Brewer

How did you get into directing?
Made some music videos and films on our own and then moved to LA to try to make a go of it.

What is your most recent project?
A music video for Skylar Grey, and before that a viral advert in the UK.

What is the best part of being a director?
Turning your creativity into a useful commodity. Executing an idea that helps a larger business endeavor—whether it is the launch of a product, or a musician’s album or single.

What is the worst part of being a director?
Ever having a complaint when being a director is the greatest privilege you can imagine. Even on the small scale we operate at. It splits your mind in half.

What is your current career focus: commercials & branded content, TV, movies? Do you plan to specialize in a particular genre—comedy, drama, visual effects, etc.?
We are open to anyone who wants to work with us. Mostly we’ve done music videos, but we are starting to do more commercial work. Our desire is to make a film that embraces the future of financing and exhibiting a small independent movie. We want to be part of the vanguard in that respect.

Have you a mentor and if so, who is that person (or persons) and what has been the lesson learned from that mentoring which resonates most with you?
Never had a mentor. We’ve learned most things the hard way, or been lucky to avoid some hard lessons. The only sets we’ve been on have been our own. We want to change that this year by trying to observe one of our heroes at work. Who knows how we will accomplish that!

Who is your favorite director and why?
BEN: This changes, but currently I would have to say William Friedkin. He still creates magnificent work, and his run of films in the 70’s and 80’s is unparalleled. Sorcerer might be the greatest film ever made.
ALEX: There are many directors I admire for many different reasons. I really can’t say definitively. The Coens?

What is your favorite movie? Your favorite commercial or branded content?
BEN: This is going back a long ways, but I love that series of films BMW made, The Hire. Wong Kar Wai and all those great directors, with David Fincher overseeing the whole project. It also has one of my favorite films by the late Tony Scott, which features James Brown and Gary Oldman as the Devil. Pure genius.
ALEX: It’s hard to beat the BMW shorts. I dig some of the recent Old Spice ads. They’re well made, bizarre, and very funny.

Tell us about your background (i.e. Where did you grow up? Past jobs?)
BEN: We grew up in Massachusetts, 30 minutes from Boston. Before we were directing things and living in Los Angeles, we were doing a series of strange jobs back home. We both worked as couriers, mainly for medical facilities. I worked as a videographer for a stage hypnotist at one point. We worked at summer programs — this one for gifted kids, and I worked also at the New York Film Academy’s Harvard summer program.
ALEX: Now that I think of it, we’ve had a lot of the same jobs. We always seem to be each other’s connection.

Contact

kerstin@prettybirdus.com
www.prettybirdus.com