Comedy director Russell Bates has signed with L.A.-based commercial production company trio films for representation in the U.S. He had formerly been handled stateside by Crossroads Films, which continues to rep the director in the U.K.
A California native, Bates has helmed commercials for major brands such as Snickers, Tide, Axe, Budweiser, T-Mobile, ESPN, Target and Chevrolet. He has worked with many celebrities including Betty White, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Denis Leary, Joan Collins and Andy Dick.
Bates’ experience in comedy runs deep, having served as a writer and director of comedic shorts for the MTV Movie Awards, Comedy Central, the VH1 Fashion Awards and the People’s Choice Awards. His most notable pop culture contribution is the name he created–Derek Zoolander–for the character he co-created with Ben Stiller.
Bates is currently in production on a Head & Shoulders job for Saatchi New York. He joins a trio directorial roster which includes Debra Granik, Ramaa Mosley, Jackie Oudney, Arie Posin, Bob Rice and Pascui Rivas. The trio sales force consists of Lisa Gimenez of LG Reps on the West Coast, Catherine de Angelis of Hot Betty in the Midwest and Carl Forsberg and Marianne McCarley of Carl Forsberg on the East Coast.
Sean Baker Wins Marquee Feature Honor At DGA Awards For “Anora”
Sean Baker won the marquee feature prize at the 77th Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards on Saturday night (2/8) for Anora. This makes Baker the frontrunner to win the Best Director Oscar. Only eight times over the past 76 years has the DGA Award winner not gone on to win the Oscar. That happened most recently in 2020 when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for 1917 while Bong Joon-ho scored the Oscar for Parasite. Baker topped a field of nominees which also included Jacque Audiard for Emilia Pรฉrez, Edward Berger for Conclave, Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown. Another DGA theatrical motion picture award--named after the late filmmaker Michael Apted in recognition of outstanding achievement by a first-time feature director went to RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys. On the TV side, winners included Frederick E.O. Toye who topped the dramatic series category for the โCrimson Skyโ episode of Shลgun; Lucia Aniello who scored the comedy series honor for the Hacks episode titled โBulletproofโ; Steven Zaillian for the limited series Ripley; and Liz Patrick for the variety series Saturday Night Live (โJohn Mulaney/Chappell Roanโ episode). The documentary winners were Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev for Porcelain War. Topping the commercials category was Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks on the strength of spots for Apple, Andrex, Hennessy and Virgin Media (see separate story here). Judd Apatow served as emcee for the DGA Awards before an audience of more than... Read More