Exit Director Shelly Lauman Releases New TV Spot For Moccona

A new kind of fairytale, this spot moves the focus away from traditional "boy meets girl" and tells the story of a woman inspiring herself.

Shot on location in Croatia for M&C Saatchi Sydney, 'The Melody' is Lauman's first major campaign under EXIT's roof after joining the roster in late 2017.

The spot follows news that Lauman's latest short BIRDIE, a psychological thriller starring Meave Dermody, is an official selection for the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in the Australian Shorts program--for which Lauman received the inaugural Australian directors Guild / Metro Screen Production fellowship to make.

Other notable EXIT selections for MIFF include: director Ben Lawrence's outstanding feature documentary GHOSTHUNTER off the back of its award-winning premiere at Sydney Film Festival, and EXIT alumni Samantha Lombardo and Yeosop Yoon's short film BEGINNERS also in the Australian Shorts program, executive produced by Leah Churchill-Brown.

This news follows the release of Shelly's spot 'Unexpected Victim', a compelling piece for the UN with IOM-X bringing awareness to and breaking down gender mythologies around sexual exploitation.

Having completed her Masters in directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, Lauman is an internationally award-winning writer and director for her short films now repped commercially by EXIT in ANZ.

Says Leah Churchill-Brown, EP, EXIT: "Shelly was recommended to me by a friend of mine. So I checked out her work and was immediately taken in, firstly by her storytelling, as let's face it, we all love being seduced by a good yarn, and also her gentle way of viewing the world. There is an authenticity to her work that she gets through the spontaneous, intricate and honest performances she elicits from her actors."  

A classically trained actor herself, Lauman's love of performance drives her storytelling and, combined with her poetic but playful cinematic imagery, she creates worlds that are distinctly her own.

It's this quality that has not just EXIT EPs, but agency creatives alike excited about Lauman's future with EXIT.

Says M&C Saatchi creative director Sharon Edmondston of Moccona: "We were attracted to Shelly from the very beginning because it was clear in her film work that she had an incredible sensitivity when it came to capturing nuances in performance. We weren't really bothered that she didn't have a reel full of commercials, her body of work more than demonstrated her potential and her treatment was driven by the emotional response we were striving for within each scene,