Director Christopher Werner has joined Moxie Pictures for commercial and branded opportunities worldwide. This marks his first career representation in the ad arena.
Werner is best known for his work as in-house director and supervising producer for HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver since the show first aired, five years ago.
Last Week Tonight has won multiple Emmy awards, with many of Werner’s segments specifically being nominated and winning the award. He readily admits that he has been blessed to work with some of the best and brightest comedy writers and loves being part of a team.
His work on Last Week Tonight has given him the opportunity to work with both unknown comic talent, as well as high profile performers such as Bryan Cranston, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks, Richard Kind, and the infamous Wax Presidents.
Besides Last Week Tonight, Werner has also worked on HBO’s Wyatt Ceneac’s Problem Areas, as well as producing for Funny or Die.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More