Director Roderick Fenske joins Yard Dog

Roderick Fenske, the award-winning agency copywriter/creative director turned comedic director of commercials and films has joined Yard Dog TV for US representation

Known for his idiocyncratic casting, stylish art direction, and blend of practical and digital effects, Fenske’s newest commercial work, for Drink Weird Ice Tea, broke earlier this month. His most recent short film, I’m Dead, You’re Welcome, starring JR Russell, Taissa Zveiter, Sandy Eels, and Julia Lorpriore, is making the rounds of film festivals now, having won Best Comedy Short at the Flagstaff International Film Festival last month.

Fenske, who started out in the business as a copywriter, is one of a very small group of agency creatives to have found success in both New York and London, where his last post was as a creative director at TBWA there. “I owe so much of my career to Trevor Beattie, because he believed in me and started my career directing commercials,” he said, citing work for Sony Playstation, French Connection UK, and Channel 5.

Those spots led to an invitation to become a member of the visionary Swedish film collective known as ACNE. “I learned so much there working in a directing collective. With everybody talking about how to make stuff look stylish and cinematic it was like a film school for me,” Fenske explained. “Production design is so important because humour can be much more unexpected when you have an elevated look.”