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The Cortez Brothers, Inc., a multicultural, female-owned production company under the umbrella of President / EP Bernadette Rivero, has added directors Mickey Finnegan and Devon Ferguson to their roster.
Finnegan was most recently with Los Angeles-based BestFriend, while Ferguson’s signing is his first with a US commercial production company. He is represented by Suneeva in Canada, Birth in the UK and Wunderfilm in Germany.
Finnegan’s reel includes spots for brands like Beats, Dish Network, Fox Sports, Pepsi, Tapout, Intel, PlayStation, Nike and Kia, as well as animated and musical promotions for TV shows like American Idol, X- Factor, Blackish and Crier les queens. He has toured for a wide range of programming networks including MTV, FOX, ABC, and HGTV, among others.
His music videos cover genres and styles, featuring artists such as LMFAO, Cee Lo Green, Lil Jon, Bella Thorne, Tyga and Soulja Boy. Finnegan’s work has been featured on MTV, BET, VH1, FUSE, and E !, taking first place in various countdowns and racking up over two billion views online.
Finnegan said that once he started talking to Cortez’s general manager Ed Rivero, they discovered many chance connections. “Ed was at RSA when I was making videos through Black Dog,†the director recalls. Finnegan signed with Cortez, he explained, to strengthen his profile and expand his client base. “Supporting a production company like Cortez will help me get the word out. My work has a fun and passionate style, and I think we can bring it to a larger marketing world. I hope they can bridge the gap and put me in touch with agencies and brands that are looking for that vision and that sensitivity.
As a director, Finnegan honed his storytelling skills, going beyond his musical credentials into making more dramatic films. “It’s all part of your skills repertoire,†he said. “It’s about telling stories, which is why we all got into this. I’m looking for opportunities to do just that, and I hope Cortez can help show me the way.
Devon ferguson
Ferguson grew up in Ottawa and is currently based in Vancouver. He graduated from the Humber Acting for Film / Television Program in Toronto and trained at Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade’s School of Improv and The Groundlings in Los Angeles. While training as an actor and working alongside him, he also bought his own video equipment and started writing and editing his own comedy shorts, which drew his attention to the production side of cinema.
He wrote and starred in several humorous web series and started shooting parody ads when he learned he could enter contests from various brands for commercial user-generated content. The spots he wrote and directed have won more than a dozen such contests, allowing Ferguson to lend his style of humor to commercials from brands such as Lays, Doritos, Kraft and Shell, to no avail. name a few. He was even a finalist in a recent Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl publicity contest.
But it was his specific Monster.com spot, titled “Stare,†that put him at the top when he won the silver medal for “Best Use of Humor†at the Young Directors Award. Cannes 2021. The deadpan comedy was also shortlisted in the “Top 10†at the Berlin Commercial Awards and was shortlisted for the Kinsale Shark Awards for Best New Director.
Ed Rivero saw Ferguson’s work after winning the YDA award and was impressed. “He’s clearly very funny, and his background in comedy, improvisation and acting gives him a great sense of timing which translates into his work. We were looking for a comedy director who would shoot and write, which fits many types of comedic content that brands are looking for now. “
Ferguson said he was drawn to Cortez by the opportunity to strengthen his presence in the United States and having a comedy niche on their roster. “They don’t have anyone like me right now, which means they can focus on developing my career while I add a different touch to their talent pool.”
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