We were lucky to catch up with Joel Lava recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Almost everything I learned was self taught. Yes, I went to film school, but I wouldn’t say they taught much about directing. We learn by doing. I’ve been heavily into the motion graphics/vfx scene, so I taught myself the software, and that community is very collaborative so we learn a lot from each other. Starting out, I wish I was more aggressive at trying to do low budget music videos and crappy local commercials, instead of PA’ing and working on art departments of big commercials.
I once took my reel out of college and showed it to a director, hoping for advice. All he said was “keep plugging away”. It bothers me because I look at that reel now and can break down all the areas to improve and why. But at the end of the day, we have to keep plugging away and always be learning, especially with the speedy world of tech we live in now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After being raised with a super-8 and Star Wars stop motion movies, I went to film school at Northwestern (with a double major in Anthropology), and then worked film crew in the Chicago production scene.

Along the way, I picked up a Mac and learned gobs of graphics, and ended up at Industrial Light & Magic’s Art Department. From there, it was down to So-Cal to work in the blossoming motion graphics scene — doing it all as an animator, designer, Art Director, Creative Director, and Director.

My experience from being creative on the box, and then leading teams, helps me to think up original creative approaches and solutions, no matter the budget. I’m very big on process, which always gets the client higher than they expected!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Before my first stint as a Creative Director, I was inexperienced without a true mentor. When that ended, I dove into many books, and reached out to leaders. One thing I’ve learned and observed is that delegation is a learned skill. It takes practice – 1. to trust, and 2. to learn how to provide a mission with proper milestones. It also helps to give people a voice, from brainstorms to client calls.

Time management is another skill. These things don’t come naturally to most people!
Maintaining high morale ( beyond the obvious of being positive and not yelling) is about consciously giving credit, complimenting, and doing little things like thank you notes.

2 books that resonated with me are THE FIRST 90 DAYS, and SWITCH

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This may be a point that feels like it’s geared to the young or newbies, but it applies to us all. I got all my big breaks by making my own projects. I would take months off at a time to work on them. Each one garnered more attention and opportunities.
Once we get busier with successful work and families, the truth remains – we must continue to keep learning and experimenting. Find and do things that keep us inspired – it will be seen and felt by our teams and clients!

Contact Info:

• Website: joellava.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joellava/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-lava-08ba1b4/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joellava