- Talking to… Tay Sánchez from HARRY.
- How was the Opening Gala of the Women’s Film Festival?
- Talking to… Tay Sánchez from HARRY.
This week in the section dedicated to our professionals we have had the pleasure of talking to Tay Sánchez, founder and Executive Producer of HARRY.
Our guest this week has had a long career in this industry, which makes her a highly experienced professional, and what were those beginnings like? “I’m going to be very honest. I came to advertising by chance. I studied journalism and I really had a strong vocation. My other great passion was cinema.
It was 1996 and I was combining my internship at a newspaper that sadly disappeared, Diario 16, with my studies in Filmmaking and Production at the Film School.
However, I had no steady income, and in those days I founded a creative collective called Caótico and, together with other young and very creative filmmakers, writers, editors and musicians, we produced different audiovisual pieces that earned us some money (Video Art, music videos, documentaries, short films, scriptwriting…).
That stage had a decisive influence on my vision of creativity and the importance of Ideas. Then, I met someone who offered me a job as a producer in an advertising agency and I accepted without knowing very well what I was getting into… My four years at Grey Madrid turned out to be a Master’s Degree in Advertising by blood, sweat and tears, and the most solid base to take on the projects I would later carry out.
At the end of 1999, I started working as Executive Producer at Wind Production Company, where I was a partner until 2014. These years served to strengthen my personality and philosophy in relation to this business, and I had the opportunity to work with very brave advertisers and with agencies where their Creative Directors were a source of inspiration, and together with their teams were committed to good ideas. I feel very fortunate because I learned so much… I think I was lucky enough to participate in some of the most iconic projects in Spanish advertising.
I have always bet on talent. Therefore, you can say that the creators and directors who have marked my personality have generally grown up with me. There has always been feedback. I need to be involved in the creative side and work very closely with the Director, screenwriter and creator. Researching what we haven’t done yet, or didn’t know we could do….
And then, in 2014, I founded HARRY with Dionisio Naranjo and Néstor Costafreda. Since then, we haven’t stopped complicating our lives in a positive way. We set up a project tailored to us, at a time of inevitable maturity, and where the aim was to be very true to who we are, to our style, values, imperfections, uniting three personalities in search of what is most genuine to each one of us”.
As its founder tells us, it was 8 and a half years ago when HARRY was born, under the motto “HARRY, JUST GOOD STORIES”.
“You could say that HARRY represents the alter ego of each partner. “He’s” a more evolved person than we are,” jokes the founder. “Who is not physically present on a day-to-day basis, but represents us, inspires us from a distance and reminds us from a paradise island that this is not about ‘doing it right’ but about ‘doing it very well’. The importance of quality in everything you do. The belief that whether they are big or small steps, they must always be accompanied by good work. That it is not only the destination that matters, but what the journey is like. We turned that journey into a ritual full of details.
We needed a project where the ecosystem was born from the evolution of its founders, who are passionate about our work, as it could not be otherwise. But also of other pleasures innate to our enjoyable nature, such as gastronomy, which has great parallels with the profession we dedicate ourselves to.
We are obsessed not only with telling stories, but also with taking them to another level and executing them with the utmost attention to detail.
Harry was born with the purpose of taking care of good ideas, enhancing them, and contributing to everything you can imagine and more. A passion for the audiovisual world that makes thinking big an illusion and not an obligation.
For us, Harry is more than a production company, it is a brand, a container of ideas, it is a place where inspiration and teamwork are present every day; where storytelling finds the perfect atmosphere, to take the twist to the ultimate consequences”.
All of us always have some project that has marked us the most in our career, Tay told us that she remembers many of them, that have particularly made her grow, have been challenges and learn. “Although to be honest, it’s the people who really leave their mark on me, those who inspire you, who you admire and with whom you share a journey.
And not so much the projects…
In 2006 “Amo a Laura” by Tiempo BBDO for MTV came to us and became an unprecedented viral phenomenon. In the first four days of the release of the music video, it accumulated 400,000 downloads, the channel increased its audience by almost 50% in less than three weeks and the website exceeded two million visits. It was thrilling to witness to say the least. I still remember the whole audience in the Kursaal, on their feet, singing the song. I love Lauuuraaa… You could say it was magical.
Then there are projects that go beyond advertising, a unique and innovative adventure for the Prodis Foundation “Historia de un anuncio bonito” that gave young people with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to create a campaign from scratch, to be developed from creativity, through filming and final delivery. Ideas that have very brave people behind them.
And of course, there are many other campaigns that have marked my career (but not my life), among which I would highlight Calvo’s “Madres”, Campofrío’s “Deliciosa Calma”, “Fantasmas” and “Cholitas”, Ikea’s Christmas spot “Familiarizados”, Toyota’s “El tiempo nos hace mejores” (a “Boyhood” of 5 years of production) and recently “Nómadas” with Sra Rushmore that includes a very personal documentary made by Dionisio Naranjo and Ingrid García Jonsson, who debuted as a Director. In the area of fiction I would highlight the short film “Imposible decirte Adiós” which has achieved an incredible national and international awards being the prelude to our next feature film. But there are so many… I wish I could name them all. “
And as for the present and the future, the production company continues to face challenges, both advertising and fiction. “In September we released the premiere of a very special project that was a very big challenge for us, because it was done in a very short time and also because it had never been done before. It is the ING Nomads Campaign with Sra Rushmore, which also includes a 50-minute-long documentary.
In a few days, a Christmas Campaign of a very iconic brand in Spain will be broadcasted and we are very happy about it because of the creative leap we consider it has achieved. At this moment, we have several productions in sight for both advertising and fiction. We are in the process of developing scripts for a short film and a series. In addition, in spring/summer of 2023 we will start shooting our first feature film, Tras el verano by director Yolanda Centeno.
I am also very involved with the c de c, in which I am part of the Board of Directors; and I am involved in three commissions, C Day, Fame and Diversity. It’s a very stimulating commitment that connects me very closely with some very bright people in our industry, not only is it a major creative challenge, but it has become a second job that I try to combine with running HARRY“.
Regarding the current state of the advertising industry Tay talks about a radical change to how we knew it, and that we are facing new ways of doing things, new challenges. “I think it’s exploding. To tell you the truth… I can’t tell you how it’s evolving. I think that the advertising activity as we knew it has changed radically, and that it is essential to reflect deeply about it. There are so many ways of communicating.
We are facing two models that coexist. On the one hand, the need for all brands to have a presence in the social networks like the YouTube shorts, very short and impactful content in very few seconds. On the other hand, every day there are more and more brands that are considering a campaign and are not afraid of long pieces. We have just made a 45-minute-long documentary for ING.
I think that these two ways of communicating are very valuable for brands. Therefore, we have to be very attentive to everything. My son, for example, doesn’t like Tik toK but loves YouTube shorts. There are many challenges… because we have to master many audiovisual media with very different languages, but without losing focus on quality and creativity, since the creative contribution adds value to the product. This is what continues to motivate me. As the master Carlos Bayala would say, in order to generate a culture in which advertising should be thought, processed and transmitted in a special, imaginative, sincere and transparent way”.
As you know we always like to end our interviews with a motivational touch, so we asked Tay what she thinks that it takes to work in this industry. “To be a bit of a Kamikaze, you have to like taking risks… And as another genius said: when you strive for excellence in what you do, the key is to always be on the edge, the key is to always be on the brink of disaster; and above all, to know what your value is, where your strength lies, having a stamp and knowing how to analyse very well when you can take a project to the level it needs. Be honest with who you are, what you can bring to the table. At the same time, a lot of ability to adapt to whatever comes along, a lot of imagination and flexibility on the level of the mother in “The Incredibles”. And a lot of sincerity to transmit, to sell, to convince, to create, to believe… In a rather plastic world”.
What would you say to young people who want to be part of the audiovisual world? “This is a difficult question. I’m not one to give advice. I can speak from my experience, and my experience tells me to be faithful to your principles, and above all to strive to get closer to people who you know can really inspire you. Look for your stamp and don’t be afraid to dig into what is genuine. I’m sure you have it in you. Of course, culture is everything to understand the world from different disciplines. Don’t get bogged down in advertising or film (which of course are sources you should master) but investigate in the fields of architecture, technology, innovation… It’s about asking yourself what hasn’t been done yet and what could be done… And about applying a lot of common sense”.
2. How was the Opening Gala of the Women’s Film Festival?
The Film by Women Festival in Madrid kicked off its latest edition on the 25th of October with its Opening Gala, during which Isabel Coixet received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Held at the Palacio de la Prensa, the festival continued to value and recognise the work of female references in the field of filmmaking, in this case valuing the director’s fierceness and ethical commitment, which they assure us has become a clear current reference.