Director/writer/DP Steve Conry has joined the Seed Media Arts roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Recently he directed a musical performance featuring JP Saxe and Julian Michaels that aired nationally as part of the 2021 JUNO Awards. Conry’s style of visual storytelling is becoming increasingly sought after by brands looking to grow their engagement through cinematic content. His body of work spans blue-chip clients including W Hotels, Reebok, Spotify, Budweiser, Red Bull and Jagermeister.
“It’s been exciting to get the opportunity to work more and more with companies that are genuinely focused on connecting with their audiences,” said Conry who prior to joining Seed had been freelancing, “Seed shares that same commitment to making impactful films that can really mean something to people within the advertising space.”
Conry first gained recognition as a filmmaker with his 2015 film The Outliers when it took home the Heartland EMMY award for Short Format Program. Conry’s short films have since established a winning track record by taking home top prizes at The Los Angeles Film Awards, Festigious International Film Festival, The Hollywood Art and Movie Awards, and the Independent Shorts Awards.
Conry’s approach to storytelling in part relies on his experience gained from previous roles as an editor, cinematographer, writer and sound designer. His broad sense of the filmmaking process as a whole affords him a unique authorship over his work.
“Steve’s gift is his ability to synthesize emotion and storytelling into short form messages while giving his characters and settings an authenticity, a believability with significant relevance to the overall message,” stated Roy Skillicorn, founder and executive producer of Seed Media Arts. Skillicorn and his EP and business partner Brad Johnson have teamed to assemble a Seed roster of storytellers
Johnson added, “Steve has an ability to create a deep level of empathy between his characters and his viewers. That kind of talent is what we’re about at Seed and that’s the type of storytelling we want to provide to those who feel they have a story to tell, whether it’s about themselves, a cause or for a brand.”
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