From College Projects to Commercial Success: The Journey of Morgan & Nick, True Gent's New Directors

“Morgan & Nick put their unique spin on everything,” Jordan Brady tells me excitedly. We’re discussing True Gent’s latest director signing and his glee is palpable. Having been introduced to the creative couple when they attended the annual Joshua Tree bootcamp as part of his Commercial Directing Film School, Jordan recounts the moment he realised he wanted to work with them on a more permanent basis. “We did a session where filmmakers did an impromptu pitch, with ten minutes to prep. Morgan & Nick whipped a deck together with key frames, mood board and more – my mind is still blown. The level of detail and borderline obsession with the process told me they were kindred spirits.”

Having joined forces back in college, Morgan & Nick’s capabilities as creative partners have evolved exponentially over the last 10 years. Learning and growing together, they have come a long way from their first experience working together on a short film in college. After splitting projects up in various different ways, the pair eventually landed on their most comfortable roles: co-directors. 

Conquering creative briefs as a team, their unique skills and individual interests compliment one another harmoniously, with Morgan heading up the designs, schedules and talent discussions, and Nick writing, storyboarding and shooting. The result is a well-balanced symbiosis of shared responsibilities under the broad purview of “director.”

“When we work on a project, we’re incessant – constantly discussing every aspect of the work. We aim to be on the same page throughout every step of the project,” Morgan says. “However, we each take point on different aspects; Nick writes the copy for the treatment, while I focus on finding the perfect visuals.”

Morgan also takes the lead when it comes to aspects of pre-production, from casting to locations to leading the pre-pro meeting, allowing Nick to take on the technical prep such as creating previs animatics using Unreal Engine. 

On set, they can be found in their default positions: Morgan chatting with the village or instructing the gaffer where to add light - she started out in film as a union electrician - as Nick selects the funniest takes and pieces the story together. “On set we know exactly what the other is thinking because we will have talked about it all day and all night from the moment we were sent the first deck,” explains Nick. “Although we both have directed on our own, it doesn’t have quite the same impact as playing to each of our strengths. We love the puzzle of filmmaking and putting it all together is our favourite part!” 

Through figuring out their most effective roles within the pipeline, the duo also discovered which type of projects they had a natural affinity for. “We tend to gravitate towards food, family and VFX!” reveals Morgan. “We have been very social-first focused throughout our career which has given us the opportunity to direct some diverse projects.” 

The duo believe their collective capabilities are best demonstrated by their work on Loctite’s 'Second Chance’ campaign. “The concept involved a lot of the things that we love,” Nick tells me. “It was a social-first studio shoot with some fun and tricky VFX transitions. We even had to completely renovate an attic in just over 30 hours!”

Blown away by Morgan & Nick’s directing skills, as demonstrated during the Commercial Directing Film school, Jordan is thrilled that the couple has joined the ranks of True Gent. “It was very evident from our time together in Joshua Tree that their united talent is greater than the sum of their parts, which says a lot because each is an amazing filmmaker!”

Leaning into his role as mentor, Jordan is looking forward to further facilitating Morgan & Nick’s growth as commercial filmmakers. He has big hopes for their future: “My dream is to find a daring client that will allow us to produce the same script by each of our directors. Like stock car racing, we all start with the same creative and see how we all bring it to life. When you have a team with a shorthand that can not only divide and conquer, but also collaborate to elevate the creative, you get a super duo. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these two!”