Bully Pictures has signed director Gregory Maya for exclusive representation for commercials. Maya has earned recognition for his work for such brands as American Express, Target, JC Penney, Verizon, TJ Maxx and Bare Escentuals. His work is distinguished by insightful casting, refined art direction and his gift for drawing emotional human portraits and performances that reach through the lens.
Previously represented by The Artists Company, Maya says that he considered offers from several production companies and chose Bully Pictures because of “the company’s fresh positioning and vision.” He explains, “I want to be involved with people who are moving forward and taking advantage of every advertising platform available.”
Maya adds that he was impressed by the insight that Bully Pictures executive producers Jason Forest and Astrid Downs showed into his approach as a commercial director. “They understand my work and my potential and can help guide my career from that point of view,” he says.
A diverse talent, Maya has worked across a wide expanse of product categories and advertising styles. Recently, he has directed a number of campaigns for fashion brands and his work stands up from other work on that category in its strong sense of story and character. “My work is humanity based,” he observes. “It’s about honesty and truth that derives from the performance of the actors, or the personas of real people. My beauty work is not high gloss, or hyper-designed. Rather, it is naturalistic and has a sense of humanity at its core.”
Maya’s humanistic touch is evident in his recent Bare Escentuals “Be a Force of Beauty” campaign out of TBWAChiatDay. With the goal of highlighting women’s true overall beauty, a blind casting call was conducted to find six “Forces of Beauty.” Maya interviewed 78 models and actresses behind a wall, asking them questions about their values, beliefs and dreams — without ever seeing their faces. The result was a beautiful, relatable and honest campaign. In one of the spots, Lauren, describes growing up in a family of Italian-American firefighters—she herself volunteers as firefighter in her community. Maya’s warm, intimate technique presents these women as real and approachable.
A native New Yorker, Maya worked in the theater before embarking on a career as a commercial producer. Having worked alongside a number of successful directors, he elected to move behind the camera himself. His first effort as a director was an emotionally charged public service campaign for The Fresh Air Fund that won top honors at the annual AICP MOMA show. Since then, he has directed scores of memorable campaigns both in the U.S. and internationally for such clients as Pantene, Wal-Mart, Dove, AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, American Express, McDonalds, Clairol and Toyota.
About Bully Pictures
Bully Pictures is a full-service commercial broadcast, web viral, branded content production company located in Santa Monica, California. The company’s roster includes Javier Aguilera, Dustin Lance Black, Juergen Bollmeyer, Fredrik Callinggard, Jeffrey Dechausse, Anne Fletcher, FRAME, Gaute Hesthagen, Daniel Kaufman, Dave Klaiber, Franco Marinelli, Gregory Maya, Luke Savage, Michael Shapiro, Morten Tyldum and Eric Will. For more information, write info@bullypictures.com
Jason Forest Executive Producer Bully Pictures 310 395 6500 Contact Jason via email
Contact:Media: Linda Rosner ArtisansPR 310.837.6008 Contact Linda via email
“Ǝvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of Ǝvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? Ǝvolution suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence, Ǝvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating —in the blink of an eye— the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called “progress” may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscar®... Read More