Director Henry Littlechild has joined production house Wondros for commercials and branded content in the U.S. Littlechild–who continues to be handled in the U.K. by production company Outsider–joins a Wondros directorial roster that includes Gerald McMorrow, Antoine Fuqua, Jesse Dylan, Dennie Gordon, Riess|Hill, Ellis Bahl, Jeff Yeats and the recently signed Sean Thonson. Littlechild had earlier been repped by Station Film in the American ad market.
London-bred Littlechild discovered his passion for the arts early on, studying film and photography at a local art school before catapulting into the realm of directing through acclaimed advertising agency Leagas Delaney. Littlechild made several films for the agency as an integral part of creative new business pitches, and his work ultimately caught the attention of London’s The Viral Factory. Known for pioneering the art of viral marketing, The Viral Factory was the ideal nurturing ground for Littlechild. While there, he directed several high-profile projects, including a content series for Ford Ka, which has been viewed by over 30 million people online and won multiple awards, including a Silver BTAA and Young Guns Bronze.
Littlechild has worked with multiple European agencies over the years including AMV BBDO, Fallon, Leo Burnett, MullenLowe, Grey, Ogilvy, and TBWA. Through his widespread experiences, he was celebrated for his unique approach to storytelling with three Silver Lions awards at Cannes and One Show Gold for his Ford Fiesta SP campaign, to name just a few. Littlechild’s CGI project for Smyths toys was revered for expanding consciousness and outdated gender norms with a young boy dressed as a princess; the piece now has more than 10 million hits on YouTube.
Sophie Gold, executive producer of commercials at Wondros, said of Littlechild, “His style encapsulates intelligently crafted, creative comedy performance, which crosses live-action, VFX, animation, puppetry, and CGI.”
Littlechild shared, “Some things are meant to be and as soon as I spoke to Sophie, she had me hooked on her vision for Wondros. After concentrating on Europe for the last few years, I cannot wait to get started in the U.S.”
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More