Malibash Sports & Entertainment

A conversation with the director behind campaigns for AT&T, Coca-Cola, and American Airlines

The Visual Obsession That Started It All

Stewart Cohen didn’t wake up at five years old knowing he wanted to shoot commercials. But looking back, the signs were always there—literally around his neck. Family photos recently surfaced showing a six-year-old Stewart with a camera hanging from his shoulders, a visual prophecy of the career that would unfold.

“I love visuals. I love great visuals,” Cohen explains. “I truly got into it by watching movies and seeing really, really well-shot content. It just made me want to shoot.”

That obsession with capturing powerful imagery has driven a decades-long career in commercial filmmaking, working with major national brands and navigating the seismic shifts in how we create and consume visual content.

The Evolution of a Craft

Cohen’s journey began in still photography, apprenticing under established photographers before returning to film school in the late nineties. The transition from stills to motion wasn’t just about adding movement—it was about learning to tell stories in entirely new ways.

“I felt like still photography really allowed me to get epic visuals on my own,” he recalls. “But then once you get on a set with people that really know what they’re doing, that can really help you craft your visuals—it’s a whole new world.”

The 30-Second Story Challenge

One of the most fascinating aspects of commercial work is the constraint: telling a complete, compelling story in just 30 seconds. Or 15 seconds. Or now, increasingly, just six seconds.

“A visual without a story is kind of useless,” Cohen emphasizes. “It’s nearly harder to tell that story in a single frame than it is to tell it in long-form video. But when you need to tell the whole story in 30 seconds? 30 seconds is not as long as you think.”

This compression has made him a better filmmaker. The discipline of distilling narratives to their essence translates powerfully when working on longer-form content. “It makes any filmmaker a better filmmaker to have learned how to tell stories in a short amount of time.”

The Film Renaissance: Nostalgia or Necessity?

In an era of AI-generated content and digital everything, there’s been an unexpected trend: filmmakers returning to actual film stock. Cohen, who grew up in the film era, has a nuanced take on this movement.

“I could load a film mag like nobody’s business,” he jokes. “But the medium is just the medium. It’s not necessarily going to help your story unless it’s really an important part of the story.”

He notes that film usage in 2025 has returned to 2014 levels—a significant resurgence. But he’s also realistic about the challenges. “Once you shoot it that way, you shot it that way. There’s no going back. With digital, you can look at things a bunch of different ways and change it if you want to.”

Still, he encourages every filmmaker to try it: “Get an ARRI 435, get a couple of mags of film, and just go out and shoot some stuff. Do some tests.”

The Business of Staying Creative

Beyond directing, Cohen has built a successful licensing business, including acquiring SuperStock, a stock footage company. This wasn’t just a business move—it was a survival strategy for his creative practice.

“The key to really staying fresh is to be out there shooting, creating new stuff all the time,” he explains. “The licensing allowed me the freedom to go out and do it. It gave me passive income to keep creating.”

For independent creatives without oil wells generating passive income (his Texas reference gets a knowing laugh), licensing existing work provides the financial runway to keep experimenting and shooting.

“If you’re a painter, you gotta keep painting. If you’re a writer, you gotta keep writing. Filmmaking is expensive to do on your own, so the licensing helped me feed the beast.”

The Power of Improvisation

One of Cohen’s most interesting directorial choices has been incorporating improv actors into commercial work. In one memorable campaign featuring Garth Brooks as a Frito Lay receptionist, they turned the cameras on and let improv actors loose.

“We didn’t know what they were gonna say, and we didn’t know what his response was gonna be,” Cohen recalls. “That’s a gutsy thing for an agency to be okay with, and for a client to be okay with. But it was super successful. A canned joke will either be super funny or fall flat—this way we had a lot to choose from.”

Lessons from the Casting Couch

Perhaps unexpectedly, Cohen credits much of his directorial growth to simply watching auditions. While many directors only attend callbacks, he makes time for the initial casting sessions whenever possible.

“Watching auditions really helps me as a director,” he explains. “You see how different people are interpreting the script, their nuances, how they’re delivering. Sometimes you land on the right person right there, and the spot is kind of shot before you even get to set.”

His perspective on the actor-director relationship is refreshingly collaborative: “Actors can bring as much to a director as a director can bring to an actor.”

Humble and Hungry – by Stewart Cohen

When asked about his philosophy for longevity in the industry, Cohen’s answer is simple but profound: stay humble and hungry.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’m okay saying I learn something new every day, even though I’ve done it a million times,” he says. “Learning and continually trying new things and educating yourself and seeing what other people are doing is super important to the process.”

It’s this combination—humility to keep learning, hunger to keep creating—that has allowed Cohen to navigate dramatic industry changes while maintaining his creative edge.

The Definition of Success

When pressed to name his favorite project, Cohen’s answer reveals what truly matters in this work: “I like any project where everybody leaves happy and it’s a success. Every project has something to love. But I think if it’s memorable, it’s a great project.”

In an industry often obsessed with awards, accolades, and name-dropping, Cohen’s focus on the human element—the collaborative experience, the shared success, the memorable moments—feels both refreshing and essential.

For aspiring filmmakers navigating the complex landscape of modern commercial production, Cohen’s career offers a roadmap: develop a strong visual eye, embrace constraints as creative opportunities, build sustainable business models around your art, stay open to collaboration, and above all, remain humble and hungry.

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Stewart Cohen can be reached at stewart@stewartcohen.com or found on LinkedIn and Instagram @stpictures. For licensing inquiries, visit superstock.com.