The funny thing about producing a commercial for a new iPhone is that nobody gets the new device until the very last minute.

And because the brand wants the spot live the moment the product enters the world, there’s enormous pressure to move fast. Which is why the script mattered so much.

Thankfully, the writer Jamie Cohen delivered a comedy dialogue script so sharp, so rhythmically complete, that the director Steve Miller didn’t want to change a word. Even more remarkably, neither did the client.

What followed was a highly accelerated production: prep, shoot, edit, finish in about five days. And because the writing was so solid from the beginning, everyone was able to run toward the same target instead of recalibrating in real time.

The result is still one of my favorite comedy dialogue projects I’ve had the privilege to work on. The timing, the restraint, the genuinely funny writing - it was all there on the page from the beginning. Our job was mostly to recognize it and stay out of the way.