World War Seven has added directorial duo Mister (comprised of Miche Sieg and Rose Chirillo) to its roster of talent. If you’re wondering why those look like girls’ names, it’s because they are. And if you’re wondering why two girls go by Mister, it’s because their combined initials are MR, and they thought maybe branding themselves like men would help them get a job. (Surprise! It did.)
Mister’s journey to becoming sought-after comedy directors arrived after 10 years as advertising creatives, but not before a pit-stop in parody ads for real products (and then a side-quest in deciding they would rather make the products themselves). After spending years developing award-winning work for myriad brands as agency creative directors, Sieg and Chirillo decided that they wanted to make the ads themselves too, so they pivoted to directing.
So began a journey into helming hilarious and mildly unsettling campaigns for brands like Peelz, Orangetheory, Manscaped, GoDaddy, Hot Pockets, JanSport, and ESPN–shooting stomach puppets, ventriloquist dummies, and talking cows for creative briefs that demand Mister’s offbeat brand of fun. Prior to joining World War Seven, Mister had most recently been repped by Greenpoint Pictures.
From their earliest days as directors, Mister became known for creating witty and wondrous worlds, beginning with their fever-dreamy anti-vaping campaign for Truth. Building upon the universe they created for Truth’s fake vape brand, Depression Stick, the campaign kick-started Mister’s love affair with surreal, slightly unhinged world-building.
Always committed to the bit, Mister created parody ads for real, absurd products like Cock Block–a cutting board named after the shape it’s cut in–and A Pair of Plants, which are (obviously) ceramic pants for plants, created by Sieg. A Pair of Plants ultimately garnered a cult following on Instagram and made Sieg a minor ceramics social media influencer. Not to be outdone, Chirillo followed suit with a line of gloriously ugly rugs, aptly named Butt Rugly.
In a joint statement, Mister says of signing with WW7: “We’ve of course known about WW7 for a while now (because duh), and we couldn’t feel more stoked/honored/holy-shit-this-is-gonna-be-fun to be joining their family of freaks (complimentary). We feel like we have the same bizarre comedy DNA, and the same rule that we only work with people who rock. We can’t wait to make some weird stuff together!”
WW7 Founder David Shafei added, “Great comedy is made by filmmakers who take craft seriously. Mister’s work is vibrant, alive, and impeccably made; their silliness and precision coexist beautifully. That’s exactly what we value at WW7. In fact, it’s kind of our whole thing. We’re proud to have Mister on our team.”
