On My Radar: Lauren Sick

What is the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?

I really loved the piece Ogilvy Mexico, Media Monks, and Salomon Ligthelm did for Cerveza Victoria’s Day of the Dead campaign. The scripts were inspired by real stories of customers who had lost loved ones, and the film is this magical, mythical voyage that connects the dead to their living relatives. I love when agencies and brands take real swings to push storytelling in a more visual and narrative way. Montefiore’s Corazón, starring Ana de Armas, is another example from a few years ago that really stands out. This kind of work feels so elusive and so rare, and leaves a tremendous emotional impact.

What website(s) do you use most regularly?

Shotdeck, Filmgrab, and Pinterest are open in my tabs at all times and are great resources for pitch decks. Out of curiosity, for this answer I did a little math and realised I have ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE private Pinterest boards! I group images either by project or by tone, so I’ve created a really extensive library for myself over the years (categories include, but are not limited to, 'Kids in Love', 'Horror Frames', '90s Music Video', '80s Girlhood Suburbia', 'Decrepit Americana', 'UR ON DRUGS').

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?

My fiancé and I just got a Lomi, which is essentially a 'smart' food composter. It’s made by a sustainable tech company called Pela, and it basically turns your food waste into nutrient-rich fertiliser for your plants or garden. It also accepts some bioplastics, like compostable utensils and plates. The company’s goal is to reduce every household’s waste by 50%, which I think is pretty great (and increasingly necessary).

What product could you not live without?

My iPhone, and yes, I hate that answer.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?

I’d love to recommend some films, all directed by women, all of wildly different genres, all of which I really adored: A haunting exploration of selfhood and motherhood based on an international literary genius (The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal [below]); a star-making indie comedy (Shiva Baby, by Emma Seligman); a bloody fun satirical horror film (Fresh, by Mimi Cave); an animated coming-of-age immigrant story (Turning Red, by Domee Shi); and the lushest adaptation of the best stripper story ever tweeted (Zola, by Janicza Bravo).

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

You could ask me this question on any given day and I’m sure I’d always have a different answer. Today I think I’ll say The Matrix? In the age of social media and VR, I think the concept of escaping our reality to find a higher truth feels particularly prescient.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

Instagram is my go-to. But, I actually really enjoyed Clubhouse during the lockdown. It was so cool to have actual conversations with strangers and colleagues, to use our real voices in honest, spontaneous, and respectful ways, and to form discussion topics around people’s interests and passions. I don’t know, something felt very engaging and egalitarian about it. Anyway. RIP. 

I’m also very grateful to TikTok because it has inspired my fiancé to cook some new recipes, and I am the often-hungry beneficiary of that particular algorithm.

What’s your favourite TV show?

Currently: Severance. I was absolutely floored by it. It’s rare to see original programming that is so precise, so confident, so dazzlingly photographed, so frighteningly and effectively bizarre, and so, so human. I mean, what more could you ask for.

What’s your favourite podcast?

Rabbit Hole by the NY times was fascinating and terrifying. I love the Director’s Cut DGA podcast, The Big Picture, The Kingcast, Slate's Culture Gabfest, The Daily, and Fresh Air (classic.) Also, the Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith and the Script Notes podcast with John August and Craig Mazin are always good to lift you out of a writing slump.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?

Embarrassingly, I haven’t been to a museum in a minute, but stumbling upon a metallic mess of sculptures in the desert recently inspired an entire screenplay, so I have to say that that has been the most inspiring! It’s always exciting when you can find artistic value in something outside of its normal context. 

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

I love seeing women and people of colour in more bid pools than ever, and I hope the trend continues.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

I really like the way the ad industry works in most other countries, where the director is kept on for the entire post process. In the States, it seems like the creative input sometimes slows when you reach the edit, which is such a vital part of the process. Directors put so much work and effort into prepping and shooting their work. I’d like to see more of our vision translate to the finished product.