The directorial team of Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing–whose documentary filmmaking has garnered both Oscar and Emmy nominations–has signed with aWHITELABELproduct for U.S. representation in spots and branded content. Grady and Ewing’s Jesus Camp, a look at Pentecostal children in America, earned a Best Feature Documentary Oscar nomination in 2007.
That same year their Boys of Baraka, which focused on struggling pre-teens in Baltimore, copped a News and Documentary Emmy nom. The directing duo’s 12th & Delaware, centering on the abortion rights controversy and its impact on a local community, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010.
Currently Grady and Ewing’s docu short for HBO, The Education of Mohammed Hussein, is on the Oscar Short Subject Documentary shortlist, one of eight finalist films in the running for a 2013 Academy Award nomination. Their short explores an anti-Islamic preacher and his impact on children in Michigan, where the largest Muslim community in the U.S. resides.
Meanwhile Grady and Ewing’s feature length documentary, Detropia, about Detroit residents who have opted to stay in the Motor City despite adversity, is widely considered to be a contender for an Oscar nom. Detropia, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, recently earned a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination. (Winning the Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature earlier this week was director David France’s How to Survive a Plague.)
Grady and Ewing’s body of work also includes notable TV profile pieces for CNN Heroes and Stand Up 2 Cancer.
Prior to aWHITELABELproduct, the directors were repped in the ad arena by production house Rabbit. Ewing explained what drew her and Grady to spotmaking and branded content, observing, “As a storyteller, I see that advertising has gone into more personal stories, more real people, more authenticity. Culture at large, especially younger viewers have become more cynical and skeptical when it comes to advertising. The demand for authenticity called out to us. Agencies and advertisers want to have a documentarian’s touch in profiling real people. We have something to offer–to bring more humanity and aspects of personal life to help brands connect with people.”
Ewing additionally sees ad fare as helping to diversify the nature of her and Grady’s work, noting that their documentaries reflect society’s “more sobering topics, but we have another side we want to express in our filmmaking. We are excited to bring a lighter and more humorous side to commercial projects. The idea of working our creative muscle in another emotional palette is extremely exciting to us.”
Ellen Jacobson, executive producer of aWHITELABELproduct, sees Grady and Ewing’s filmmaking prowess translating successfully into the world of commercials and branded content. The duo was first singled out as directors to watch in the ad arena by SHOOT‘s Spring 2010 Directors Series feature story on up-and-coming directorial talent.
Among Grady and Ewing’s other credits is a segment of the feature-length documentary Freakonomics based on the best-selling book of the same title. The directors turned out a 20-minute film segment on a chapter in the book revolving around teenagers who are being paid to get good grades in school. Also adapting different chapters of the book to film were documentarians Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight). Directing the interstitial glue that meshed these chapters into a unified film was Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). Freakonomics debuted at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
Director Lucrecia Signs With PRETTYBIRD For Her 1st U.S. Representation
PRETTYBIRD, the production company helmed by Paul Hunter, Kerstin Emhoff, and Ali Brown, has added award-winning filmmaker Lucrecia to its roster for U.S. commercial and music video representation. This marks the director’s first representation in the U.S. market.
Lucrecia has been signed to PRETTYBIRD UK since 2021, soon after winning UKMVA’s Best Pop Newcomer award for her Tarantino-esque music video for rapper/singer-songwriter Ashnikko--which the director pitched, prepped, and shot in only four days. Since joining PRETTYBIRD UK, Lucrecia has quickly made a name for herself. Her striking narratives, combined with a hyper-real aesthetic and iconic world creation, have been the centerpieces of her filmmaking and photography.
Her work has gone viral on more than one occasion. Her commercial for bibigo, “Live Delicious,” was widely admired and even recreated on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel. She has won awards from Kinsale Shark, Creative Circle, and UKMVA, as well as recognition at the Cannes Lions Young Directors Awards and Ciclope Awards.
Candice Dragonas, VP, talent strategy/executive producer PRETTYBIRD US, said of Lucrecia, “She brings a uniquely stylish approach to storytelling with the perfect splash of humor and playfulness. I admire her extreme passion for her craft and the drive to create at the top of her game.”
In addition to Lucrecia’s cinematic visual aesthetic, she routinely engages in another unique form of self-expression: nail art. She has had everything from whipped cream and cherries to chrome flames adorning her nails.
At PRETTYBIRD, Lucrecia joins a roster of filmmakers including Academy Award-winning duo Daniels (Everything Everywhere All At Once), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand... Read More