Spotlight on Women Directors: Shelly Lauman
As part of a regular series with Free The Bid Australia, Campaign Brief shines the spotlight on top female commercials directors in Australia and New Zealand…
Shelly Lauman is a director at EXIT Films.
Three best spots:
Moccona ‘The Melody‘
IOM ‘Unexpected Victim‘
Classically trained as an actor and having completed her masters in directing at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, Shelly is an internationally award-winning writer and director.
Shelly received the inaugural Australian Directors Guild/Metro Screen Production Fellowship to make her latest film, BIRDIE; a short psychological thriller which is an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.
Most recently Shelly directed a major campaign for Moccona and released ‘Unexpected Victim’, a short narrative piece for the UN bringing awareness to sexual exploitation throughout Asia.
Her love of performance drives her storytelling and her approach to character elicits spontaneous, intricate and honest performances from the actors she collaborates with. Combined with her poetic but playful cinematic imagery, she creates worlds that are distinctly her own.
Says Lauman: “I’m really interested in making smart, authentic work. Working with ideas that reflect the creativity and intelligence of the both the makers and the audience. Work that speaks to the voice and vision of the brand and at the same time totally connects to our innate and shared humanness. I love when an idea lands in an unexpected way. I love work that allows you to explore and expand cinematically. I love ideas that are light and playful and funny. I am drawn to socially important and impactful ideas that challenge. What I love most about advertising, and filmmaking in general, is its collaborative nature. It is this great meeting of creative minds, that seems to offer unending potential.. it’s the best.”
Since launching a year ago, Free The Bid has 200 Australian Women Directors on its searchable database. Free The Bid now has over 20 major agencies that use the database to find the right director for each of their projects and have committed to putting one female director in the mix for every job.