Mirror Films, a Hollywood shop headed by executive producer Eric Barrett, has added director Kevin Kerslake and head of production Ali Hileman. Kerslake has been active in spots, music videos, TV and documentaries during his career.
Over the past several years, he has focused primarily on screenwriting (with screenplays sold to Warner Bros and Sony), while helming client-direct work for action sports clients such as Burton, Quiksilver and DC Shoes through his own company, Gigantic. His music clip work spans bands like The Rolling Stones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, REM, and most recently Velvet Revolver and The Used.
Kerslake’s ad credits encompass such clients as AT&T, Sony PlayStation, Reebok, Sprint, Kohler, Compaq, Sprite, Nike and Puma. His production house affiliations over the years have included Merge (a division of Crossroads, bicoastal and Chicago), A Band Apart, Los Angeles, bicoastal/international MJZ, and now defunct houses Satellite and The End.
Kerslake joins a Mirror spot directorial lineup that includes Chris Woods, Ondi Timoner, Branson Veal and Bobby Montero. Mirror also reps international helming talent stateside, such as Louis-Pascal Couvelaire, Jean-Pierre Roux, Alan Friel and Tim Gibbs.
Hileman returns to the spot arena after a stint in the feature world as the director of creative affairs for actor/director Forest Whitaker’s production company Spiritdance Entertainment. Previously she was with Atlas Pictures, a since-closed commercial production house.
Mirror’s sales force consists of independent reps Lisa Schreiber of Boardalicious who handles the West Coast, Kristina Kovacevic at KK Reps in the Midwest, Michael Eha on the East Coast, and Ann Asprodites in the South.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More