The Way I See It: Jani Guest

Jani Guest is co-founder of Independent Films in London, which represents a string of well-known directors and until 2009 was in a cross-representation deal with LA’s Biscuit Filmworks. Previously she has worked for Propaganda and Satellite Films. In this excerpt from the full interview, which subscribers can find here, Guest sat down with Diana Goodman to talk about being a divorced, Korean-American, Hindu working mum in London who’s never seen The Mighty Boosh.

I am 40, divorced, with six-year-old twin girls and a small home in a North West London ghetto.

I would describe myself as a hybrid. I’m a Korean-American, was raised a Hindu, run a company and am a single parent. Which basically means that I’m a workaholic, aim to please, prone to guilt and spoiling my kids, and have a strong belief in karma.

My father had a keen interest in eastern religions. So when I was three, my parents moved into an ashram – one that was very strict and run according to ancient Hindu traditions of ashram life. I spent quite a lot of time in India as a child, which I loved and have fond memories of.

When I was 13, my parents wanted a change and bought a house in Orinda, an upper-middle-class, very suburban town in California. So I had three high school years of normal schooling.

For two people who couldn’t be more different, my parents get along exceedingly well. My father has accepted that his duties are to do whatever my mom tells him. In exchange, she feeds him well and lets him go surfing.

My father is a saint. Years of meditation and gentle living have made him the calmest man and a true joy to be with. He has an insight and wisdom about life that is refreshing and keeps me sane.

I attended the University of California, San Diego and majored in anthropology and minored in religion. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated. I thought of being a journalist but I don’t write well enough and I like pictures. Through my ex-husband, I got a job at a photo agency working with Herb Ritts, managing the syndication of his images across the UK/Europe, and so began my career path.

I made what some would say was a brave – and others might say was an idiotic – decision to move to the UK, because I was offered a job to represent the Satellite Films directors in the UK (an off-shoot of Propaganda Films), which included, among others, Spike Jonze and Mark Romanek.

I suppose the first film that ever really resonated with me was Guinness Surfer by Jonathan Glazer. Up to that point, I had seen many brilliantly executed commercials, but Glazer’s spot made a more lasting impression. It felt like cinema, not an ad. 

The split with Biscuit was a natural transition for both companies. Noam [Murro] had achieved huge success in the London market. He had ambitions to have his own office in the UK and despite several conversations about how Independent could facilitate that, we always ended up in the same place: that we couldn’t build someone else’s business when there was so much work to be done on our own. 

In my family, there certainly is a stigma attached to working in advertising. I didn’t become a doctor or a lawyer. Worse, though, I didn’t marry one.

I get loads of flak about being an American in London and rightfully so. I’ve lived in a bubble of work and close friends and have not immersed myself in British heritage or culture. Everyone I know has a right to take the piss out of me. I still haven’t watched The Mighty Boosh.

Why are there so few women in the industry? Because they have discovered that there are far better things to do with their time than be in the ad business.

I am incredibly proud to have been involved in the Nike shoot with Alejandro González Iñárritu [Write the Future]. As you know, it was a production of epic proportions, all of which is evident in the final piece. What was originally scheduled and bid to be a 10-day shoot over a two-week period, grew to a 23-day shoot over a seven-week period.

I’ve always had a very strong sense of right and wrong, and what is appropriate and inappropriate in terms of transparency and honesty with people. There are certain tactics that people in business sometimes employ that I couldn’t personally do.

When I initially came here in 1995, the quality of the creative work being generated was exceptionally strong. It was the market that every director wanted to work in. Agencies defended their ideas to clients and, equally, seemed to support directors in the process of making the film.

Post-recession, it seems that an economically challenged climate has set fear among both agencies and clients. As a result, the ‘strong idea’ has faded, and the budgets are forever shrinking. It is becoming increasingly difficult to produce good-quality creative work with a high level of production to match.

My advice to young people entering the industry today is: Listen to your parents. Go to medical school. Or get a law degree.

Have I ever had therapy? Good God yes.

Subscribers to shots.net can read the full interview with Guest here.