Bicoastal production partner m ss ng p eces has added Ehsan Bhatti to its live action directorial roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos.
Born and raised in London, Bhatti sets out as a director to make space for authentic representation and to tell stories from fresh perspectives. He holds two degrees in architecture and graphic design, and has toured Europe as a professional DJ, giving him an international and atypical background that informs his directing. He began freelancing as a director in the fashion world and almost instantly gained international notice when his spot for Vertu received a YDA nomination at Cannes Lions in 2014. He has gone on to direct engaging work for brands such as Nike, NFL, Burberry, BMW, Lexus, Porsche and Adidas, and has earned accolades from Cannes Lions, Creative Circle, and others along the way. Prior to joining m ss ng p eces, Bhatti was repped in the U.S. by production house Skunk.
“Advertising’s place in today’s world is rapidly changing and when you take a step back and look at which production companies are evolving and thinking outside of the box, m ss ng p eces tops the list,” shared Bhatti. “My goals align with theirs in terms of thinking content-first instead of platform-first, and having a more experimental approach while telling thought-provoking stories. I’m glad to partner with m ss ng p eces for the next chapter in my career in the U.S.”
Ari Kuschnir, founder and managing partner at m ss ng p eces, assessed, “Ehsan’s work is just like him: thoughtful, stylish, and just weird enough to make you want to know more. He’s shown amazing versatility working across sport, packaged goods, and car work, but what unifies his style is a magnetic energy that’s feels like today and the future all at the same time.”
From Restoring To Hopefully Preserving Multi-Camera Categories At The Emmys
When Gary Baum, ASC won his fourth career Emmy Award earlier this month, it was especially gratifying in that the honor came in a category--Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Half-Hour Series--that had been restored thanks in part to a grass-roots initiative among cinematographers to drum up entries. Last year the category fell by the wayside when not enough multi-camera entries materialized.
In his acceptance speech, Baum appealed to the Television Academy to keep multi-camera categories alive. He later noted to SHOOT that editors also got their multi-camera recognition back in the Emmy competition this year. Baum hopes that after resurrecting multi-camera categories in 2024, such recognition will be preserved for 2025 and beyond.
A major factor in the decline of multi-camera submissions in 2023 was the move of certain children’s and family programming from the primetime Emmy competition to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ (NATAS) Emmy ceremony. For DPs this meant that multi-camera programs last year were reduced to vying for just one primetime nomination slot in the more general Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) category. It turned out that this single slot was filled in ‘23 by a Baum-lensed episode of How I Met Your Father (Hulu).
Fast forward to this year’s competition and Baum won for another installment of How I Met Your Father--”Okay Fine, It’s A Hurricane,” which turned out to be the series finale. Two of Baum’s Emmy wins over the years have been for How I Met Your Father, and there’s a certain symmetry to them. His initial win for How I Met Your Father was for the pilot in 2022. So he won Emmys for the very first and last... Read More