When I started working in advertising my agency would always record the sound for our TV commercials at a studio called Wave. One of its founders, Johnnie Burn, was also one of the engineers, and he was very good at his job.

Last week Burn won the Oscar for Best Sound for his work on The Zone of Interest, so he’s still very good at his job. But these days that job lies more in movies than commercials; he’s also responsible for the sound on The Favourite, Nope, Under the Skin, and this year’s Poor Things.

The path from advertising to movies is well-trodden and has generally been seen as a step up to the highest level of whatever creative ability you might possess. In some ways advertising can become a kind of finishing school where you can build your qualifications for movie making.

That makes a lot of sense: it’s much easier to become a commercials director than a film director, and it’s a lower-stakes opportunity to learn your craft and make your name. In addition, there is a regular supply of clients and agencies who are happy to pay you to do that.

Twentysomething years ago I made a commercial with the director Edgar Wright, which featured the kind of action he has since become famous for. Was he just making the ad, or was he also building his showreel? Either way, I’m pretty sure he’ll be thanking me when he wins his own Academy Award.

Although that journey from ads to movies has been completed by many craftspeople, the directors have certainly had the highest profile. From David Fincher and Ridley Scott, Darren Aronofsky and Spike Jonze, along with another of last week’s Oscar winners, Jonathan Glazer, advertising has supplied cinema with some of the best directors of the last few decades (and Michael Bay). Right now, perennial advertising award-winner Dougal Wilson is preparing to bring us Paddington 3.

That said, making the step up to movies is not a simple process. All the current Hollywood directors are trying to make a film, and they have the necessary contacts and a proven track record to persuade a producer to take them on. Three Cannes Golds and a D&AD Silver might get you to first base, but then you have to prove yourself among better qualified, better connected people.

It’s really only the best advertising directors who have a shot at making a film, and that means going from the top of one tree to the bottom of another. Some directors are more open to swallowing their pride than others.

The other tricky part of making the jump is money. Advertising directors can make tens of thousands of dollars per shoot day, but putting a movie together is a process that can involve years of hard work with little pay. So the temptation to take on one more ad while waiting for a green light is understandable.

That said, the path is far from one-way, and perhaps it never was. Last year’s much-loved McDonald’s Eyebrows ad was directed by the aforementioned Edgar Wright, while Ridley Scott recently shot an ad for Turkish Airlines, and Martin Scorsese brought his auteur skills to a Squarespace ad for this year’s Super Bowl.

That’s understandable: making Killers of the Flower Moon took several years of varying degrees of Scorsese’s involvement. Once the edit was locked and he was twiddling his thumbs waiting for the release date, a big payday from Squarespace must have seemed a tempting option.

But if you look at the list, there are very few movie directors who don’t make commercials: Wes Anderson, David Lynch, Zack Snyder and Spike Lee were already at the top table of film when they also decided to make an ad or two. So what is the motivation that keeps the movement flowing in both directions?

The example Johnnie Burn and Jonathan Glazer have just set means the advertising-to-movies dream just became even more mouth-watering

I think that for many creative people, the chance to actually make things is an enormous driver. A commercial gives you the opportunity to cast, select wardrobe, edit, work on sound design, develop CGI etc. If you produce a movie every few years, those opportunities become few and far between, while the smaller scope of ads can allow you to make ten mini-movies a year.

And it’s not as if commercials hold the same stigma they did in the 80s, when Hollywood actors would only make ads in Japan, on the understanding that they would never be shown elsewhere. Now we have Samuel L Jackson, George Clooney and Robert De Niro selling Warburtons, making it clear to the rest of the A-list that making ads does not diminish your movie prestige.

Ten years ago a screenwriter friend of mine asked me how he could get some work writing ads. I had to explain to him that, funnily enough, that might be as tricky as breaking into movies. He’d either have to find an agency job, or be a freelancer that people would be willing to take a chance on, and that would require building up a CV. It would probably take years, even with a few movie credits behind him. At the same time, I was equally interested in doing what he did, and he explained that it would be just as difficult.

I think ad people probably look over the fence at movies and yearn for the prestige and long-term cultural significance that they offer. Then again, the movie people may well look back over the same fence and envy our regular work and more reliable pay.

That said, the example Johnnie Burn and Jonathan Glazer have just set means the advertising-to-movies dream just became even more mouth-watering. There might be a long time between jobs, and the frustrations are many, but an Oscar is an Oscar, and I think most of us would swap a thousand Cannes Lions Grand Prix for that little gold man.

Based in Los Angeles, Ben Kay is a creative director and copywriter, and advertising columnist for CR; ben-kay.com