Director Adria Petty–whose filmography spans commercials, music videos, live action, and intricate digital and analog effects–has joined m ss ng p eces for representation in North America. She has also secured European representation via production house Cadence.
Petty has directed commercials for such brands as Target, Lancome, Hershey’s, Alexander McQueen, Converse and McDonald’s, and created seminal music videos for Beyonce, Rihanna, Coldplay and Regina Spektor. In 2012, Petty was nominated for five MTV Awards for Spektor, Coldplay and Beyonce, with the latter’s “Countdown” winning for best editing.
Petty had most recently been repped by Moxie Pictures and prior to that, aWHITELABELproduct. This year Mark Kay Cosmetics commissioned Petty to execute its “Discover What You Love Campaign” and she developed a web series for HULU with celebrity chef Mario Batali called The High Road, guest starring Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon and Julianna Margulies among others. “I am a true lover of people, characters, culture and personality. As a child I spent a lot of my time traveling with my family surrounded by musicians and artistic people of all kinds,” said Petty (whose father is Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers). “I believe it is on those musical tours that the allure of production and the alchemy of great artistic people collaborating with a great crew got me inspired to become a director.”
Adria Petty’s first feature, Paris, Not France, the controversial documentary about Paris Hilton and the culture of celebrity debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008. Petty’s second feature, the 2010 concert film, Regina Spektor: Live in London, premiered to sold-out audiences in New York and enjoyed a widespread theatrical release in the US.
After graduating Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Petty cut her teeth in New York film production working as an assistant to directors Jonathan Demme and Penny Marshall. In addition to this Petty did a stint as a film critic and writer for Nylon magazine. Then she attended the graduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. After her tenure in film school she created a multi media art installation which included a music video entitled “Low Flame” at New York’s PS1 (a division of the MOMA).
This marked the beginning of a career in music videos. During this time she also served as a freelance marketing consultant for the president of Warner Brothers Records. Exploring her skills of working directly with clients and artists to solve problems, Petty created tools for recording artists, designing album cover art and web sites for many musicians at WBR. She has also worked occasionally on the family business with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, art directing all of the print work and merchandise for their album “The Last DJ” and collaborating on their 30-year anniversary rebrand “Runnin’ Down A Dream” across all platforms.
The core team at m ss ng p eces includes founder/executive producer Ari Kuschnir, exec producers/partners Brian Latt and Kate Oppenheim, partner/director Josh Nussbaum, and head of production Dave Saltzman.
