Reagen Butler Wants To Create Intimate Stories With Elements of Tension
Reagen Butler is an Aotearoa-based director whose work blends cinematic craft with intimate, human insight.
With a background in still photography, he gravitates toward simple, human stories that create emotional impact through authenticity and restraint.
His work has been recognised at ONE Asia Creative Awards, Best Design Awards, Axis Awards and the NZ Cinematography Awards for brands including Whānau Ora, Spark, and the World Health Organisation.
Reagen sat down with LBB to discuss the rising trend of humanity, observation and simplicity within advertising as well as the creative advantages of coming from a photographic background.
Name: Reagen Butler
Location: Aotearoa New Zealand
Repped by: Supernormal
Awards: Whanau Ora ‘The Māori Roll Call’ -- 2025 Best Awards Purple Pin, 2025 Best Awards Gold x5; 2025 ONE Asia Creative Awards Gold, Bronze x2, Merit x2; Spark ‘Give A Gift’ -- 2025 Best Awards Bronze; World Health Organisation ‘Genomics’ -- 2025 Axis Awards Silver, 2024 NZ Cinematography Awards Gold
LBB> What excites you in the advertising industry right now, as a director? Any trends or changes that open new opportunities?
Reagen> Ideas, budgets, techniques, and trends come and go -- the opportunities are always to look past these things and into the core ideas, the humanity, and the truth and work to tell the most authentic version of that.
I think that’s the opportunity at the moment; a trend towards humanity, observation, and simplicity -- these key ideas, when written correctly, don’t need huge budgets or massive teams. Intelligent, restrained creativity feels like both the larger opportunity as well as an exciting place for my style and ideas to play in.
Coming from a photographic background, I feel innately aligned to the simplicity of these scripts and am uniquely placed to operate in this ever changing industry.
LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them? How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?
Reagen> Look, any script that lands in my inbox is a good script and similarly any opportunity to treat is one worth taking. Going through that process of break down, build up and resolution internally is the part that I love.
I’m always most excited about a script that is trying to say, accomplish, or paint a single idea -- these opportunities always have the most potential for cold blooded, single minded direction, and decision, and that’s always something I will jump at.
LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?
Reagen> It’s the producer, closely followed by the creatives. I’ve been lucky enough to have a year filled with great ones in both categories and ultimately it’s always about trust. When you’ve earned that complete trust with your producer, and the creatives on the job it lets the little important battles take place without traction.
LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about -- is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?
Reagen> I really care about making work that has an opportunity to create meaningful change. Whether it might make a difference for 10 people or 10,000 -- I’d love to work on more projects that allow this. More generally, I'm drawn to personal, intimate stories with elements of tension.
Tension at any level is always something I’m looking to bring to a script; whether it be through framing, pace (or lack of it), performance, or practical techniques.
LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?
Reagen> Coming from a stills photography background, I think that the misconception is that I’m purely an image-based director who can find a lovely couple frames and put an interesting person in a lovely location.
The reality is I’ve worked as a director for a good amount of time now and spent the majority of this time learning and working on performance, storytelling, and flow to add to an already pretty solid level of understanding of the image.
This combination feels to me like the future of storytelling, you can’t have one without the other -- everything needs to both look incredible, and the story needs to hit. When you’re really doing it properly, they help one another in every frame.
LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?
Reagen> This is the job. Have your idea, know the key tenet, and sell them hard in the treatment. If they make it through, you’ve started in a stronger position than someone who might have sold a treatment with vague ideas and positions which can be easily unpicked later.
Having respect for the process that the agency team has gone through is still incredibly important. By the time a script lands in my inbox, it’s been through it all -- a lot of options explored, debated, and deleted. Worlds built and then torn right back down.
Understanding that there’s reasons you will never quite understand as to why it is what it is and work mostly within these parameters. It’s a balance.
Ultimately, this collaboration is the job and for me is some of the most fun you have throughout the process. Building a relationship with both the agency and client early on and showing that you give a shit and understanding their goals opens up a world of enjoyable and productive debate. If you want it to be all your ideas, all the time -- don’t make ads. There’s plenty of other ways to get that fix if you’re that way inclined.
LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?
Reagen> Yes. Absolutely. I just finished up two days of mentoring the other week and this is something I always look to do and I think we all should. I find that both the learning and exposure to new ideas you experience through mentoring more than pays for the time investment.
If you read this and you’re an aspiring director from an underrepresented group in Aotearoa, hit me up.
LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work?
Reagen> I’m a nerd. Through and through. However, at the moment I’m finding that AI is best used through pre-production. Visualisation, guide reads, and storyboards are the main ways I’m using these tools at the moment. However, this might change. I’m firmly of the idea that at the core of it humans will always look for true representation of themselves in media -- so there will always be a space for something that is really exciting which is how much easier it is becoming to combine live action footage with motion graphics, VFX or illustration.
When the idea is solid from the start and these elements add to the story rather than distract it can open up a whole new world. Particularly when you get to collaborate with brilliant creatives like I recently did with Rob from Parallel Teeth on ‘Feast Mode’ -- so much fun.
LBB> When you first read a script, what are you instinctively drawn to — the emotional spine, the rhythm of the dialogue, or the visual world it suggests?
Reagen> I’m always drawn to the characters, first and foremost. How can I relate to them, who do I know that is like them -- what are their stories and what really makes them tick.
This can sound a bit much when it comes to commercials but I believe that having an underpinning character who might develop, even just a tiny bit through the work is the most important.
LBB> You have a gift for authentic, human performances. How do you create a space on set where actors — especially non-actors — feel free to be real?
Reagen> Safety. All talent, particularly non actors really just need a space where they feel like they can give things a go.
This starts pretty early even through the casting process for me -- getting in the room at each stage and letting them know what my vision is for the character, but then really hearing out their version. We aren’t saving lives, and we (probably) aren’t burning through meters of celluloid -- so it’s okay if we try things and sometimes fuck it up.
Owning my mistakes in front of the actors has been a helpful tool for me too -- if I suggest something and it simply doesn’t work, I’ll be the first person to put my hand up and say so. Anyway, moving on.
LBB> Your work often feels cinematic yet intimate. How do you approach framing and camera movement to maintain that balance?
Reagen> Less is more. Almost always. Find where the camera needs to be to give the correct sense of the moment and don’t move it unless required for the story. You can do a lot with just height, depth, or even a lens change to imply more than enough in any given shot.
On top of that, my background as a photographer has always been cinematically focussed -- even very early on in my career as a photographer I was always drawn to far side key lighting, different lensing, and making the most out of a single frame -- I try to carry this through where appropriate as a director.
Not to mention of course, the DOPs I’ve been lucky enough to work with bring their own thing, their own cinematic fingerprint -- I think having a really deep understanding of their language, and even the technical sides of cameras better positions me to create beautiful images.
LBB> How early in the process do you start thinking about music, sound, and pacing? Do those elements guide your direction on set?
Reagen> Where possible, I’ll always get a script and then drive on it. Read it a couple times and then head out to drive around an area I feel might be a part of the script. I’ll put on my discover playlist and simply like things that stand out as I go. Usually I find there’s a few things that inform the music just from that -- and I’m usually dictating to myself like a madman as I go, That’s the brain dump that then works its way into becoming a treatment.
LBB> Which pieces of your work do you feel show what you do best – and why?
Reagen> Whānau Ora ‘‘The Māori Roll Call’
Samsonite ‘First Impressions’
