- The Santa Stories_The Note

Ever since executive producer Kerstin Emhoff opened PRETTYBIRD’s doors in 2007, it’s been their vision to embrace the music and filmed entertainment world in a different way. With extensive backgrounds in awarded-winning commercials, music video and new media, the intent was to create a company that could develop and execute high-end entertainment by inviting directors, artists, writers, and web designers to produce cutting-edge content for an array of clients across the media landscape. Going into their eighth year of operation, the company’s success can easily be measured by not only the content they’ve created but by the awards they’ve won, including the highly coveted Cannes Lion, a D&AD Yellow Pencil, a Clio, MTV’s Video of the Year, a Grammy and Emmy, to name a few.

 

Emhoff was one of the powerhouses behind HSI Productions. Beginning with the company in 1996, she went on to become the company’s VP, overseeing both New York and Los Angeles offices, in addition to opening the company’s first ever London branch. Under Emhoff’s tenure the company won numerous awards on both the national and international level, including Cannes Lions, One Show's Golden Pencils, AICP Awards, and Creativity Magazine's Production Company of the Year.

In her almost 20 years of commercial experience, Emhoff has helped shape the careers of many of today’s premier filmmakers, including Sam Bayer, Peggy Sirota, David LaChappelle, Matthew Rolston, Jonas Akerlund, Josh Taft, Peter Berg and Michael Haussman.  In addition to the list of esteemed artists behind the camera, Emhoff has also had the privilege of working with some of the biggest names on screen, including everyone from Drew Barrymore and Halle Berry to Tiger Woods, Jay-Z and Eminem. 

Kerstin has always been a pioneer within the world of advertising, eagerly embracing its altering landscape. Under the PRETTYBIRD banner, she’s tackled a multitude of projects, ranging from a live web series for Microsoft and CPB, to multi-platform campaigns for a range of high-profile clients including a short documentary with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog and rock stars The Killers; the BBC documentary Stones in Exile, chronicling the recording of The Rolling Stones’ album, Exile on Main Street; and the cutting-edge interactive short film Possibilia, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and is set to launch later this year exclusively on Microsoft Xbox.

 

Setting her sights on feature films, Emhoff forged a partnership with the UK’s premier documentarians, Passion Pictures, co-executive producing four of their latest feature documentaries: the 2009 Emmy nominated, Sergio; the 2010 Academy Award shortlisted The Tillman Story; Manhunt, the definitive documentary on the ten-year hunt for Bin Laden, which won the 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Documentary; and We are the Giant, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. More recently, PRETTYBIRD co-produced (with Atlas Independent) the upcoming feature film Mojave, written and directed by William Monahan (writer, The Departed) and The Canyons, directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis.

 

PRETTYBIRD remains deeply committed to their mission of creating innovative content, producing award-winning advertising, across all media platforms, for a variety of global clients including: Microsoft, Nike, Coca-Cola, Kia, Volkswagen, Adidas, ESPN, Burger King, L’Oreal, Hyundai, BMW and Beats amongst many others.