Taylor Steele, an American filmmaker best known for such lauded surf documentaries as Sipping Jetstream and Castles in the Sky, has joined Bully Pictures for exclusive representation for advertising projects.
Steele has already wrapped his first project for Bully, a campaign shot in South Africa for HP computers out of agency 180LA which included a documentary short chronicling professional big wave surfer Ian Walsh’s quest to find a monster wave that had never been surfed before–a ghost wave. Walsh deployed the HP Pavilion x360 hybrid notebook/tablet to help him find surfing nirvana. Titled Ghost Wave, the short was recently featured in SHOOT’s ScreenWork section.
The director of more than 40 films as well as television spots for Corona, Aston Martin, Roxy and Pacifico, Steele has spent more than two decades traveling the globe, capturing spectacular imagery while working with the world’s best surfers, musicians and other talents.
Steele gained international attention with the release of his first film, Momentum, when he was just 17. He formed the production company Poor Specimen and went onto make many more films about surfing, employing a cutting-edge approach meant to “evoke the feeling of a memory, yet have the sense that they’re happening right now.”
“I keep things very collaborative on the set,” Steele said. “I communicate with everyone, filter their feedback through my process and come up with the best solutions.”
Steele’s films have earned numerous awards, including a Beacon Award at the 2010 Maui Film Festival, and have been showcased by National Geographic. He has also directed music videos and art films. The latter have been featured in shows at New York’s Gagosian Gallery and the Venice Biennale. Steele was a creative director for Corona for Australia and created the company’s La Casa Artist Residency program on artistic collaborations.
Steele noted that he had fun working with Bully Pictures for HP in South Africa and looks forward to a long association. “It was great to have access to Jason’s [Bully exec producer Jason Forest] incredible knowledge on that shoot,” said Steele.