How to Create a Filmmaker's Look Book that Gets You Noticed: With a Look Book Case Study

To be a great filmmaker you have to have the eye. The instinct. The vision. The leadership capability to be able to put together such a huge project. It’s not a new idea; this aspect of the director’s job is well known and well respected. Yet it’s really only half the battle for most directors. Before you can even take a seat in that director’s chair, you have to be able to convince decision makers to give you the job in the first place, that you, your background, your voice, and your skill set are what the project needs. Especially if you don’t write your own material but instead lean into directing assignments, being able to land projects is critical to having a successful directing career. To do this effectively you need to be able to take general meetings and to share your vision through a director’s look book.

A common hurdle directors face early in their careers is the realization that having what it takes to be a director and being able to convince others that you have what it takes to be a director are wholly separate skills. You could be able to create stunning works of cinema, but if you can’t sit in a meeting room and convince producers you have this capability, it’s not going to amount to much. This is why being able to navigate general meetings is so important, and a key element of mastering this is putting together a director’s look book, a visual bible that can effectively communicate your vision and approach to a project. A great look book can get decision makers excited about you and your ideas in a way a simple pitch can’t. But what does a great look book actually look like and how do directors normally go about making them? And how do you present your look book and yourself in general meetings to truly stand out?

Faraday Okoro is a New York City based Nigerian American filmmaker. In 2017, he received a $1 million grant from AT&T to direct his debut feature NIGERIAN PRINCE, which was executive produced by Spike Lee and distributed by Vertical Entertainment and DirecTV. In 2020, Faraday received a fellowship to participate in HBO's TV Directing Program. Faraday has recently been attached to direct multiple upcoming feature films, including PRELUDE TO A CRIME , produced by Andrew Lauren (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE SPECTACULAR NOW, HIGH LIFE). Faraday has found effective ways to inspire confidence and communicate his vision in order to find new opportunities and is excited to share what he knows with the Stage 32 community.

Faraday will walk you through how to advance your career as a director by taking better general meetings and creating director’s look books to help you win the job. He will begin by talking about how to get general meetings in the first place, including going through an agent or manager, ways to do so without an agent or manager, finding your niche or specialty, and how to get decision makers to think of you when a project comes up. He’ll then teach you how exactly to handle a general meeting. He’ll explain who are normally in these meetings and what it is they’re looking for from you. He’ll discuss how to set the tone and what topics you should be addressing and focusing on. He’ll also give you an idea of questions you should be prepared to answer and how you can inspire confidence and get them excited for your specific meeting. He’ll also go into what you should do after the meeting to help secure the job. Next Faraday will discuss the art of the director’s look book. He’ll go into what a look book actually is and in what scenarios they’re used. He’ll then go through the nuts and bolts of actually creating a great look book. He’ll discuss the software he uses, how to segment and arrange your sections, and the formatting to keep in mind, including normal page range, fonts and margins, balancing pictures and text, and file types needed. He’ll then break down the different sections of a look book, what you should include, what you should leave out. He’ll talk about how to find the best pictures for your look book and how to choose effective comps. Faraday will even offer a case study of one of his own look books, going page-by-page through how he put it together. He’ll go into how he organized it, why he chose the pictures and comps he did, how it progressed through various drafts, and how it ultimately helped him land a job. Through the strategies that Faraday will lay out, you’ll have a better understanding of what goes into landing a directing a gig and how you can do so more effectively.

"Directing is a lot more than yelling 'Action!' on set. Part of the job is to be able to convince others that you're right for the role. When my directing career started picking up, I had to quickly learn how to take meetings and assemble look books to land gigs and inspire confidence. I'm excited to share what I've learned with the Stage 32 community and hopefully give you the tools for you to advance in your own careers as well."

-Faraday Okoro