RSA Films has brought acclaimed writer and director Rebecca Miller aboard its roster for commercials and branded entertainment. This marks her first representation in the spot and branded content marketplace. A versatile talent, Miller is a novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker currently enjoying the success of her newly released indie film, She Came to Me (with a cast including Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei). Rogerebert.com called the film, “… beautifully performed and directed with great charm, unexpected wisdom and sweetness.”
“Rebecca is a special filmmaker and I’m thrilled to welcome her to the RSA roster,” said RSA Films’ president Luke Ricci. “Her films demonstrate her keen power of creating compelling stories with rich and complex characters. And her work is emotionally tactile and beautifully resonant.”
“Rebecca is an extraordinary storyteller and filmmaker,” concurred Buddy Brakha, executive producer, RSA Films, adding that the company is enthused over the prospect of introducing her “to brands and agencies so she can bring her strength for casting, performance and filmmaking craft to commercials. She has a special talent for bringing original stories and characters to life in very unexpected ways–I confess I’ve seen her latest, She Came to Me, three times now–and I know her ability to captivate audiences will bode well in commercials and branded entertainment.”
She Came to Me, inspired by a story of the same name from Miller’s collection of short fiction called "Total" (nominated last year for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize), features Dinklage as a tortured opera composer, Hathaway as his therapist wife with issues of her own and Tomei as a stalwart tugboat captain infatuated with romance whose boat is temporarily anchored nearby. Not only did Miller pen and direct She Came to Me, she also wrote the librettos for the film’s two opera scenes, and with Bryce Dessner, who composed her words into music, brought the operas to life on film. The ensemble cast in her film draws from the idea in her short story about an author who has run out of steam and has no idea what to do for his next book. “We all inspire each other,” Miller offered. “Without other people, there is no inspiration.”
Miller found her way to RSA Films after her managers at Entertainment360, Eryn Brown and Darin Friedman, introduced her to Brakha and Ricci of RSA. She met the two in New York, where she is based. “We had a lovely meeting,” Miller said. “I immediately got the feeling working with the team at RSA would be personal, hands-on and always with a focus on the highest level of quality around the work. I’m excited to get started.”
Miller’s seven films span poetic dramas, dramedies and documentary. Highlights include the Emmy-nominated documentary Arthur Miller: Writer, Maggie’s Plan (Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves) and Personal Velocity (Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, Fairuza Balk), winner of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, among other honors. Several of Miller’s films are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA).
