Make no mistake, there are only two types of art directors:
-The hands-on, pain-in-the-butt interfering person who things he/she knows more than you, frustrated weekend photographer wannabe, who has been sent by the agency to justify the fees. He/she makes your life misery by trying umpteen versions of the same thing, never deciding which one is best, always ready to satisfy the client, even if the image the client chooses is the crap one.
-The laid back guy who knows you'll do a better job if he leaves you alone and only makes the odd suggestion and then listens to reason if you explain why you are not doing this or that, who actually sometimes comes up with sensible ideas and once you are in agreement, you go for it, never hesitating, he/she knows how to convince the client assertively with magnificently spoken bullshit.
90 per cent are of the first category, I would say. Unfortunately.
Now, if you want to fine-tune this a little, you can make a good prediction beforehand based on country, sex, age, agency and so on. But I won't go there!
One thing is almost certain, the higher the budget, the greater your freedom, the nicer the client. Low budget jobs almost always equal hours of suffering ahead.
My dream, which is slowly coming to fruition, is to only work with clients who are nice and be able to discard the painful ones forever.
Edward