Production company Invisible Collective has signed the Turner Brothers–a directorial duo consisting of 20-year-old Justen and 24-year-old Julien–for representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos.
Known for their recent collaborations with Beats by Dre and Nike, the Turner Brothers bring a lively, melodic voice to Invisible Collective, as they center Black stories and play with tempo, humor, movement and color. This marks their first official signing with a production company. The brothers continue to maintain Dreadhead Films for select film projects.
“When our co-founder Steven Love, Jr. first shared their reel, I was blown away, knowing they conceived, shot, and edited the pieces themselves,” said Tracie Norfleet, Invisible Collective’s managing director. “They have all the hallmarks of the greatest directors I’ve worked with in my career–smart, clear communicators with a deep respect for the filmmaking process and an outsized passion to move people with their visual stories. Mark my words: these guys are going the distance.”
Full-blown creatives, the Turner Brothers started collaborating from a very young age as musicians, then filmmakers. The brothers started small, casting neighborhood kids in budget sci-fi flicks they fundraised for by mowing lawns, while quickly tapping into a natural gift for playful, stylish, and competition-winning visual storytelling that led them to form Dreadhead Films.
“Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid, rocking braids, was the first time we saw someone who looked like us on screen,” said Justen. “We’ve been chasing the goosebumps we got from that film ever since.”
In 2017, on the heels of one of their projects going viral, Sesame Street asked the brothers to provide a short film for their 50th season, making them the youngest ever filmmakers to contribute to the show. From there, the Turner Brothers’ rise has been meteoric, leading to prominent narrative collaborations with Beats by Dre, Air Jordan, Nike and Adidas, the presentation of a TED talk about uncovering your superhuman boldness through filmmaking, and a spot on the 2022 Forbes 30 under 30 list, which highlights only the best and brightest talent in 20 industries.
Last year, their 2022 Nike x Social Status campaign “Free Lunch” earned them a Webby, but their current favorite film is “Recess”, the second installment of the three-part short film series. The comedic narrative short follows a teenage basketball player through his action-packed and often hilarious life, lacing in engaging point-of-view shots, animated movement, and over-the-top energy.
“In two years we’ve done eight short films in promotion of Nike, Jordan, and Airship shoe drops, which has led us more into the commercial space,” said Julien. “The Social Status short films have lots of characters, humor, and were really fun to shoot.”
Julien added, “We have such a comfortable, authentic relationship with Invisible,” said Julien. “We’re confident they will support us in making the work we want to make at the scale we’ve always dreamt of.”
In NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto Plays Doctor–In A Role Inspired By Physician/Author Oliver Sacks
There's a great moment in the first episode of the new NBC medical drama "Brilliant Minds" when it becomes very clear that we're not dealing with a typical TV doctor.
Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car barreling down a New York City parkway, packed with hospital interns, abruptly weaving in and out of lanes, when one of them asks, "Does anyone want to share a Klonopin?" — a drug sometimes used to treat panic disorders.
"Oh, glory to God, yes, please," says Quinto, reaching an arm into the back seat. The intern then breaks the pill in half and gives a sliver to the driver, who swallows it, as the other interns share stunned looks.
Quinto, playing the character Dr. Oliver Wolf, is clearly not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor here — he's playing a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the path-breaking researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the "poet laureate of medicine."
"He was someone who was tirelessly committed to the dignity of the human experience. And so I feel really grateful to be able to tell his story and to continue his legacy in a way that I hope our show is able to do," says Quinto.
He's a fern-loving doctor
"Brilliant Minds" takes Sack's personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving advocate for mental health who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts him in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series debuts Monday on NBC, right after "The Voice."
"It's almost as if we're imagining what it would have been like if Oliver Sacks had been born at a different time," says Quinto. "We use the real life person as our North Star through everything we're doing and all the... Read More