Bicoastal Chelsea Pictures has added Alan Poul to its directorial roster for exclusive U.S. commercial representation. A noted director and producer, Poul has received an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Producers Guild Awards, four GLAAD Awards and three Peabody Awards. He is currently producing Codes of Conduct, a new HBO series to be directed by Academy Award winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave).
Previously Poul served as executive producer and director on Aaron Sorkin’s Golden Globe-nominated series The Newsroom. Poul also served as EP and director of HBO’s Six Feet Under for the show’s entire five-season run. In 2008, he exec produced CBS’ provocative 1970’s-era drama Swingtown, and directed four episodes including the pilot. In 2003, Poul was nominated for both a directing Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for the Six Feet Under episode, “Nobody Sleeps.” He also directed multiple episodes of HBO’s Rome and Big Love.
Poul made his feature-directing debut with the romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan, starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Loughlin. And most recently Poul directed an Ad Council campaign for Y&R New York featuring David Oyelowo, Lance Bass and Olivia Munn to raise awareness during the Ebola outbreak. Prior to joining Chelsea, he was handled by HeLo for commercials and branded content.
Poul said of Chelsea, “Their roster is inspiring, their work is outstanding, and their commitment to the creative process dovetails perfectly with my own goals.”
Prominent in Poul’s other TV work has been his close collaboration with author Armistead Maupin, resulting in three miniseries based on Maupin’s Tales of the City books (Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City), each of which was nominated for an Emmy Award. He also produced the series My So-Called Life for ABC, the Peabody Award-winning Rock the Vote Special, and the News & Documentary Emmy-winning PBS documentary series The Pacific Century.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More