#21: It All Comes From Feeling

Director, Billy Boyd Cape

In this conversation we speak to Billy Boyd Cape. We discuss how he transitioned into the commercial industry, his process of working with actors, and discovering emotion on set.

Billy started his career while still at Bournemouth Film School; he began directing music videos which garnered millions of views and produced feature-doc ‘Beyond Clueless’ which premiered at SXSW (and later landed on Netflix and Mubi). His graduation short film 'More Hate Than Fear' was nominated for awards at Camerimage and the Royal Television Society.

Since then Billy has directed multi-award winning work for the likes of Nike, ITV, Co-op, NHS and Cadbury, cementing him as one of the most sought after new directing names in advertising.

A fun, open conversation. Here’s a few sound bites we loved.

“I have to connect with the material. I have to connect with it on a very human, emotional level in some way, where I have to find something I want to inject into it. And it all comes from feeling.”

“Sometimes that’s the hardest thing: having the "thing" to make and knowing I should spend six months to a year on a project, especially short films.”

“Casting — I think I always try to keep it flexible. I try not to preempt what I want someone to look like. But it always comes back to feeling, and I try to describe what I want that person to feel like as a person. Then I talk to them and see if I can find a rapport with that person.”