Filmmaker Alison Klayman Signs with Institute for Commercial Representation

Leading commercial production company Institute today welcomes award-winning filmmaker Alison Klayman to its directing roster. Known for documenting some of the most prominent people and stories of our time, Alison has been named by the New York Times as a Director to Watch, and her work has been shortlisted for an Academy Award and has received multiple prizes including from the Sundance Film Festival, the Peabody Awards, and the duPont-Columbia Awards.

Alison’s film work tackles big issues, big stakes, and big personalities, even while she brings viewers into these worlds through an intimate lens. She has profiled the eponymous Chinese artist and activist in Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, which earned a Special Jury Prize at Sundance and put Alison on the New York Times’ list of 20 Directors to Watch; singer Alanis Morrisette in Jagged; and right wing strategist Steve Bannon in The Brink. She has also chronicled the rise and fall of iconic brand Abercrombie & Fitch in White Hot; the pervasiveness of prescription stimulants in Take Your Pills; and the WNBA’s New York Liberty in Unfinished Business.

Alison brings the same effortlessly personal approach, powerful visual style, and genuinely emotional story beats to her advertising work. She has directed commercials for numerous major brands including lululemon, HP, HBO, Bose, Brawny, 3M, and MorningStar Farms. In the process she’s directed diverse talent from actor Ed Burns, to hip-hop legend Stic from Dead Prez, to Fortune 50 CEO Meg Whitman. She’s already working on her first project with Institute, a short film that will chronicle Every Woman’s Marathon, an all-women marathon taking place in November 2024 in Savannah, Georgia.

“I’ve known both Lauren and Frank, and EP Sean Lyness, for more than a decade and have always had a great rapport with them,” said Alison. “I’ve been so impressed watching the evolution of Institute over the past few years. I love that the company’s roster and creative output continues to expand and progress, while still incorporating its roots. Now that I have almost a decade of experience in the ad space, I’m excited to take my commercial work to the next level with people who I feel understand my documentary background, have the same storytelling sensibilities and ethical sensibilities, and know how to creatively apply all of that to work with brands.”

“Alison is a singular storyteller and I’ve been a huge fan of her work for years,” shared Lauren Greenfield, founder and creative director of Institute. “With her strong foundation in documentary film, she brings an authentic and curious approach to advertising that really connects with viewers and elevates the narratives. Alison is a fantastic fit for the Institute roster and we are thrilled to be collaborating moving forward.”

Based in Brooklyn, Alison is also a member of the DGA, BAFTA, and AMPAS.