Director Ashley Avis has joined the roster of Seed, the Chicago-headquartered production house which maintains an office in Los Angeles. Avis has directed for clients such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Footlocker, Pfizer, and won the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Award for her auto-fashion fusion spot “Bespoke” at the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh South African International Fashion Film Festival.
On the long-form front, Avis has been greenlit for her next feature, 800, which she wrote and will be directing. The film is being produced by Cary Granat, Michael Flaherty and Avis’ husband, producer Ed Winters. 800 is based on the true story of two-time Olympic 800 meter runner Prince Mumba whom Avis met while he was an Uber driver and training for the Olympics in Rio. While the film has a sports aspect, it is primarily a love story centered around the themes of overcoming impossible odds and having a steadfast belief in oneself.
Last year, Avis made her feature film debut with Deserted, an artistic psychological survival story that she also penned, starring Mischa Barton. Avis’ second feature, being released this year, is Adolescence, staring Tommy Flanagan, Elisabeth Rohm, India Eisley and Jere Burns.
Headed by executive producer Roy Skillicorn, Seed has a directorial lineup which includes Avis, Tim Abshire, David Rosen, Jason Lindsey, Anthony Garth, Rick Wayne, Reuben Wu, Kristina Perreault and Corey Rich.
Prior to joining Seed, Avis directed commercials via Winterstone, the company (formerly known as Alchemy Pictures) formed by her and Winter. Winterstone is also Avis’ feature filmmaking roost.
