Noted comedy director Barton Landsman has done spot work for ESPN, Sony, Anheuser Busch, McDonalds, Taco Bell, AT&T, and FedEx, among others, runs the gamut from observational to larger-than-life humor. Regardless of stylistic considerations, Landsman clearly has a knack for shining a light on human eccentricities: a current Avocados From Mexico campaign (Arnold/Boston), for example, depicts a soccer mom whose loyalty to her child comes up against an insatiable passion for avocado wraps. Recent work also includes a Gorilla Glue campaign (Possible/Cincinnati). Landsman has won multiple Cannes Lions and other honors for his accomplishments both as a director and agency creative. He served as Creative Director/Copywriter at BBDO New York and ACD/Copywriter at Kirshenbaum and Bond before stepping behind the camera.

Landsman began as an agency copywriter in Chicago. Writing and creative-directing jobs eventually took him to San Francisco and New York City. His work was recognized by several national and international award shows and he won multiple Cannes Lions and One Show pencils for his work on Pepsi, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Frito Lay and more. Landsman next tried his hand at directing. Again, his work garnered national and international awards, including a Gold Lion at Cannes for Nestle “Zoo” (Lowe Strateus/Paris). Indulging his interest in darker comedy, Landsman wrote and directed Banana Bread, a short film about a man whose neurotic mother has no idea how dangerous his job really is. The film screened at more than 50 festivals throughout the country, winning numerous awards.

“I appreciate comedy built on an element of truth, but sometimes flat-out freaky or strange works nicely too,” said Landsman, who considers Portman Group “Drunken Monkey” (M&C Saatchi/London) an all-time favorite among the spots he’s directed. “I try not to impose one specific sensibility on the work, and let the script guide me.” Of longer-form branded work, such as a client-direct Web film he recently directed for the Reluctant Trading Experiment, Landsman said, “It’s fun to tell stories in 30 or 60 seconds. But if some company wants to do longer pieces like the classic BMW Film stuff, I’ll probably start weeping with joy.”

Brooklyn-born Paul Stone began his career as an Avid editor at Ridley Scott & Associates, cutting spots and music videos for the likes of Luke Scott and Michael Moore, and working with agencies including Crispin Porter + Bogusky (Truth.com) and Leo Burnett (Fiat). His keen eye for compelling, visual storytelling made for a seamless transition to directing. Stone began helming spots through his production company Firebrand Films, and went on to direct projects for Instagram, Polaroid and Craftsman, and others. In addition to Tales of Times Square and Man Under, Stone’s shorts include The Prince of Elizabeth Street and The Boombox Project, which was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Of his diverse projects, Stone said, “My films tend to be hybrids. My docs feel like narrative films and my narrative films seem like docs.”

Currently, Stone is shooting the feature film documentary Mulberry, which explores the people and places of Little Italy that inspired Martin Scorsese’s film Mean Streets. “I am an Italian-American, Sardinian to be exact. Storytelling is in our DNA,” said Stone. “I grew up in Brooklyn and we hung out on street corners and told stories day and night. We raise our voices, and use our hands a lot when we speak. It’s very entertaining and visual. I guess that is where my gift for storytelling really originated.”

As evidenced by one his signature spots - Discounthotels.com “Eggheads” - if you want to make a comedy omelet, you have to break some eggs. With work honored in Cannes, The One Show, the LA Shorts Fest and more, Jeff Aron Lable has done just that, employing a combination of visual and reality-based comedy that does not shy away from a certain mischievousness that might best be described as “laughter-inducing discomfort.”

Jeff grew up outside of Boston and got his start as an art director at celebrated LA agency Ground Zero. Trying his hand at directing, he found himself featured in the SHOOT New Directors Showcase, the New Directors Showcase at Cannes and on the BBC “World’s Funniest Commercials”. At that point, Jeff traded his award-winning career as an agency art director for an award-winning career as a director.

In addition to the Discounthotels spot - in which a young “egghead” learns the perils of karate - Lable highlights include work for Pepsi and Toyota, as well as Natural Market “Birth,” a health food ad depicting a woman giving birth to a full-grown man. Recent work includes an HBO/ESPN commercial with Dwayne Johnson (Ignition), five spots for Clorox (via DDB) and a commercial for Dow (Bader Rutter/Milwaukee), starring - what else? - an exploding time machine.

Lable is also at work on a serious short about an adult couple with autism who - suffering from a painful sensitivity to touch - attempts to overcome their isolation and physically connect with one another in the most intimate way possible. “Regardless of the genre or tone,” Lable explains, “I like to surprise people.”

Dane Hanson wrote, directed and starred in “The Female Orgasm Law” which won the Audience Award for Best Comedy Short at the prestigious 2012 Friars Club Comedy Festival! Whether it be as a filmmaker or as one of their hand-picked judges, Dane has been part of The Friars Club Festival every year since 2011, starting with his viral smash-hit, “Lie Detector”.

Dane has acted in more than 60 national commercials. Dane fell in love with commercial directing after having worked as an actor for very famous, genius directors such as [names redacted].

For 11 years, Dane ran the critically-acclaimed sketch comedy show, Sitcoms Blow. Working as head writer and director for 65 actors at its peak, and performing more than 1500 live shows, that’s where Dane really developed his comedic writing and directing tools.

Dane is currently the producer of the TV show, Laughs, a program on Fox that showcases new, emerging stand-up comics.

Dane lives wherever the work is but if he could choose, he’d probably be in a freezing cold climate, with hockey on the TV, planning out his next shoot.

Brett Wagner is a former professional wrestler and reality TV star, which is unfortunate for the Brett Wagner you’re interested in, because it dilutes his search results. The Brett Wagner you’re interested in is a director based in Los Angeles and Honolulu, with many industry awards crowding the mantle he will have when he gets a bigger house, one with a mantle.

He has helmed projects for Road Runner, McDonalds, American Savings Bank, Lexus, Toyota, Hawaiian Airlines, Starwood Resorts, Burger King, United Way and Mobi PCS. While he was helming them, he also directed them.

When he’s not making commercials, Brett is often sleeping. When not sleeping, he writes and directs award-winning films such as CHIEF, which premiered at Sundance and was declared “a must-see” by IndieWIRE. CHIEF—and his latest film, CARE—both won the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, earning them Oscar-Award qualification and Lucite statuettes, which will one day go on that mantle.

Brett’s adaptation of the New York Times bestselling memoir, THE DEVIL’S TEETH, for executive producer Terrence Malick, received a Sloan Foundation Development Grant from the Tribeca Film Festival. His first feature film, FIVE YEARS, was distributed internationally (under the release title THE HIDDEN) after a 30-festival tour that included awards for Best Feature Film at the Victoria Film Festival and Best Screenplay at Avignon. Check it out in Turkish!

Brett grew up in beautiful Cleveland, OH, which is adjacent to the regular Cleveland, OH. He earned an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has dived with great white sharks, organized Martin Scorsese’s film collection, sipped kava with the village elders, traded on the black market in Soviet Leningrad, worked concessions at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, poked lava with a stick, and recently squished a Suzuki with a backhoe. His intentions were honorable.

Born in Virginia, raised in 3 countries, 4 states and a commonwealth, Daniel Sheppard knows a thing or two about writing bios in the third person. He has won countless participation awards for his elementary and middle school sports programs and was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2006.

He has an agency background where he spent many nights increasing logo sizes and trying to figure out how they get all those cinnamon swirls into every bite of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Legend has it, he once showed up to work naked with nothing but his normal clothes on.

Daniel got into commercial directing when he met a drunk guy that said, “Hey, man. You should direct.” He’ll never forget that day.

Jordan Brady began as a stand-up comedian, touring nightclubs and colleges in 49 states across America. His first big break came when MTV tapped him to host a game show, “Turn It Up!” Next, he hosted and directed the NBC Saturday Morning reality series, “Name Your Adventure”. In addition to NBC promo shoots, Jordan began directing short films and series for Comedy Central and MTV.

Jordan Brady wrote and directed the feature mockumentary, “Dill Scallion”. Critic Roger Ebert anointed it the “‘Spinal Tap’ of country music.” Brady followed up with the independent film “The Third Wheel” starring Ben Affleck and Luke Wilson, and the Miramax flop “Waking Up In Reno” with Billy Bob Thornton and an undiscovered
Charlize Theron.

Mr. Brady’s first documentary is “I AM COMIC”. The film explores the art & occupational hazards of stand-up comedy. It stars Sarah Silverman, Louis C.K., Tim Allen, Jeff Foxworthy, Janeane Garofalo and 76 other
professional comics.

Jordan’s true passion is commercials. He has directed over 719 national TV spots to date.

Check out Jordan on imdb.com or iamcomicmovie.com and he is fun to Google. Jordan Brady takes his documentary, “I AM COMIC,” to Slamdance: “Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow!”