RSA Films has brought directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck aboard its roster for commercial representation in the U.S.. The news comes on the heels of their highly anticipated new feature, Freaky Tales, being selected as part of the Sundance Film Festival 2024 Premieres lineup. Freaky Tales, which Boden and Fleck also wrote, is a genre mashup set in 1987 Oakland, Fleck’s hometown, with an ensemble cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Normani Kordel and Ben Mendelsohn. The filmmakers describe it as a personal fever dream fantasy incorporating all of Fleck’s youthful obsessions from sports, movies and music.
Boden and Fleck connecting with RSA Films marks their first career spot representation. The directing pair broke out with their Sundance premiere of Half Nelson (2006), which featured then rising star Ryan Gosling. The role earned Gosling an Academy Award nomination for his performance as a high school history teacher with a drug problem who forges an unlikely friendship with one of his students. Boden and Fleck also directed the acclaimed indie films Sugar (nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize), It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Mississippi Grind before co-writing and directing the blockbuster hit Captain Marvel (2019), which grossed over $1 billion at the box office worldwide.
“Ever since Half Nelson, I’ve been a huge fan of Anna and Ryan,” said Luke Ricci, president of RSA Films US. “Their ability to traverse different genres and themes but always ground their worlds in visceral characters is what I’m always amazed at in their work. Their upcoming film Freaky Tales promises to captivate audiences with Oakland and the late ‘80s as the cultural backdrop for the wild characters and stories driving what is an invigorating original film. It’s exciting to welcome them onto the roster of RSA. They’ll be a valuable creative asset to our agency partners.”
In a joint statement, Boden and Fleck shared, “We love bold, visual storytelling and telling stories with humor, honest human emotion and kickass music. RSA has always set the bar high with this kind of work and we’re excited to join their fantastic roster of directors and parlay what we do into more short-form storytelling.”
Boden and Fleck have also enjoyed success in television, directing and executive producing Mrs. America starring Cate Blanchett, along with episodes of Billions, The Affair and The Big C. Most recently, Boden and Fleck finished work on Masters of the Air, executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman for Apple TV+.
Boden, who grew up outside of Boston, and Fleck met in film school in New York–Columbia and NYU, respectively–where they worked on student short films together. They went on to work on documentaries, and wrote and directed the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, which won a short filmmaking award at Sundance and was the basis of their breakout feature film Half Nelson. They also dipped their toes into commercialmaking with a series of short films for Cartier, including “The Proposal–My Favorite Song.”
Boden and Fleck enjoy a synergistic working relationship: “We really do everything together,” Fleck explained. “Writing, shot-listing, location scouts, rehearsals, editing, mixing. Anna was the editor on our first four features, so she is hyper involved with post.”
“We’re psyched to explore more short-form storytelling with RSA,” Boden said. “A beginning, middle and end is so much different in a movie or TV series than a 30- or 60-second spot. We love the idea of using a new part of our brains to tell shorter, more succinct stories people will remember.”
