Hungry Man Productions Signs Ruth Pickett

Hungry Man Productions is thrilled to announce the addition of Ruth Pickett to its directing roster.

Ruth says: “I am beyond thrilled to be joining Hungry Man; they create world-class work which is masterful in its humour, imagination, storytelling and heart; and I feel honoured and humbled that my name is being added to their list of phenomenally talented directors”

Matt Buels, managing partner of Hungry Man’s London office “As a company Hungry Man has always prided itself in discovering and nurturing new talent. We were so impressed with Ruth from our first meeting and are excited to bring her exceptional skill for narrative and character-driven comedy to the advertising world”

Ruth grew up in Yorkshire. She began performing and writing at Cambridge University, as part of the world-famous comedy troupe the Cambridge Footlights – after which she went on to write and perform comedy professionally, including taking a solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe festival, which was described by Chortle, the UK’s leading comedy guide, as “enchanting, endearing and laugh-out-loud funny”.

Ruth also wrote, directed and edited the web series Printfriends, a comedic finger puppet adventure which went on to be nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Digital Fiction.

Ruth moved permanently behind the camera in 2016; writing and directing several and comedic short films and music videos which went on to have great success at BAFTA-qualifying film festivals including Aesthetica, Underwire and LOCO in the UK; as well as highly regarded US festivals Hollyshorts, Etheria and Citizen Jane. Her short The Honeymoon won the Best Short Film award at the BAFTA-Cymru qualifying Carmarthen Bay festival; and is soon to be released on Amazon Prime’s Shudder Channel.

Her short film Wasteland, created in just 48 hours as part of the Endemol Shine UK’s Short Cuts film competition, went on to win the contest and screened at the Edinburgh TV festival. 

Reviews for Ruth’s short films have described her work as, "Teetering in that marvellously satisfying area between comedy and tragedy... will have audiences laughing, then smacking themselves for laughing, and finally pleading for a sequel" and “a must-see for any fan of the British comedy genre" (UK Film Review)

The US podcast series Dread Central described The Honeymoon as “Comedy that never fails to hit… it had me in stitches… I couldn’t even breathe at one point… so, so funny, it just slayed me… great concept, and wonderfully executed… this movie was made by a real artist”

The Nintendo Switch promo Black and White Bushido, which Ruth created and directed for Good Catch Games, was so well received by Nintendo that they requested for it to be translated into numerous languages and hosted it on several of their international online platforms. 

Most recently Ruth directed Comedy Central’s mini-series, Transaction, which won the 2020 Broadcast Digital Award for Best short-form scripted series. 

Ruth's passion is for telling inventive, character-driven comedic stories, which have a cinematic aesthetic; creating work which is visually compelling, distinctive and imaginative. Her performance background makes her a natural at working with actors; she is an expert at crafting nuanced performances which are compelling, naturalistic and hilarious. She is also a huge fan of independent cinema; she attended training courses with both Raindance festival and the BBC and has a highly technical understanding of the craft of filmmaking.