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Skunk signs Sterlin Harjo
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The critically acclaimed director is an Emmy-nominee, Peabody award winner, and MacArthur Fellow.
Director Sterlin Harjo’s work on Reservation Dogs and The Lowdown is defined by his sharp humor, immersive worldbuilding, and ability to elicit authentic performances.
An Emmy-nominee, Peabody award winner, and MacArthur Fellow, Harjo is the creator of FX’s The Lowdown starring Ethan Hawke, which will release its highly anticipated second season this October. Harjo also co-created the critically acclaimed series Reservation Dogs with Taika Waititi.
As a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and a director of Muscogee descent, Harjo’s work often grapples with Indigenous experience.
His feature directorial debut, Four Sheets to the Wind, a coming-of-age story about a young Seminole/Creek man following the untimely death of a parent, premiered at Sundance and received a Grand Jury Prize nomination as well as an Independent Spirit Award shortlist. More recently, Love and Fury, his long form documentary spotlighting native artists, was acquired by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY and released on Netflix.
Sterlin’s exploration of the lived experiences of contemporary Indigenous people is punctuated by his ability to find humor in heavy truths. “As an Indigenous person, our humor is super important. It’s about survival,” Harjo explains. “There is a bit of handling darkness with laughter. My humor is very much grounded in reality.”
Whether comedic or dramatic, Sterlin’s works always take root in a strong sense of place. In Reservation Dogs and The Lowdown, the fictional town of Okern and the outskirts of Tulsa stand out as key characters. “I think that representing a place is a gift,” says Sterlin. “Using environment and place as a character strengthens storytelling.”
Harjo is known to have worked with a long list of esteemed actors, including Ethan Hawke, Peter Dinklage, Kyle MacClachlan, Keith David and Lily Gladstone with Tommy Lee Jones and Martha Plimpton joining the season two cast of The Lowdown. But, Harjo’s talent for eliciting strong performances is maybe most evident in his work with younger talent, often in front of the camera for the first time. “I adjust to different people and their styles and their experience,” he says. “It’s about finding the best way to support them in giving the best performance.” The ability to work well with both established talent and real people promises to serve Harjo well in his approaching chapter in commercials.
With their success in bringing feature directors into the commercial sphere, Skunk is the right partner for Harjo’s step into advertising. Skunk founder Matt Factor celebrates Harjo’s addition to the roster, “Sterlin’s work stood out to me because his tone, his humor is entirely his own. His characters feel so real. I’m excited to see what we will do together.”
“Skunk approaches things through storytelling,” says Harjo. “Everything that makes me want to make films, Skunk represents that in their work. And that excites me.”
