We Are Official Podcast

Commercial and narrative filmmaker Carlyn Hudson swung by the Official studio to talk shop with hosts Mark Rinehart, Tony Franklin, and Matthew Sultan. Carlyn Hudson is a left-of-center comedy director and writer from a little bitty town in Texas who now calls Los Angeles home. Her horror/comedy short WAFFLE premiered in competition at SXSW in 2020 and has since been played on thousands of laptops (and hopefully a few TV screens) across the globe, picking up multiple best director awards in the process. Another reviewer compared her to Jordan Peele but she's too embarrassed to cite that one here. Other recent shorts include the dark comedy/sci-fi THE WORKPLACE, distributed by Dust and Gunpowder and Sky, and NICE ASS, another SXSW premiere about, you guessed it, a giant butt. As a commercial director, Carlyn specializes in stylish dialogue comedy and has worked with brands such as JIF (one of Source Creative’s top campaigns of 2020), Lexus, Hasbro, Kroger, and Annovera, whose campaign starring Whitney Cummings won a Cannes Silver Lion in 2021. In 2020, Carlyn received the high honor of being in the top 2% of Taylor's Swift's Spotify listeners *in the world.* When she’s not listening to Folklore on repeat, she’s likely bossing around her partner, Alexandria, and attempting to train their growing cadre of rescue pets. 

Director Sam French graced us with is presence at the Official Studios in Atwater Village to talk some shop with hosts @rinestar, @tony_franklin, and @sultanavicci. An Oscar-nominated filmmaker and founding director of the documentary production company Development Pictures, Sam’s work has appeared on HBO, BBC, CNN, Channel 4 News, Al Jazeera, National Geographic, and other broadcast outlets. Sam spent five years in Afghanistan, where he directed the Oscar-nominated narrative short film Buzkashi Boys. His documentary With This Breath I Fly, about two Afghan women fighting for their freedom after being imprisoned for “moral crimes,” has won over a dozen awards at major film festivals. Sam has directed episodes of the Emmy-nominated documentary series Religion of Sports, the Emmy-nominated series Why We Fight, and the Red Bull series All In and Life of Kai. He is currently working on Dominion, a documentary about a new generation of evangelical climate activists, and Skinhead, a narrative feature film about former neo-Nazi Frank Meeink, exploring one man’s fall to power and rise into grace.Sam believes that storytelling has the power to connect people across different cultures, and by sharing our stories, we can change the world. He lives in Los Angeles. 

The illustrious director Jordan Brady dropped by the Official studios (www.weareofficial.com) in Atwater Village to talk shop with hosts Matt Sultan, Tony Franklin and Mark Rinehart. Jordan began as a stand-up comedian touring nightclubs and colleges across America. A 100% self-taught filmmaker, he’s directed four narrative feature films, three full documentaries and over 1200 national & regional commercials and Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Comedy Special.. Jordan directs advertising campaigns for brands and agencies from all over the world. Given his background, it’s no surprise he has directed comedy giants as Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Keegan-Michael Key, Rory Scovel and more. Other notable celebrities include international star Arnold Schwarzenegger and country music legend Brad Paisley, campaigns starring actress Kathryn Hahn for Chrysler and Lamorne Morris for Buick. Equally as nimble with visual effects, he’s shot over 50 sleight-of-hand magic trick spots for Toyota Saatchi Los Angeles that effortless combine in-camera and digital trickery. Notable advertising awards include multiple Clios, National Gold, ADDY’s, Gold Promax Award, One Show, D Show, Pencil, AICP Awards, and more. Mr. Brady’s work is routinely spotlighted on AdWeek, Ads of The World and Agency Spy.  www.jordanbrady.com @thatjordanbrady

Commercial and narrative filmmaker Oren Kaplan swung by the Official studio to talk shop with hosts Mark Rinehart, Tony Franklin, and Matthew Sultan. Oren is a commercial and narrative filmmaker that grew up in Israel and now lives in LA. He's directed commercials for some of your favorite things, like Delimex Taquitos, Nestle Drumsticks, Jeeps, Lotteries, Concussions, Tax Firms and even Toasty Quiznos Subs, where he also served as a creative director. On the narrative end he directed a bunch of episodic shows for Disney, Turner, Comedy Central, and Verizon. Oren’s debut feature, THE HAMMER, premiered at the AFI Film Festival, winning the Breakthrough Film Award. The movie is based on the life of UFC Fighter Matt Hamill and features a cast of primarily Deaf actors. It won seven consecutive audience awards before its theatrical run and release on Netflix. He followed it up with the pulpy action thriller, A MOTHER’S RAGE starring everyone’s favorite aunt and college admissions advisor Lori Loughlin. Between directing jobs, bugging his two children, and reviewing new Trader Joe's snacks, Oren moonlights as a Visual Effects Artist on films such as Oscar-bait Nomadland, C'mon C'mon, and 20th Century Women. To procrastinate Oren talks to other directors and has hosted over 382 episodes of "Just Shoot It," a podcast about the craft and business of being a filmmaker. He is repped by ArtClass Content in the US and Undivided in Canada.  www.weareofficial.com https://directedbyoren.com @okaplan  

Cinematographer Lucas Gath came to the Official Studio to talk shop with hosts Mark Rinehart, Tony Franklin, and Matt Sultan.  Lucas Gath is a filmmaker and visual artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. His work has taken him to more than 80 countries shooting feature films, documentaries, Virtual Reality films, and commercials and working with Spike Jonze, Luca Guadagnino, and Lucy Walker among others. His recent projects have been at the Sundance film festival, SXSW, Cannes, NYT, HBO, BBC, and Netflix.The crisp quality of his camera work has resulted in an extensive and diverse reel, which has yielded 14 domestic and international awards, an Emmy nomination, and a Goya Nomination. www.weareofficial.com  https://www.lucasgath.com/press-3/2018/10/3/ghost-fleet-at-tiff.   https://www.lucasgath.com