LA-based production company Superlounge will send its sixth and seventh Diversity Award winners, respectively – Maya Albanese and Kryzz Gautier – to Commercial Directing Bootcamp, April 21, 2018, in Los Angeles. Superlounge partner/director Jordan Brady launched the Commercial Directing Bootcamp in 2015, and has since held sold-out seminars in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Dallas. Albanese and Gautier join previous winners Alex Messianu, Bonnie McFarlane, Jody Lauren Miller, Monty Marsh and Kristyna Archer.
“I'm a sucker for great work and passionate storytelling, and thought both of these talented filmmakers could benefit from bootcamp,” said Brady, whose recent spot credits include directing Kathryn Hahn for Chrysler Pacifica and Lamorne Morris for Buick. “Plus, the DGA has vetted them.” The scholarship was launched by Superlounge in response to the lack of female, minority and LGBT directors at the helm of filmed advertising, to help expose these filmmakers to the insights offered by the successful seminar.
Both Albanese and Gautier were recently chosen out of a competitive field of almost 400 applicants to participate in the Commercial Directors Diversity Program, a fellowship for emerging filmmakers created by the Directors Guild Of America (DGA) and the Association Of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). “We are super excited that two of our current participants were also selected for the Superlounge Diversity Award to attend Jordan Brady's Commercial Directing Bootcamp,” said Tamika Lamison, Program Director, CDDP. “We were happy to have Jordan support our initiative as a Panelist and are excited about Superlounge's personal commitment to Diversity in Directing. Diversity is not just a catch phrase or a quota. It is the commitment to the type of change that benefits us all.”
Filmmakers’ reels were judged on the following criteria:
- Quality of storytelling;
- Need for industry exposure; and
- Passion for making ads.
Maya Albanese is a writer/director known for her social impact and underdog empowerment storytelling. Her latest project, “Packs Her Punch,” will break April 9 in tandem with Sexual Assault Awareness month. Albanese was recently awarded the inaugural DGA-AICP diverse directors fellowship that supports emerging women directors. She has directed and shot documentaries and commercials on five continents, and in Spanish, French, and English. As a commercial director, she has helmed content for IBM, Nike Women, Kids Foot Locker, Manchester United, John Frieda, Chevrolet, Ketel One, Capital One, JCPenney, Chevrolet, Capital Group, Etc. Her multimedia stories have been published across NBC News, The Today Show, Food Network, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Miami Herald, VOX, Racked, EATER, Popsugar, Narrative.ly, and many more. Albanese has a Masters in Documentary Filmmaking from Columbia University in New York.
Kryzz Gautier was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. At the age of 20 and having achieved local success, she emigrated to Boston in 2009 to attend Emerson College, where she produced several projects that received local, national, and international accolades. These included “A Foolish Companion” (2012), which won Best Screenplay” and “Best Short Film” at the Women In Shorts Festival, the “Audience Award” at the National Broadcasting Society Festival, and was invited to screen at the Ibero-American Festival organized by the Dominican Film Commission in Spain. Gautier’s first feature, “All Lit Up” (2012), won EVVY Awards for Best Single Camera Directing and Best Sound Editing. Relocating to Los Angeles, she made “Not A Love Story” (2015), which was selected by the 2018 New York Dominican Film Festival, and declared “one of the most significant pieces in the history of the festival.” Making NBC's 2014 shortlist of directors being considered for their Directing Fellowship, Gautier wrote and directed a pilot for Lifetime/A&E Studios. In 2017, she was brought on board as one of the producers on “Ask Your Black Geek Friend” which airs weekly on Legendary Digital Networks’ “Geek & Sundry.” AYBGF has been renewed for a second season premiering in 2018.
About Superlounge
Superlounge is a boutique LA production company featuring award-winning commercial directors Jordan Brady, Andy Maser, Ben Giroux, Carlos Gutierrez, Jeannette Godoy, and Whitey McConnaughy. The company is presided over by Executive Producer/Partner Dave Farrell and Executive Producer Vicki Williams.
About Jordan Brady
Jordan Brady has directed more than 1000 national TV spots to date. As host of the popular podcast RESPECT THE PROCESS, Brady interviews as wide range of ad bizzers and filmmakers on a weekly basis. He recently completed his trilogy of documentaries on stand up comedy, comprised of the 2010 cult hit I AM COMIC (Netflix, Showtime), 2014’s follow-up I AM ROAD COMIC (Netflix, Hulu); and 2017’s I AM BATTLE COMIC, which followed Brady and a squadron of stand-ups to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, where they performed for troops serving in the US Armed Forces. Brady’s new book, Commercial Directing Voodoo: Filmmaking Spells & Production Potions, serves as a complement to his popular Commercial Directing Bootcamp.
