‘I always have a vague, abstract idea of things that I want to do’: Peter Berg on how staying busy fuels his creativity

Peter Berg doesn’t need to do Super Bowl commercials. Yet the award-winning director helmed two ads during this year’s big game. First, was a fun NFL spot advocating for varsity girls flag football. And second, was water bottle brand Cirkul’s first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, starring Adam Devine. 

The commercial diversion comes not long after the release of Berg’s hit Netflix limited series American Primeval, which dropped on January 9, and quickly hit the top of the streamer’s ratings. In its first week, it had 1.25 billion viewing minutes. 

Berg has built an incredible Hollywood career, producing, writing, and directing hit films and TV series, from Friday Night Lights to Battleship, Lone Survivor, The Kingdom, Patriots Day, and more. Before he was a director, Berg was an actor, best known for his role on the drama Chicago Hope. Then in 1998, Berg directed his first feature, Very Bad Things. Over the years, in between projects, Berg has also regularly directed high-profile spots for brands.

In 2011, it was an epic Call of Duty ad starring Jonah Hill called “The Vet & The N00b.” In 2019, both his Super Bowl efforts finished in the Top 5 of USA Today‘s Ad Meter: The NFL’s “100-Year Game” was the most popular spot of the night, and Verizon’s “The Coach Who Wouldn’t Be Here” clocked in at No. 5. That same year, Berg launched Film 47, a companion commercial production company to his Film 44 production company, and his unscripted production company. 

Glenn Cole, founder and chairman of ad agency 72andsunny, has worked with Berg on many of those commercials. Cole says Berg has a great sense of what broad audiences find most appealing, and focuses on the moments that will resonate the most.

“One of the things I admire about him the most is how he maintains the respect of his peers across Hollywood,” says Cole. “He is seen as a rare authentic person in a business of bullshitters, and operates with an uncommon generosity of spirit. He is brutally honest about the work, but he is kind with the people around him which, in my experience, usually leads to creating the best work.”

In the wake of American Primeval’s success, and the buzz of two more Super Bowl ads under his belt, I jumped on a Zoom with Berg to chat about his creative process, why he still does advertising, and how his newest project embodies how these worlds can seamlessly collide. 

Why Advertising

After you remove the paycheck from the equation, it can be hard to understand why big name film directors still do advertising. But talk to enough of them, and it’s clear they find something else interesting about the process. Some do it in order to get in quick reps to experiment with techniques, lenses, and other hardware, all under a tight production timeline. Ads can take days, while film and TV can drag on for months.

Cole says Berg works incredibly fast, translating his handheld filming style (which he dug into on his recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast) to commercial work. The style allows actors to focus on what they are doing, not where they are doing it. They don’t need to hit marks, they just need to perform.

“For ‘Flag 50,‘ it allowed to us to do a three-day shoot in two days,” says Cole. “In a world where budgets are getting smaller and smaller, this is becoming more and more valuable. It’s like being in creative development while filming the shots. That can be scary, but I find it invigorating. The result is unexpected moments and performances that you can’t get from fastidious planning.” 

NFL chief marketing officer Tim Ellis says that the key to the types of stories Berg tells is emotion. “Every choice he makes in the creative process is about heightening the emotional journey viewers are taken along,” says Ellis. “Elevated emotion is the thing that makes any piece of work, whether it’s a film or an ad, stick with a person, and it’s why we keep turning to him for some of our biggest projects of the year.”

Berg says that he’s always loved doing commercials, and they’ve helped build his problem-solving skills that translates to film and TV. But experience across different media doesn’t always translate for all directors. Berg says that he’s talked to a lot of top directors over the years, and one of the most common complaints about ads is the need for collaboration. 

“They’d say, ‘When I’m doing a film, it’s just kind of me. I can pretty much do whatever I want. And occasionally, you know, the boss of the studio might call and say, what the hell are you doing? But generally, you’re free to do what you want,‘” says Berg. “What I say is that if you want to do commercials, you have to understand that it’s different. You have to collaborate; you have to listen to a bunch of creatives from the agency, you have to listen to even more people. If the client wants to come onto the set and have an idea, you have to accept that. If you resist that, you will lose. It’s not possible to win that fight. You will just end up very unhappy.

“One of the surprising benefits is you learn to listen to other people better because you have to. And I found that at once I learned how to kind of get over, you know, ‘Hey man, don’t tell me what to do!’ That sometimes they were suggesting actually good ideas. And it opened me up and I think made me a better collaborator in general.”

Berg’s Creative process

So, how does a guy like Berg jump from a violent, American frontier period drama, to an uplifting NFL Super Bowl ad, to now starting a film adaptation of Buzz Bissinger’s 2022 bestseller The Mosquito Bowl? For Berg, it’s not exactly a calculated process. 

“It’s a strange phenomenon for me,” he says. “I find that I always have a vague, abstract idea of things that I want to do. I have a book here, and I’m working on a script there, and I think I know what’s gonna happen, and I’m always usually finishing up one project, and I’m starting to think about what’s next. But I’m waiting for all the divine, supernatural deities out there to lock me in on something and I’m ready to go. And almost inevitably something comes out of nowhere. I’m not kidding, like out of nowhere.”

He knew of Bissinger’s book about a 1944 football game between American Marines—many college All-Americans and future pros—on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. But he was just finishing up American Primeval, and had other ideas of what might be next. 

“Then I was at dinner at a friend’s house, and his son looked at me and said, ‘You gotta do The Mosquito Bowl. I just read the book; you’re doing it,’” says Berg.  “This was a 21-year-old kid. My best friend’s son. And I looked at him, and he’s smiling at me. He’s like, ‘You got to.’ And I said, ‘That’s it. I’m doing it.’ Everything just clicked.”

Now even Pat McAfee (who appeared as the school principal in the NFL’s Super Bowl ad) might be involved, as Ari Emanuel declared on McAfee’s February 7th show. “I love Pat McAfee, so we’ll figure that one out,” says Berg. 

Worlds Collide

The Mosquito Bowl is in its early stages, but it is already embodying the often serendipitous nature of how Berg’s various worlds collide. 

While researching the film, Berg traveled to Okinawa, Japan, to learn about the battle. He spent time with the U.S. Marine Corps stationed there, learning about what they are currently working on and the threats they’re navigating with China and Taiwan. “I think that would be a great reality show,” he says. 

His research also took him to the Marine Corps training base in Parris Island, South Carolina. “I actually started writing my script there, and I’m being exposed to the recruits, the ethos, the drill instructors, and kind of the magic that happens on that island,” he says. “And I’m like, ‘Well, that should be a reality show.” And then the Marines’ ad agency calls and says, ‘Hey man, we hear you’re down here. Would you be interested in doing some commercials?’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s talk.’ So you have a whole bunch of stuff going on, and I like that. That’s how my brain works. It’s not for everybody, but it’s perfect for me.”

Advice and AI 

A lot has changed in the past 30-odd years between media fragmentation, pop culture, audience behavior, and appetite. But for Berg, some things remain the same. 

He sees a lot of great stuff across all the various social platforms, but also a lot of quickly consumed candy. His advice to aspiring filmmakers is simply to put in the hard work. 

“Turn off the noise, lock in, and watch what happens,” he says. “I’ve found that it still works and attracts all kinds of good things. If you want to get a film or series made, whatever it is, you need to carry a certain amount of passion and commitment it. If you’re really putting the work in, and you’re interested in working with brands, you have a much better chance if they believe that there’s a solid foundation in your creative endeavor.”

He also sees that sort of hard-earned, creative graft as a protection against the growing use of AI in film and commercial production. 

“The only thing that anyone aspiring to not be replaced by AI can do is double down on their commitment to making really, really special great things,” he says. “AI cannot write a great screenplay. AI cannot really act, AI cannot direct on the same level. Probably one day it will, but there’s still power in the human experience, and that’s what you can focus on today.

“Maybe the great writers and directors of tomorrow will be those who can prompt the best,” he says. “It won’t be writing and directing, it’ll be prompting. If that happens, hopefully I’ll be out on the Gold Coast of Australia with a koala bear.”