Creative 100: The Directors Who Caught Our Attention

With vision and bravery, the directors on this list oversaw commercials and films that captivated viewers. Lucia Aniello, Director, writer Not a ‘Hack’: Italian-born director and writer Lucia Aniello won an Emmy in 2021 for both Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the HBO Max show Hacks, which she co-created. She was also lauded for her work on Broad City. Directing the holiday spirit: Aniello directed Apple’s 2023 holiday ad, a stop-motion take on the Scrooge tale that was both touching and exceedingly creative in how it updated the story for the modern creator age. Comedy training and timing: Having trained at sketch comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, Aniello came into contact with Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin, who had her direct the first campaign for the company, which went viral. —Kyle O’Brien Lake Bell, Director, actor Hat in the ring: Though she wasn't on Dick’s Sporting Goods’ roster of ad agency help, Lake Bell recently pitched an idea for a campaign “as a wild card,” she told ADWEEK, mainly because she’s a longtime fan of the retailer. And her concept—“filmic, comedic nuggets” with friends Kathryn Hahn and Will Arnett—clicked with brand execs, who not only hired her but also committed to a yearlong partnership to boost their ecommerce platform. Mini-movies: “Click on Dicks.com” is the latest work on Bell’s growing commercial CV, which also includes sultry ads for an orange wine from Nomadica, a darkly comic holiday film for hot-selling weed soda Cann, and branded content for Intel and W Hotels. Bell, a prolific voiceover actor and onscreen TV and film star, has been writing and directing for more than a decade, delving into the marketing space in recent years with a discerning eye. “You can deliver a better product if you’re aligned with the ethos of the brand,” she told ADWEEK. “That’s integral in the choices I make.” Walking the walk: The New York native, transplanted to Los Angeles, populates her sets with pros from underrepresented groups and hires through ManifestWorks, which provides job training to the formerly incarcerated. —T.L. Stanley Tusk (Kerry Furrh & Olivia Mitchell), Directors Into the groove: In directing one of ADWEEK’s 20 best spots of 2023, Liquid Death’s “F**k Whoever Started This,” the duo known professionally as Tusk leaned heavily into both their extensive music video roots and their quirky taste in collaborators. Gravitating to “zany, vibrant and/or strange brands, sometimes a combo of all three,” the partners in work and life put their unique stamp on a hilariously demented concept that starred Puritans, pitchforks and a tallboy of canned water burning at the stake, all set to an ’80s-inspired dance pop ditty. They dubbed it “one of the most brilliant, nonsensical yet totally sensical creative pieces we’ve been a part of.” Melodic mix: Further blending music and brands, the duo has integrated Maybelline, Beats by Dre and Essentia into videos for pop stars like Tate McRae, while helming traditional commercials for Sony, Google, Truly seltzer and the Met Gala, among others. Coming of age: One of their passion projects recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The short film, called Ripe!, is a “dreamlike romance” in the vein of Before Sunrise, “but for lesbians,” they said. The directors, who aim for “humor and heart” in their storytelling, hope to turn it into a full-length feature. —T.L. Stanley Rose Glass, Director, writer Bold storytelling: For her second film, the 1980s-set Love Lies Bleeding, Rose Glass mashed up several genres and concepts, including neo-noir crime thriller, dark comedy and fatal attraction, with a dose of magical realism. Her goal with the Western-tinged female bodybuilding tale was to “make something fun and sweaty and violent,” she said in The Associated Press. The sapphic drama, which got a rowdy response at its Sundance Film Festival premiere early this year, is another ambitious swing from Glass, who told the Los Angeles Times: “The sort of films that I feel capable of making, I don’t think I’d be particularly good at trying to shoehorn into something more sensible.” Instant classic: Love Lies Bleeding follows her feature debut, the psychological horror flick Saint Maud, a pandemic-delayed sleeper that became a critical favorite, with veteran filmmaker Danny Boyle calling it “genuinely unsettling.” Stranger things: The 34-year-old London-born and based Glass hasn’t announced her next project, only hinting at her ongoing fascination with “the weirdness of human existence and consciousness,” telling Vulture, “I’m interested in bodies and brains.” —T.L. Stanley Molly Manning Walker, Director, cinematographer A BAFTA nominee: Molly Manning Walker earned a British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) nomination for her 2023 film, How to Have Sex, which won awards at Cannes and European Film Awards. Women’s soccer grit: Manning Walker showed how tough women’s soccer can be in a campaign for Amazon. Her commercial, “The Grit,” is a montage of the diverse methods players use to protect themselves and heal their bodies, including ice baths, finger tape and gum shields. Manning Walker has a direct connection to football, as she is co-founder of soccer team Babe City FC. Styled by punk: Punk and graffiti had a hand in developing Manning Walker’s style, as she grew up photographing her brothers’ bands while fending off kicks in the mosh pit. —Kyle O'Brien Ally Pankiw, Director, Partizan Charting a course through TV: Ally Pankiw started her career directing music videos, commercials and short films before breaking into TV. She wrote for popular comedy Schitt’s Creek and directed shows including Feel Good, Shrill and The Great. Recently, she directed the first episode in the latest season of Black Mirror. “Joan Is Awful” became one of the most streamed episodes of Black Mirror ever and contributed to the growing conversation about AI’s impact on the creative industries. “I also got Salma Hayek and Annie Murphy to do some pretty depraved things in a church,” Pankiw said. Clearing up confusion: Recently, Pankiw directed a campaign for Loewe featuring Schitt’s Creek co-creator and co-star Dan Levy. The ad was a comedic take on the fashion house’s heritage while poking fun at its famously hard-to-pronounce name. “One of my greatest joys as a director is getting to put top-tier talent in ridiculous wigs, so this was a special one,” said Pankiw. Opening doors: Pankiw runs a paid mentorship program for young female filmmakers. “Just start making shit,” she advises aspiring directors. “Don’t wait for someone to give you permission or resources or encouragement to showcase what you want to say, because they won’t.” ––Brittaney Kiefer Steve Rogers, Director, Biscuit Filmworks, UK/US; Revolver, Australia Directing Down Under: Steve Rogers grew up in Australia, where he started directing. He opened Revolver 25 years ago and joined Biscuit shortly after. His company and his family are based in Sydney. Over the past year, Rogers has directed commercials for Uber, Etsy, Hornbach and Volkswagen. A “degenerate” fan: Rogers has a longterm love and abiding fascination with “degenerate” art of the 1920s, which was most all modern art that was considered “degenerate” by the Nazi party. Personal motto: “Real pain for my sham friends, champagne for my real friends.” He also offers advice to aspiring directors: “Have a point of view and defend it.” —Kyle O’Brien Celine Song, Director Past Lives: In her filmmaking debut, Past Lives, Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song drew on her own experience of reuniting with a childhood friend after decades apart. The movie snagged an Oscar nomination, joining the roll call with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. She also won major honors at the Gotham Awards and New York Film Critics Circle Awards.An indie hit: In a world of big-budget blockbusters, Song’s breakout was a rarity: an understated human story about emotions and connection. Riding on the coattails of her warm, devastating directorial debut, her next film, Materialists, will star Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal. The power of a creative environment: Song's father was a filmmaker and her mother a graphic designer. She's likened growing up in a creative household to having a "creative trust fund. It was a supportive environment, and it made my own career path easier to navigate. My parents, as fellow artists, always understood my work,” she recently told Toronto Life. —Rebecca Stewart Jake Wilson, Director, producer New pop princess: Feeding into his ’90s-to-current-day obsession with Britney Spears, Jake Wilson jumped at the chance to direct the music video for singer Snow Wife, known as Gen Z’s version of the global megastar. The dance-centric short film for the single “Wet Dream” is the latest of his artist collaborations, following work with Lizzo, Cher, Saucy Santana and Vincint. Gimme one margarita: Other recent projects have included “One Margarita, Saucy Remix,” a raunchy rap video with Cindy Crawford re-creating her famous Pepsi Super Bowl campaign. Pulling double duty as an ad for Casamigos tequila and BlendJet blenders, the short film is an example of how Wilson tries to find “un-cringeworthy ways to incorporate brands and products into my work, so they can create a memorable moment and enhance the story rather than distracting from it.” The A-list: Once a performer himself, Wilson said he’s disheartened with the current state of entertainment, where original ideas are considered risky and greenlights more often come to “reboots of old IP” or name-only projects. “It feels impossible for journeymen talent to break through,” he told ADWEEK, “which makes no sense, considering everyone on the ‘A-list’ started out somewhere.” —T.L. Stanley Check out Adweek’s full Creative 100 list for 2024 here.

The Creative 100

Creative 100: The Directors Who Caught Our Attention

ADWEEK's 2024 winners used bold storytelling to captivate viewers

Lucia Aniello, Director, writer

Adweek Staff

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

Lucia Aniello, Director, writer

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Adweek Staff