Maysles Shorts, New York, has signed director Gilly Barnes for exclusive commercial representation. Barnes had most recently been freelance directing. Her last company roost was bicoastal/international @radical.media.
Maysles Shorts’ executive producer Julie Weinman said it only took one meeting with Barnes to sign her to the roster. "Sometimes you look at people’s work and then you meet them and they’re just not there. With Gilly, it was the exact opposite. She is so interesting," related Weinman.
Barnes started her career at bicoastal Propaganda Films, where she was initially an assistant to director Alek Keshishian (now with L.A.-based Palomar Pictures), and later assisted director Antony Hoffman (now with @radical.media). During her apprenticeship, Barnes took the opportunity to shoot her first short film, Hey Spirit that was later accepted at the Telluride and Seattle Film Festivals in ’95. "Hey Spirit was like my graduation project from Propaganda," said Barnes, who left the company shortly thereafter to hit the film festival circuit.
During the next year, Barnes networked with industry people to try to get her directing career off the ground. She eventually hooked up with director Mark Pellington of bicoastal and Chicago-based Crossroads Films, who recommended Barnes to a friend at MTV. (Pellington also has his own L.A.-based production company for independent projects, Pellington/Gorai, with producer Tom Gorai.) Through that connection, Barnes directed a two-minute short for MTV’s Zoo TV called Perfect Bodies and was subsequently offered a staff position with MTV, New York.
While driving cross-country from L.A. to New York to start her job at MTV, Barnes was awarded an opportunity through Garish Films, Frankfurt, Germany to direct a six-minute short film for Mercedes-Benz of Europe. The film was to be an aesthetic piece about movement that would play on a huge screen at a car show in France. Barnes jumped at the opportunity to spend five days shooting in Paris and told MTV she’d take a rain check. When the short film was completed, a number of people suggested that Barnes get into directing commercials.
Upon returning to the States, Barnes began hunting for a commercial production company in New York and finally landed at @radical.media. There she directed two Nike spots via Wieden & Kennedy, Portland Ore., for the "Why Do I Run?" campaign and four pilot promos for the Disney Channel entitled "Trash Talking Chess Kid," "Viking," "Raging Cow" and "Swimmer."
After nine months at @radical.media, Barnes left the company to freelance. Her association with Pellington afforded Barnes the opportunity to direct a music video for the band Kid Rock called "Welcome to the Party," produced by Atlantic Records. And Pellington eventually introduced Barnes to Maysles Shorts’ East Coast rep Peter Green, who passed her reel on to Weinman.
Barnes’ reel is a combination of documentary-like realism mixed with a touch of fantasy. "I’m not interested in a lot of fairies and maidens dancing around the screen, but I sort of like to push, with subtle elements, those considerations of fantasy and the dreamscape of people into normal life," explained Barnes who is also an accomplished Avid editor. She enjoys cutting her own work, but admits that there are a lot of editors out there who can do it better. "I learned how to edit when I was putting Hey Spirit together because I couldn’t afford a real editor and from there, I made sure I always cut my own stuff," said Barnes.
Barnes has just returned from North Carolina after shooting a series of one-minute installments for Nickelodeon’s Creative Lab, which begins airing in June. Although Barnes got the project through Weinman, the shoot was produced independent of Maysles Shorts.
Barnes joins Maysles Shorts directors Albert Maysles, Susan Froemke and David McNamara. Maysles Shorts is represented on the East Coast by Green. At press time, Weinman was in the process of hiring two more reps to handle the Midwest and West Coast territories.
