Creative production partner Tool has added Ava Berkofsky to its directorial roster for commercial representation in the U.S. Berkofsky (they/them), an award-winning cinematographer and LGBTQIA+ voice, has applied their signature visual style to features (The Sky Is Everywhere), television (HBO’s Insecure, Bel-Air), documentaries, and commercials.
Tool becomes the first company to represent Berkofsky as a director for commercials in the U.S. market. Berkofsky has extensive experience as a commercial DP. Having shot campaigns for Nike, Etsy, and Google, Berkofsky has also helped create visual identities for Apple, A24, Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. Berkofsky has additionally lensed a number of film-based art projects with exhibitions at MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, and The Armenian National Gallery.
“We are so excited that Ava is taking the next step in their commercial directorial career with us,” said Nancy Hacohen, managing director at Tool. “Ava is an outstanding filmmaker, and we’re looking forward to helping bring their unique voice and style to brands searching for a strong visual storyteller.”
Berkofsky’s directorial debut was for HBO’s comedy/drama series Insecure, an episode which earned an Outstanding Cinematography Emmy nomination for DP Kira Kelly. Berkofsky is a three-time Emmy nominee (in 2019, 2020 and 2022) for cinematography–all on the strength of their work on episodes of Insecure. Berkofsky also garnered an ASC Award nomination in 2021 for Insecure.
“Growing up in a family of filmmakers, my first language was learned by telling stories with a camera. I’m excited to use a lifetime of experiences to capture unexpected emotions, showcase intimacy, create humor, and discover real beauty to elevate stories and brands,” said Berkofsky, who added, “Tool has an incredible reputation for being home to the industry’s best filmmakers, and I’m thrilled to work with them to make powerful and effective commercials.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More