Production company Lucky 21 has added Augustine Frizzell to its directorial roster. Frizzell’s debut feature film Never Goin’ Back world premiered at Sundance 2018, recently screened at SXSW, and was acquired by A24. With Lucky 21, Frizzell will apply her signature directing talent, where character and performance shine, to spots and branded content. This marks her first career commercial signing with a production company.
Written and directed by Frizzell, Never Goin’ Back–which was nominated for the SXSW Gamechanger Award–features breakout performances by Maia Mitchell and Cami Morrone in an irreverent story of two friends, Jessie and Angela, who take a week off to go to the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent’s due, they’re about to get fired and they’re broke. Now they have to avoid eviction, stay out of jail and get to the beach, no matter what. The film is a comedic ode to the strength of friendships in the face of adversity, and a nod to the bonds Augustine experienced growing up.
“Augustine is a storyteller who reveals heartfelt truths through character and comedy, with films that are bitingly hilarious, and intimately revealing,” noted Lucky 21 CEO Tammie Kleinmann. “She brings a vibrant energy and openness to experiences which we know will translate into exciting and original branded and advertising projects.”
Where the world of cinema seemed vast and distant to a young Frizzell, music was in her family’s lineage. To combat stage fright in what she presumed would be a career in music, she enrolled in acting classes, which ultimately led to her first exposure to advertising. On set on both commercials and indie films, Frizzell’s experience in film grew into her passion.
Writing, which began as a private escape, eventually came to the fore in short films she also directed–Minor Setback, I Was A Teenage Girl, and Clean, which premiered at SXSW. This led to the development of the spirited, big-hearted Never Goin’ Back, semi-inspired by her own youthful misadventures, which will be released by A24 this year.
Frizzell was introduced to Lucky 21 by Toby Halbrooks who produced Never Goin’ Back and is part of the directing team Sailor Bear, also represented by Lucky 21.
Frizzell related, “When I met everyone at Lucky 21 I knew it was an ideal match on so many levels. While they work all over the country, they are headquartered in my home city of Dallas and have an office in Austin, a town I love and where I’ve screened all of my films.”
