack in a gag or a bit of self-referential fun, that film never sacrifices it for the sake of ease. I guess that’s why it’s a film worth revisiting over and over, it seems like there’s always a bit more to see.

My first professional project…

Leo> My first job out of uni was as a PR and social exec for a lovely little charity called Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal – the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity.

We discovered that one of the consultant paediatricians had actually been a patient there as a teenager and was treated for leukaemia by the woman who was now his boss. So we worked with the amazing documentary production company Icon Films to create a short film about it. Working on that film was my first real taste of documentary storytelling – and an incredible lesson in how to spot the heart in a story and bring it to life.

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

Leo> I don’t like to pour scorn on other people’s work too much – I know it’s a tough industry out there – but infantilised gambling ads that transparently aim for memeability infuriate me.

If you’re a football-loving teenager you’re already bombarded with interruptive ads peddling a dangerous habit. But when those ads start trying to infiltrate ‘gen-z culture’ beyond the regulated containment of the commercial ad break… well then they can absolutely get fucked, as far as I’m concerned.

The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Leo> ‘Play it Safe’ - the 50th Anniversary film for Sydney Opera House. Kim Gehrig and Tim Minchin. It’s just absolutely joyful and beautifully made.

The creative project that changed my career…

Leo> The global campaign for ‘Planet Earth II’. In the lead up to its release, I remember some higher ups at the BBC commenting that ‘young people don’t care about nature docs’ but there were a bunch of us across BBC Earth, BBC One and the Natural History Unit who knew otherwise. We saw that younger audience potential on social media and brought them one of the biggest, most open and most social-first campaigns the BBC had ever made. I also got to work with Attenborough… so it’s an obvious winner for me.

The work that I’m proudest of…

Leo> Is it a cop out to say ‘Bricks on Track: Building the LEGO F1 Drivers’ Parade’ that premiered this Sunday on Sky Sports?

But honestly, it’s been huge and I still get goosebumps at the end even though I’ve seen it literally hundreds of times. As a kid, I loved building LEGO cars while watching F1 on a Sunday afternoon, so for kids today to see the drivers they love having so much fun in actual LEGO cars. That was genuinely inspiring.

I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

Leo> I wrote a line in a covid-times piece for Accenture: “We stand together – maybe not quite shoulder to shoulder – but still side-by-side”. And for that, I remain very sorry.

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

Leo> ‘Bricks on Track’ has been a hugely inspiring project to work on. We set out to tell the inside story of one of the most audacious and ambitious projects The LEGO Group has ever attempted – to build ten life-size driveable LEGO F1 cars for the real F1 Drivers to pilot at the Miami Grand Prix Drivers Parade.

We knew it would be full of creativity, ingenuity and amazing feats of engineering – perhaps what we didn’t expect was just how funny and silly the whole thing would be. Seeing the world’s greatest drivers turn into big kids again on the track in Miami was so much fun!