Director/writer Richard Yelland is joining Happy Ending, the production company founded earlier this year by executive producer Steven Shore and director Jonathan David. Yelland comes over from Dictionary Films.
Yelland’s critically acclaimed film Floating: the Nathan Gocke Story, produced by Oscar-nominee, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), won “Best Documentary” at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. Floating was also a “Best Documentary” winner at the 2010 New York City Short Film Festival and is currently airing nationally on FUEL TV. The film chronicles the story of a man who becomes a paraplegic after a surfing accident and then perseveres through rehab to again surf.
Yelland has become known as a filmmaker who explores the extremes of action sports and human storytelling with a smart hint of comedy. Real people, powerful visuals and great performances are a trademark of his directorial work on projects for Fox Sports, Fuel TV and the Ford Motor Company, among others. Yelland received an Emmy nomination in the national public service category for “Pool,” a PSA he wrote and directed for the Life Rolls On Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves as a grass-roots resource and advocate for young people who have sustained spinal cord injuries. “Pool” centers on Darwin Holmes, a wheelchair-bound athlete who finds himself poolside, staring–one imagines, into the water below–and contemplating his physical limitations. Shockingly, Holmes rolls his chair over the edge and into the swimming pool, which turns out to be empty. Holmes then “skates” all over the pool in his wheelchair, offering an extreme sports-like exhibition. A supered word “disabled” turns to “able” as he passes by. Yelland directed “Pool” when he was at Right Brain Media.
Yelland started his career as an agency creative in New York. His agency pedigree includes his serving as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson and Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners (now Kirsehenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners), both in New York. His writing spanned such brands as Eastman Kodak, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble.
As a spot director, he gained initial recognition in SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery for Gold Gym’s “Serious Fitness,” a comedy commercial that opens on a man who wakes up and drowsily walks from his bedroom to the hallway. Strangely the bedroom door is unhinged. He then takes a shower–but the shower stall door is missing. Next he heats up a cup of coffee in the kitchen microwave. The microwave door is gone. He’s then seated at the kitchen table eating breakfast when a newspaper flies into the picture and hits him in the head. A missing kitchen door cleared the path for the delivery boy to airmail the paper directly at the man. Finally we see the guy running a quick errand. He reaches to open the swinging door of a sidewalk mailbox–and effortlessly pulls the little door straight off its hinges. A closing super of the Gold Gym’s logo appears on screen, accompanied by the slogan, “Serious Fitness.”
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More