SCA Students on Documenting the Life & Times of Tony Brignull

Tucked away on the petite NewGen stage at Advertising Week this year, you might've missed the premiere of Half Vicar, Half Assassin, a documentary about legendary copywriter Tony Brignull which was researched, produced, directed and edited by seven students from London's School of Communication Arts. 

At 19 minutes long, the film is an entertaining trot through Brignull's award-wining print and poster campaigns for the likes of Parker, Chivas Regal and Fiat and, as you'd expect, is chock-full of cosy tales and testimonials from the great and the good of adland.

Brignull's journey from a working-class background to one of the industry's brightest stars (and subsequent decision, aged 65, to study at Oxford University), coupled with his maverick creative approach (the title, a quote from his mentee Richard Foster, alludes to his split personality) makes him a documentarian's dream subject.

There are plenty of hilarious anecdotes about his idosyncratic way of working - a yoga aficionado, Brignull once approved a brief while inverted and clad in nothing but his underpants - but alongside the laughs there's a elegiac feel to the film, paying tribute as it does to the dying art of copywriting.

shots caught up with three of the team - producer Phil Le Brun, interviewer Twyla Lidén and researcher Petra Andersson - to find out more about advertising's gentle giant, shooting on a shoestring budget, and the lessons they've learned as aspiring creatives.   

How did the project come about?

PLB: It was a side project, something we worked on outside our regular course. We were briefed in October that we were going to be making a series of documentaries covering off influential and iconic people in the industry – like Drayton Bird, John Hegarty, Alexandra Taylor and MT Rainey. We were assigned Tony Brignull. We were given his email address and then had free reign to approach it however we wanted to.

PA: After the initial interview when Tony came to speak at the school, he helped us get in touch with other people, like Richard Foster and Stuart Baker, and then very kindly invited us to his home right before Christmas.

TL: We were fortunate – not just because he’s an amazing subject for a documentary but because he answered our emails within the hour, he was so willing and wanted to help.

1969 Chivas print ad

How much did you know about him before you started researching the documentary?

PLB: I knew a bit about him – I’d seen his Parker pen ads in annuals, and knew he was an amazing copywriter. But I didn’t know anything about his wider influences and how revered he is amongst his peers. The interesting thing about the documentary was that no-one had a bad word to say about him, people were willing to chat about him, and that made it easy.

Brignull was revered as a copywriter and particularly for writing beautiful long copy – as the next generation of advertising creatives in a visuals-dominated world, what lessons, if any, can you learn from him?

PLB: Even 30 years on, his ads could run today; Fiat [below] in particular still feels really fresh. Everyone is telling us that copy’s dead, but [print] still works when you have a captive audience, like at a Tube stop. If it’s done in the right way, I think long copy can be really impactful. We’re now watching longer-form pieces of content – that recent Nike Londoner ad was over three minutes - so there is potential.

1978 Fiat print ad

What was it like putting a documentary together with no budget?

TL: Because Tony’s so respected and idolised in the industry, everyone wanted to be part of the project. He’d inspired and helped so many people, they wanted to give something back. It might’ve been different if he was less popular.

What was the most interesting thing you discovered about Tony during the filming of the documentary?

PA: I really liked the fact that he went to Oxford University aged 65. He had such funny stories about going to pub with the other students, and being invited to 21^st birthdays at [notorious Oxford nightclub] Filth.

TL: The fact that every single piece of copy he wrote, he really struggled with – that gives me hope.

PLB: Uncovering this edge to him, the ‘assassin’ side – we heard these amazing stories about how fiery and passionate he was, storming into people’s offices, taking on account people, defending his ideas.

 Parker print ad

Any anecdotes which ended up on the cutting room floor?

PLB: There was one great story about when the CDP offices were being redone, and while Charles Saatchi was away, Tony paid the plasterers £50 to plaster over his office. And of course there were all the yoga stories, and he was apparently a bit of a demon on the football pitch, too. He was like a millennial but in the ‘70s: the ultimate hipster.

PA: Our dean took him to an Arsenal match once. Not only did he run up the stairs to the box without stopping for breath, he cursed non-stop for 90 minutes.

Tony came from quite a humble, working-class background; do you think it has got any easier for young creatives without money or existing ties to the industry to break into advertising?

PA: I think it depends. Most of us come from quite fortunate backgrounds, it’s true. SCA does offer scholarships, but I also interned in agencies in Sweden, and there really is a sense that everyone knows everyone else, and you’re the only one in the office who wears polyester. It feels like it might be hard to come up and make a name for yourself.

You put together the documentary as a side project to your regular course. How important is it, as creatives, to have interests outside of your job?

TL: When we first got the brief, I was so intimidated. We came to school to do advertising, not documentary-making! As it progressed and as we got to know Tony better and got more invested in the project, it was so nice to have those days where we went out on interviews and didn’t think about the briefs we had going on at school. Once you get passionate about something it gives you energy.

PLB: I think it’s absolutely essential, as a creative, to have other stuff going on. This experience has made me want to go and make more films.