How Stink Rising is Curating a Different Kind of Directorial Talent
Stink is a company that ‘s known for its high end film and innovative digital production, but recognising that agencies and brands are increasingly looking for new kinds of content they decided to put together a slightly different kind of offering. Stink Rising pulls together intriguing directors, photographers and documentarians from beyond the world of commercials and music videos and gives a platform to talent that’s not raw but rising.
Still from director Douglas Bernadt
LBB> How long has Stink Rising been in the works?
Katie> Stink Rising has officially been in the works for a year, but in reality it’s been much longer. When I joined last year, the main focus was to build a music video roster and find new talent specifically in this area. However, we quickly realised this was reductive, new talent works in so many forms. Recently, the ‘music video’ department has made videos, but we’ve also made short films, content and commercials. A lot of talent we were looking at working with didn’t work primarily in music videos, and nor would we want them to. So, Rising grew very holistically.
Still from director Felix Brady
LBB> The roster has been carefully curated - what was your guiding principle when deciding whether or not someone should be part of the roster?
Exceptional quality. The overriding factor is always exciting, beautiful and memorable storytelling from across the world. People who we think will change the face of advertising in the years to come, artists who have something to contribute.
Still from director Jared Hogan
LBB> This isn't a 'new' or 'raw' talent roster per se. It feels like a mix of filmmakers, photographers and documentarians with something different to bring to the commercial industry - so how does the roster respond to the changing needs of brand and agency clients?
Katie> I believe our roster aren't reactionary, but instead are creating ideas for brands and clients to be inspired by.
Still from director Judith Veenendaal
LBB> What do you hope that Stink Rising will do for the wider Stink family?
Katie> Stink Rising is a global initiative. So, just as we have a commercial roster separated by territories, soon we will have a Rising roster split in the same way. This means every one of our offices (10 in total currently) will have their own dedicated team and new talent. There is nothing more exciting than guiding and growing someone’s career, and this is something we have always been really proud of doing at Stink. Rising represents a public facing initiative to do this and to find people even earlier. We can’t wait to see what our guys do next.
Still from director Stella Corradi
LBB> What sort of projects will Stink Rising be pursuing?
Katie> Anything exciting! Projects with creativity at the heart; whatever form that takes. Our rising roster is also about fearlessness in production and going that extra mile to make really exceptional work.
Still from director Noel Loozen
LBB> It also seems that the Stink Rising roster has a lot of potential in music video as well as advertising projects - is music video still a viable place for filmmakers to build a career and reputation?
Katie> Absolutely! Music videos are important for new talent to build, but they are also important for established talent to stay fresh and exciting. We’ve had great success this year not only in our new talent in videos, but also in getting our commercials directors videos. One example of this has been Tom Green’s video for ‘Ray Blk’ which we are all really proud of . And Elton seemed to like it!
That being said, a lot of our new talent have made short films or content and haven't come from this world. Ultimately, it’s about believing in the filmmaker as an artist, and of course they can work across forms. Why pigeon hole someone to just music videos or just adverts?
