BestFriend Adds Director Thomas Hefferon

BestFriend, the LA and NY-based production studio led by Executive Producer Zak Thornborough, adds Thomas Hefferon to its impressive lineup of directors.

Thomas Hefferon is a self-taught director who’s been fascinated with storytelling and film since his youth in Dublin, Ireland. Known as a master of short-form emotional narratives, his first short film “The Confession” screened at over 40 festivals around the world (including Tribeca, Palms Springs, and Sundance); it had a national cinema release in Ireland, it aired on dozens of TV stations across the world, and it garnered over one million hits on YouTube. Since then he’s made three more shorts (“The Pool,” “Switch,” and “The Heist”), all of which received funding by the Irish Film Board.  Combined his short films have now played at over 100 major film festivals internationally, winning a number of awards along the way.

Hefferon naturally moved into the commercial and branded content space after being nominated in the Best New Director category at the 2009 Kinsale Shark Awards. This led to him working with Jaguar and Land Rover, and a move to London. There he became known as a go-to director for emotion-driven narratives (“I love making people cry,” says a smiling Thomas), working with a range of brands including Panasonic, Infinity, Jameson, Armstrong International, and Johnson & Johnson.

Hefferon is excited to start his relationship with BestFriend, his first-ever US home, saying he knew it was the right move upon meeting Thornborough, “I could tell Zak was committed, dedicated, and hungry. He knows the industry is in flux, and has ideas as to how to navigate change, which really appealed to me. I see BestFriend as a place where I’m not just sitting on a roster, but where I’ll be allowed to do what I do best – I just want to be on set all the time.”

For his part, Zak Thornborough is ecstatic Hefferon is coming on board, saying, “Thomas is current, in his sensibilities and skillset. His flexible methodology and his way of working just gels for everyone – creatively he’s always pushing the boundaries. The way he empowers the crew and collaborates with the creative team is just amazing to watch.”

Hefferon’s first project out of BestFriend is a genre-defying two-spot campaign for Massachusetts Financial Services via FCB Chicago. These spots showcase Hefferon’s deft hand, as he focuses in on the human side of the company. Mirroring mutual investments with the work that musicians do, Hefferon somehow makes financial services empathetic, entertaining, and cool.

Centralized around a collaborative approach, BestFriend provides clients access to world-class talent at any stage of production, from writing and creative development through execution and delivery. BestFriend lives at the intersection of advertising, art, film, fashion, music, and technology, and thrives on its proximity to the fringe of possibility.