By: Eric Cavoli

While there are multiple standout documentary films about advertising and design, Hollywood doesn’t go to that well very often when it comes to original stories. It’s a shame, because we all know how much comedy and drama happens within agency walls every day. But if you go back far enough, you can find a handful of popular movies set inside or around ad agencies over the past 40 years or so. Maybe not the most realistic portrayals of what we do, but they have their moments. Here are my favorites. Movies where the ad industry was a star or a plot line, not just a setting.

#5: How to Get Ahead in Advertising

This 1989 British comedy is a great depiction of the angst of writer’s block and the internal turmoil of an adman contemplating the ethics of his profession. The aforementioned “ahead” is actually “a head” that grows on a copywriter struggling to come up with a new tagline for a boil cream. I’ve been there.

#4: What Women Want

Yes, this 2000 romantic comedy would be barely tolerable if it took place in an accounting firm or law office, but there’s something kind of fun about watching Mel Gibson (pre-cancellation) and Helen Hunt brainstorm new campaigns for Nike. The ads they come up with are actually pretty smart. Alan Alda is great as a sedate agency head (though I’ve never met one like that). And there’s a not-very-veiled moral in there about getting inside the minds of your target audience.

#3: Boomerang

The 1989 sleeper is one of Eddie Murphy’s most overlooked films. He’s a womanizing ad exec who meets his match in Robin Givens. Eartha Kitt and Grace Jones have amazing cameos. This was also the film that introduced the world to Halle Berry.

#2: Crazy People

Another classic manic Dudley Moore performance in this 1990 comedy about an ad exec who has a breakdown and is forced into a psychiatric hospital. There, he harnesses the innocence and unaffected creativity of his fellow patients to revive his career with brutally honest ad campaigns. Volvo: Boxy, but good. Metamucil: It helps you go to the toilet. If you don’t use it, you’ll get cancer and die. Some say it’s a referendum on truth in advertising. I think it’s a manual for how to make great ads. Every brainstorming session should start with a viewing of this film.

#1: Nothing in Common

Tom Hanks as newly-crowned CD trying to land an airline account in this 1989 comedy. Answers the question, “Did Kip from Bosom Buddies ever make it in advertising?” It’s actually a touching story about a difficult father and son relationship, featuring the great Jackie Gleason. But the ad agency plays a leading role as we watch Hanks’ character deal with the pressures of a big pitch while juggling personal set-backs. This is the movie that made me want to get into advertising. Throwing pencils into the ceiling tiles. Driving a cool Jeep. Brainstorming in a bar while shooting hoops. Presenting to clients with live music. Starting a romance with Sela Ward. Proud that I’ve checked off 4 out of 5 of those.

As fantastic as most of these plots become, each of these films has a core idea that is relevant to what we do and still resonates today. We struggle with creative blocks. We strive to get at the truth. We wrestle with the ethics. We balance personal lives with business. And we’re seduced by the romance of advertising and the power of influencing others with our craft.