Though it’s been barely a year since veteran executive producer Ron Cicero launched INVADER, the company has seen its directors make a couple of high profile industry marks--a documentary set to make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and a DGA Award nomination in the Variety/Talk/News/Sports--Specials category.

On the former score, the feature documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy--The Ren & Stimpy Story was selected for Sundance’s Documentary Premieres lineup. Written and co-directed by Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, the film explores the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series Ren & Stimpy and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi, through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show. (Cicero and Easterwood direct commercials via INVADER as a duo under the LGI Collective moniker.)

As for the DGA Award nomination, that honor was bestowed upon INVADER comedy and celebrity director Andy Fisher for Live In Front of A Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons.  The series was also nominated for multiple Emmys--including directing, taking home a statue for Outstanding Variety series. 

While directing commercials may seem like an unusual transition from live TV, Fisher’s career took off after directing many of Jimmy Kimmel’s most well-known late night filmed segments, including Bryan Cranston’s Super Sweet Sixty and Josh Groban’s The Best Tweets of Kanye West. This led to spot work for YouTube, Boost Mobile, The Emmy’s and more. “It really comes down to finding the funny and gaining trust from your actors regardless of the platform,” said Fisher, “And once you find a way to deliver a show live, with 10 million people watching, the time pressures of a commercial set seem easy by comparison.” 

Live In Front of A Studio Audience marks Fisher’s second career DGA Award nomination, the first coming for an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014.

On the commercial front, INVADER wrapped a busy 2019 with a three-spot VFX-driven campaign for the National Association of Realtors through Havas Chicago. The three-month project broke this week. Shot both on location and the Disney backlot, the extensive post was handled by MPC’s Los Angeles studio.

INVADER is represented commercially by Daria Zeliger on the East Coast, Juliusson+ Ratcliffe in the Midwest and has in-house representation on the West Coast. Submarine is handling film representation.