Joe Pytka (born November 4, 1938) is an American film, television, commercial and music video director born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Pytka studied fine arts at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon), and chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He began his film career at WRS Motion Pictures while still in college. He moved to New York as a post-production supervisor at MGM Telestudios but returned to Pittsburgh to make documentaries at WQED, a flagship production center of the then National Educational Television Network, now PBS. His work there for NET Playhouse garnered many awards and the film A View of the Sky was the official United States Government film at the Expo '67 World's Fair in Montreal.
He left to form his own production company with Rift Fournier and produced and directed many short films, documentaries and commercials. As a part of his documentary Maggie's Farm, Richie Havens and Bob Dylan allowed him to use their music. It was a precursor to the current music video form. Through motorcycle racing, he met Steve McQueen, and they began to collaborate on a documentary on off-road desert racing. The project never came about but Pytka finished the short film High Flying Bird, featuring McQueen driving an off-road desert vehicle, again, to Richie Havens' music.
The incomparable filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka, talks with photographer and filmmaker Brady Fontenot about his work and about being a 2011 ADC Hall of Fame laureate.
published: 21 Nov 2011
John Pytka Show Reel
Some of my TV Commercials
published: 20 Aug 2012
DCL Joe Pytka: On Space Jam
Joe is literally a living legend in the advertising world.
He has made over 5,000 commercials in his career, 80 superbowl
commercials and numerous music videos
published: 27 Sep 2012
Joe Pytka Accepts Award at One Club's Hall of Fame
Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world's largest corporations, and earned many awards and nominations including three Directors Guild of America Commercial Direction Awards and 15 nominations. Over the past three decades, his stylized images have wedged themselves into the American consciousness, and his commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Pepsi, McDonald's and NFL have aired more than 30 times during the Super Bowl telecast. Those include Madonna's infamous Pepsi commercial, "Make a Wish," a frying egg demonstrating "This is your brain on drugs," Ray Charles' "Uh-huh" for Pepsi, Bo Jackson's "Bo knows" for Nike, among many others. As a filmmaker, Pytka directed star...
published: 19 Jan 2012
Meet The Director
Joe Pytka is one of the most influential and prolific commercial directors of all time.
The incomparable filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka, talks with photographer and filmmaker Brady Fontenot about his work and about being a 2011 ADC Hal...
The incomparable filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka, talks with photographer and filmmaker Brady Fontenot about his work and about being a 2011 ADC Hall of Fame laureate.
The incomparable filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka, talks with photographer and filmmaker Brady Fontenot about his work and about being a 2011 ADC Hall of Fame laureate.
Joe is literally a living legend in the advertising world.
He has made over 5,000 commercials in his career, 80 superbowl
commercials and numerous music video...
Joe is literally a living legend in the advertising world.
He has made over 5,000 commercials in his career, 80 superbowl
commercials and numerous music videos
Joe is literally a living legend in the advertising world.
He has made over 5,000 commercials in his career, 80 superbowl
commercials and numerous music videos
Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world's la...
Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world's largest corporations, and earned many awards and nominations including three Directors Guild of America Commercial Direction Awards and 15 nominations. Over the past three decades, his stylized images have wedged themselves into the American consciousness, and his commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Pepsi, McDonald's and NFL have aired more than 30 times during the Super Bowl telecast. Those include Madonna's infamous Pepsi commercial, "Make a Wish," a frying egg demonstrating "This is your brain on drugs," Ray Charles' "Uh-huh" for Pepsi, Bo Jackson's "Bo knows" for Nike, among many others. As a filmmaker, Pytka directed starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the hit with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. He's also made music videos such as The Beatles "Free as a Bird," John Lennon's "Starting Over," Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."
Selecting highlights from a library of over 5,000 commercials is no easy feat, but here we present several of Joe's favorite picks from his prolific career
Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world's largest corporations, and earned many awards and nominations including three Directors Guild of America Commercial Direction Awards and 15 nominations. Over the past three decades, his stylized images have wedged themselves into the American consciousness, and his commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Pepsi, McDonald's and NFL have aired more than 30 times during the Super Bowl telecast. Those include Madonna's infamous Pepsi commercial, "Make a Wish," a frying egg demonstrating "This is your brain on drugs," Ray Charles' "Uh-huh" for Pepsi, Bo Jackson's "Bo knows" for Nike, among many others. As a filmmaker, Pytka directed starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the hit with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. He's also made music videos such as The Beatles "Free as a Bird," John Lennon's "Starting Over," Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."
Selecting highlights from a library of over 5,000 commercials is no easy feat, but here we present several of Joe's favorite picks from his prolific career
The incomparable filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka, talks with photographer and filmmaker Brady Fontenot about his work and about being a 2011 ADC Hall of Fame laureate.
Joe is literally a living legend in the advertising world.
He has made over 5,000 commercials in his career, 80 superbowl
commercials and numerous music videos
Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world's largest corporations, and earned many awards and nominations including three Directors Guild of America Commercial Direction Awards and 15 nominations. Over the past three decades, his stylized images have wedged themselves into the American consciousness, and his commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Pepsi, McDonald's and NFL have aired more than 30 times during the Super Bowl telecast. Those include Madonna's infamous Pepsi commercial, "Make a Wish," a frying egg demonstrating "This is your brain on drugs," Ray Charles' "Uh-huh" for Pepsi, Bo Jackson's "Bo knows" for Nike, among many others. As a filmmaker, Pytka directed starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the hit with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. He's also made music videos such as The Beatles "Free as a Bird," John Lennon's "Starting Over," Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."
Selecting highlights from a library of over 5,000 commercials is no easy feat, but here we present several of Joe's favorite picks from his prolific career
Joe Pytka (born November 4, 1938) is an American film, television, commercial and music video director born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Pytka studied fine arts at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon), and chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He began his film career at WRS Motion Pictures while still in college. He moved to New York as a post-production supervisor at MGM Telestudios but returned to Pittsburgh to make documentaries at WQED, a flagship production center of the then National Educational Television Network, now PBS. His work there for NET Playhouse garnered many awards and the film A View of the Sky was the official United States Government film at the Expo '67 World's Fair in Montreal.
He left to form his own production company with Rift Fournier and produced and directed many short films, documentaries and commercials. As a part of his documentary Maggie's Farm, Richie Havens and Bob Dylan allowed him to use their music. It was a precursor to the current music video form. Through motorcycle racing, he met Steve McQueen, and they began to collaborate on a documentary on off-road desert racing. The project never came about but Pytka finished the short film High Flying Bird, featuring McQueen driving an off-road desert vehicle, again, to Richie Havens' music.
follow us ...Director Joe Pytka recently revealed that a more elaborate finale was scrapped before the film’s release. According to Pytka, the ending was supposed to feature Jordan hitting a home run, a nod to The Natural, the 1984 baseball classic ... .
Is Space Jam available to watch via streaming? ... Directed by Joe Pytka, the movie has established itself as a pop culture phenomenon for its adorable collaboration between iconic characters and personas ... Watch Space Jam streaming via HBO Max ... NOTE ... TV ... TV.
According to one of its creative directors, Joe Pytka, Bird's tagline in the commercial, "No dunking," was inspired by a silly yet competitive game of H-O-R-S-E he played against MJ in the filming of a prior commercial.
The Pepsi spot would be directed by Joe Pytka ... But Madonna wasn’t sure she wanted to work with Pytka, at least not until he brought choreographer Vincent Paterson onto the project ... Pytka ends the spot ...
More On. madonna. Which zodiac sign is the biggest extrovert? An astrologer explains ... Benett ... The pop powerhouse occupied that mansion in her earlier years, living there from 1993 until 1996 when she sold it to filmmaker Joe Pytka for $5.3 million ....
More On. madonna ... ‘Sick person who needs help’ ... Spanning over 10,000 square feet, the singer lived in the home from 1993 until selling it to filmmaker and commercial director Joe Pytka for $5.3 million in 1996, records show ... Previous 1 of 14.
The pop star brought the property for about $5 million in 1993 and then sold it to commercial director Joe Pytka in 1996... After Madonna sold the house to Pytka, he flipped it to Leon Max for $7 million in 2010, the WSJ reported.
Madonna was one of Paterson’s musical idols so when director Joe Pytka invited him to stop by the soundstage where he was shooting a Pepsi commercial with the star, and maybe offer a bit of choreography, he was ecstatic.
Michael Jordan once admitted he made a bad decision having R ... � Matthew Emmons-USA TODAYSports ... So, when the 1996 Joe Pytka blockbuster movie "Space Jam" was created, Michael Jordan took everything about R ... Kelly's alter ego ... Years later, R ... Kelly ... .