Joshua Neale Joins Smuggler

Smuggler Signs Joshua Neale

Smuggler Executive Producer Patrick Milling Smith has announced the signing of director Joshua Neale to the company roster. "We're very excited to work with Joshua," Milling Smith says. "He's a real filmmaker who finds great characters and can make the smallest simplest moments such a pleasure to watch. He has a great sense of aesthetic, authenticity, and story and has a big future in many mediums. He is also a fantastic and interesting person to be around. He is a great fit for Smuggler."

Neale directed his first broadcast documentary in 2006 with the chilling and inventive "The Boy Who Killed His Best Friend" for the BBC Four series "My Crazy Life." He followed that up with his musical documentary "Karaoke Soul" in 2007, which mixes intimate observational documentary with musical performances from the central characters. The Guardian commented: "Neale has come up with a genre all of his own - a docu-music video," and the film resulted in Neale being nominated for the 2007 BAFTA Breakthrough Award. "Karaoke Soul" also caught the attention of Smuggler UK Executive Producer Chris Barrett, who had stumbled upon it on Channel 4 and introduced Neale to commercial production.

Neale stepped into the advertising world in 2008 with a documentary launching the new Jazz for Honda with Wieden & Kennedy, London. This was followed with the Nokia 97 Portraits Series featuring individuals from the around the world who use technology in interesting ways. These films demonstrated Neale's ability to capture a diverse range of characters and his command of authentic documentary techniques as an approach to branded content, Milling Smith explains.

Neale recently directed a pair of 30-second commercials to launch the new Lurpak "Joy of Creation" campaign. "Pie," the first of the semi-improvised commercials, led to a 2010 BTAA Award. Neale also recently completed five sets of promos for the grocery chain Waitrose through MCBD featuring the genuine reactions of children trying exotic foods for the first time. He will soon edit his US based feature documentary, "A Sorry Story," for BBC Four's flagship international Storyville series, and is currently in pre-production for the Wall's Projects with Saatchi & Saatchi.


Published May 26, 2010