No two Tongal creators’ journeys are the same. For Los Angeles-based director Kelsey Taylor, it all kicked off in 2018 when she was tapped to create a clean and simple :15 skincare video. Easy peasy. Fast forward to 2020, and Kelsey now finds herself at the center of PayPal’s global holiday campaign, Make It One To Remember, which landed the #2 spot on Ad Age's list of top holiday ads. The campaign at large was supported by the collective ingenuity and production talent of more than 40 creators across the Tongal community who came together to produce the heartwarming video campaign.
With a fast-moving timeline (aren’t they all?) and an unprecedented year that required an unprecedented approach to capturing all the footage needed, this was an exciting challenge for Kelsey. One that she surely rose to meet. Now that the glitter has settled, we caught up with Kelsey to talk about the joys of creative collaboration, staying motivated, and what’s next on the horizon.
Marissa: The PayPal campaign involved you coordinating with and overseeing other Tongal creators around the world to create additional content. As the Campaign Director, what was it like tapping into the Tongal community? Was there anything surprising about the process?
Kelsey: This felt a little like discovering the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain— but not in a bad way! Seeing the way other people pitched taught me so much about how to pitch myself. Be succinct, clear, and prove you’re more than capable of doing the job. I was also impressed by the sheer number of talented creators in the network and what a boon it is to be able to tap into a diverse array of skills and thinking.
M: Originally, the PayPal holiday campaign was intended for digital, but it was so well received that PayPal has since taken it to broadcast in the US and abroad. How does it feel to know your work is resonating with people globally?
K: For me, there’s nothing scarier than bringing something to life and waiting to see if anyone connects to it. And it may not connect to a wide audience— that’s okay, but the goal is always to make people feel something. So as you can imagine, I was absolutely thrilled that this PayPal campaign has been well-received. This is an affirmation that our team got it right with this one. You’ll never win them all, but when you get one, it feels really good!
Directed by Kelsey Taylor | Based on concepts by Rebecca Swegle and jack maraghy
M: With the ups and downs of being a creator, how do you stay focused on forging your own path ahead?
K: Filmmaking is what I love, so even if I’m working on a job that’s not the most fulfilling, or feeling down because my dreams seem impossible, I have to be thankful that I get to wake up every day and pursue something I’m passionate about. On a more practical note, sometimes you have to treat creativity as a job to get it done. You can’t always wait to be inspired. I set aside time for my creative endeavors and treat it like a job I’m being paid to do. Otherwise, I’d get nothing done. That being said, sometimes you have to know when to walk away and take some time off to re-energize and re-discover creative energy that may have been dwindled. Even if that’s as simple as going for a walk. Or bingeing a couple seasons of a great show. I do a lot of both.
M: When we last spoke, you were planning to go into production on your feature film, To Kill A Wolf. Then, a pandemic happened. How has that impacted your plans and what’s next for that project?
K: Yeah…. This pandemic has thrown a real wrench into everyone’s plans. BUT it has also made me reassess our strategy. Maybe this is a smaller production than I’d imagined. It’s made me really ask, how can we do this with as little as possible?? I made a teaser for this several years ago now with five people running around in the woods. The feature might look very similar [in the end] as it doesn’t look like we’ll be returning to production-as-usual any time soon. I’m one of those annoying people that digs their heels in deeper and deeper every time someone tells me no…. I’ll make this project happen, it’s just a matter of when.
That being said, banging your head into a brick wall isn’t super effective either so I’ve also been doing a lot of writing during the pandemic and looking for ways to make a feature with what I have. Tongal’s network of creators has also encouraged me to pursue collaboration with a writer, since it doesn’t come easily to me.
