Comedy writer and director Lucy Forbes is joining Smuggler for worldwide representation. London-based filmmaker Forbes has  directed Channel/4 Netflix's “End of the F**ing World” Season 2, as well as BBC series “In My Skin” and commercials for brands such as Asda, Carphone Warehouse, Comic Relief and Oreo.

Josef Bates has joined Prettybird’s U.K. roster for representation. His inaugural short film “Meat” won him an award at the British Horror Film Festival in 2018, as well as a shortlist at Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival. His second short, “TIC”, about a guy trying to hide his Tourette syndrome on a first date, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2019 and is based on Bates’ personal experience of Tourette’s.

Rogue has added director Joe Connor to its roster. Connor has directed commercials for Land Rover, Volvo, Nike and Puma that have been shortlisted at Cannes Lions, D&AD and the British Arrows. He has also helmed\music videos for the likes of Paul Weller, Coldplay, Sam Smith and Placebo that have picked up several best music video nominations at the UK MVAs. He is the co-founder and artistic director of visual theater company Parrot in the Tank.

M ss ng p eces has signed Michael Marantz to its directorial roster for commercial representation in the U.S. His first work through the company is Walmart’s 2020 brand campaign “Spark” via FCB. Marantz is most notably known for his Facebook-branded documentary short “The Conditioned,” which received over 48 million views worldwide and tells the story of a homeless poet in São Paulo, Brazil. He has also directed spots for Google, Verizon, Porsche, Jameson, Dove, Gilette and Quickbooks, and won a Young Director Award at Cannes in 2015. 

Supply & Demand has signed director Kacper Larski for commercial representation on its U.S. roster. Kacper’s work in the commercial industry includes spots for clients including Ram, Jeep, Garmin, Budweiser, Volkswagen, Richard Mille, Mazda and the Canadian Paralympic Team. He won the Cannes Young Director Award in 2016 for his work with Land Rover. 

Los Angeles-based production company JOJX has added South African director Tebogo Malope to its roster for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. Malope, also known as Tebza, is from Johannesburg where his commercial clients have included Samsung, McDonald’s, Nando’s, Vodafone, Hunter’s Dry, Cadbury, SASOL and Coca Cola and KFC. He has won awards including from Ciclope Africa, the Channel O awards, the SAFTAS, and the South African Hip Hop Awards, in addition to a Cannes Gold Lion and a D&AD Pencil. 

Brand New School has appointed Magnus Hierta in the role of executive creative director at its Los Angeles studio. Hierta’s former roles include executive creative director at Hue & Cry, the design and animation studio he founded, as well as a VP-creative director role at The Martin Agency. 

Toronto-based editing company The Assembly has hired Ashley Monaghan as managing director and executive producer. Monaghan has experience at production and post-production studios including Tendril Studio (as executive producer), Relish (head of sales and marketing) and Soft Citizen (head of sales). She will work alongside producer Katie Oliver.

Dell Blue, the internal creative agency for Dell, hired Jason Uson as senior lead creative editor. He has worked on commercials, online content, films and documentaries for clients including Zales, Southwest Airlines, Nike, Budweiser, Walgreens and Harpo Films. He is also owner of Foundation Editorial, which works with Nissan, LPGA, West Elm, Asics, Dell Children’s Hospital and Ace Hardware. Previously, he was an editor at Beast Editorial for six years, cutting campaigns for Leo Burnett, OnStar and AARP.

Sound studio One Thousand Birds has hired Jackie Zhou as sound designer and mixer and KT Pipal as sound designer and producer as it moves into a new studio space in East Los Angeles. Zhou has worked across features, commercials and experiential/live sound design for brands like Nike, Apple and Amazon.  In addition to expansion in L.A., the company is also opening a studio in Bogota, Colombia in 2020, to be run by L.A. partner Andres Velasquez.