Bicoastal production company ArtClass has signed director/writer Ryan Ebner to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Known for his dry, understated brand of humor, Ebner, a performance-driven director with a sharp eye for casting, has had his work garner honors from the Cannes Film Festival, D&AD, and The One Show, among others. At ArtClass, Ebner has already wrapped a campaign for State Farm out of DDB.
Ebner has helmed projects for such brands as Anheuser-Busch, Ford, P&G, Taco Bell, AT&T, Verizon, Reebok, Snickers, and Fox Sports. As a director, he had most recently been freelancing. His most recent company affiliation was Raucous Content. Earlier in his career he was repped by HSI. Ebner’s short film, Meanomorphosis, which earned him a Silver Lion at the Cannes Film Festival, cemented his evolution from :30 TV ads to long-format branded content and helped put him on the map as a comedic talent. Among his initial breakthroughs was earning a slot in SHOOT’s 2008 New Directors Showcase.
The Light Side, his most recent and first non-branded short film, about an aging Sith Lord who learns humility, was given an exclusive world premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. It was also included in the We Are One Film Festival–which combined the best films from Tribeca, Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and TIFF–and received more than 72K views in just a week on YouTube.
As a former creative director, Ebner is often asked to write on scripts he’s tapped to direct. Being part of the overall team gives him a special view into the project and allows him to solve non-traditional problems that agencies are facing in today’s ever-shifting landscape. It’s also made him a prime source for direct-to-client projects from companies like Apple, Fitbit and Activision’s “Call of Duty” franchise.
“Brands and clients want directors who can offer a 360-degree approach to executing an idea,” said Ebner. “My writing background is just another tool I can offer up–and a chance for me to return to my roots. When I started directing, it was just a group of us agency folks writing and shooting our own stuff. It was pure creativity–guerrilla and gritty–because we were working with what we had, which is why I love directing: I want to make stuff.”
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More