Director Evan Silver has joined production house Gifted Youth, the commercial division of Funny or Die, for U.S. spot representation. Coming over from Tool of North America, Silver has written and directed content for such brands as ESPN, Nike, Xbox, Audi, Honda, MTV, HBO, Paramount Films and Dr Pepper. His affinity for and expertise in character-driven comedy has led to collaborations with Conan O’Brien, Micheal Cera, Sarah Silverman, Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Handler, Rebel Wilson and Jason Segal, among others. Upcoming work includes an interactive Halo spot for Xbox as well a comedic short film Cheese at the Beach, written and directed by Silver, about two businessmen and their struggle to attain the perfect beach photo before one of them falls apart—literally and physically.
Growing up with a father who was a noted creative director in advertising, Silver was hooked on storytelling early on, frequently sketching movie ideas on storyboard pads as a youth. He kicked off his career in advertising as an art director before moving over to the broadcast side to write and direct. He started out in the promo department at the Sundance Channel, later moving on to MTV Networks, where he wrote and directed some of their most well-known campaigns, including work for the Video Music Awards, The Movie Awards and the launch of the topical teen show, Skins. In 2011, Silver joined Tool where he worked on a wide range of projects, including a Sour Patch Kids digital campaign for Mother New York, an interactive video campaign for Honda, co-branded spots for ESPN and Dr. Pepper via Deutsch LA as well as a recent series of online videos for Jimmy Dean out of TBWAChiatDay.
Silver, who earned inclusion into SHOOT’s 2007 New Directors Showcase, has earned assorted accolades for his advertising and film endeavors over the years, including both a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a GLAAD Media Award for MTV Tr3’s "Tu Pride." His work has also scored wins at the AICP Show, The One Show, Clio, ADDY “Best in Show,” Webby and Promax BDA competitions.
Silver also directed the recently released “White Squad” campaign as part of an anti-prejudice initiative for MTV’s “Look Different” project, through agency Party NY. The satirical film offers people of color with white stand-ins for “racially unbalanced” situations such as hailing a cab, searching for an apartment, appearing in court and securing academic scholarships. Silver leveraged his signature brand of biting, shareable humor to create the mock infomercial, eliciting a frenzy of digital debate that sparked conversation and was picked up by news outlets worldwide.
Dal Wolf, Gifted Youth exec producer, said he was drawn to Silver’s “rare combination of experience, intelligence and comedic timing.”
Silver said attracting him to Gifted Youth was its body of work which he described as “smart, brash, creative, and fresh,” offering a blend of advertising and entertainment. “They come straight from the heart of the entertainment world,” related Silver, “and it truly show in their deep understanding of comedy.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More