Pulse Films has signed director Sam Walker for global representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos.
Recently Walker directed “Someday,” a film for On The Beach featuring the iconic Iggy Pop, a defiantly optimistic ode to a better future. Walker also directed the notable “Our Stories” film, an epic that brought together the U.K.’s terrestrial TV channels for the first time ever. Both films were produced by Pulse Films in collaboration with Uncommon, an agency where Walker served as executive creative director. After his positive experience on the two assignments, Walker officially joined the Pulse roster.
Walker’s agency background includes not only Uncommon but also such shops as Mother, Fallon and Karmarama. He thus brings to Pulse a unique first-hand insight on creative briefs and is able to craft and collaborate closely with agencies and creative teams to produce breakthrough work.
Walker–who was last represented as a director by Riff Raff–is richly experienced helming large scale set pieces, telling stories in original ways and brining defining ideas to life through a strong understanding of narrative, music and editing.
James Sorton, managing director of commercials at Pulse Films, shared, “I’ve long admired Sam’s work as both a Director and a Creative Director, and I knew the moment we started talking about film-making, that we should be working together. He brings a unique perspective to every project, never loses focus on the core idea, and has an incredible passion for creativity and craft in film. Having already collaborated together on a number of standout projects we’re thrilled to formally welcome Sam to Pulse Films.”
Citing Pulse’s accomplishments in commercials and long-form fare, Walker described the production company as “the perfect home for my style and ambitions as a filmmaker.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More