Allie Avital has signed with Smuggler for worldwide commercial representation. The New York-born director is best known for music videos. Her video for Moses Sumney “Quarrel” won the Jury Recognition Award at SXSW in 2019 and she has worked with Kesha, Jidenna, Afro B., Serpentwithfeet, Kelsey Lu, Chromeo and others. She recently participated in the Venice Biennale Cinema College program to develop her debut feature film “The Naked Woman,” based on her short of the same name.
Caviar has added Sergi Castella to its roster for commercial and music video representation in Brussels, France, Holland & the U.K. Barcelona-born Castella has directed spots for clients including Adidas, Audi, Lacoste, Mini, Nike, VW and Zalando, as well as music videos and his latest short film “El Niño," which is currently in post production.
Los Angeles-based production company JOJX has added German director Andreas Roth to its roster for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. His commercial work includes films for clients including Adidas, Audi, BMW, Fila, Heineken, Uniqlo, Lexus, Xbox and Jaguar. He is a two-time winner of the Young Director Award in Cannes and has been honored at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase. For feature film, Roth is represented at ICM.
Bullitt has added The Director Brothers, aka Ryan McNeely and Josh Martin, to its roster. The duo are Funny or Die veterans who have worked on spots for AT&T, Jetpack, GameStop and Verizon. The signing follows a collaboration between Bullitt and The Director Brothers on a Thrifty starring SNL's Kenan Thompson.
Director Dan DiFelice, who has been on on Biscuit Films’ U.S. roster since 2016, has also joined the company’s U.K. roster. His most recent commercial campaigns include work for Volvo, Nike, Audi, Reebok, Ubisoft, Jordan, Fox Sports and BMW; he was also selected for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes in 2016 for his short film “Carved in Mayhem.”
Jacki Sextro, who was worked at production companies including Hungry Man, Biscuit and The Directors Bureau, has opened her own production company, Kin, in Los Angeles. Sextro is founder and executive producer while the director lineup includes Ric Cantor, Jeff Baena, Minhal Baig, JD Dillard, Ryan Reichenfeld and Liza Mandelup.
Editor Stephen Jess has joined Cut + Run. Belfast-born Jess began his career at The Mill London before moving to the U.S. and has worked on projects for Google, AT&T, Subaru, and American Express. He worked at Lost Planet and the Whitehouse before becoming a founding partner at Wax. Based out of New York, he will be available on location and throughout the Cut + Run network.
Hillary Pitcher is joining Toronto-based studio The Juggernaut in the role of executive producer. Pitcher has worked at various production houses and agencies including Lowe Roche, Open and School Editing in Toronto, and Robin Frank Management in New York. She joins as The Juggernaut expands its capabilities into full content production after 17 years as a post-production visual effects house.
Post production company Envy Advertising has appointed Ross Culligan as executive producer and Jax Harney as senior colorist. Culligan joins Envy from Unit, where he spent the last three years as head of production. Harney joins from Cheat where she was a senior colorist for four years.
Composer/producer Nick Crane and Uppercut owner/editor Micah Scarpelli have teamed up for a new venture, music company Racket Club. The NYC-based shop will focus on original compositions for commercial and entertainment work designed to be created in-sync with the visuals. It has already composed for projects including Nike’s campaign for the U.S. Open featuring Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, as well as for Verizon, Reebok, Toyota, Bare Minerals and Volvo.
Experience design agency Hush has appointed Garrett Johnston as creative director. He was formerly a creative director at experiential agency Fake Love and most recently worked with Google and SK-II on an augmented reality pop-up shop in Tokyo.
