I’m Dead, You’re Welcome

Director - Roderick Fenskerišind

They say comedy never travels. However, Roderick Fenske has been one of the rare exceptions to that rule. His unique style of directing has been universally recognised and awarded all over the world, including the British D&AD, Cannes, Eurobest and more.
He’s directed commercials for clients as diverse as Coca Cola, Honda, Alfa Romeo, The European Union and Las Vegas Tourism.
Part of this comes from Roderick’s unique ability to master several different subgenres within the comedy genre –- from more subtle and warm human moments to absurdist action movie parodies –- all while maintaining a strong and distinctive voice throughout.
Of course, to have this unusual ability to appeal to such a wide, multi-cultural audience, it helps to have an unusual multi-cultural background.
Roderick first started directing music videos for Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics as an American advertising creative living in London in 2001. Roderick was the creative director for Dave’s music label.
Eventually, while working as a Creative Director at TBWA, Roderick was encouraged to direct his own commercials by his then boss Trevor Beattie. It was here, he began perfecting a unique style that was driven by subtle and sharp performances from idiosyncratic characters for clients such as Sony Playstation and FCUK.
Then in 2004, Roderick was invited to join the Swedish directing collective ACNE in Stockholm, Sweden. It was during his directing tenure in Sweden with cutting edge stylists and visual effects artists that Roderick further honed his own distinctive look and feel.
Roderick developed a fresh visual aesthetic combined with practical special effects that became a signature of his unique character-based comedy. It’s a combination of both magic
realism and absurdist ideas presented as if truth.
In 2007, Roderick joined Hungry Man and directed several high-profile campaigns for Las Vegas Tourism, Twix candy bars and Old Navy to mention a few. It was a fruitful 5 years, filled with ground-breaking work that was recognised by awards juries around the world including D&AD and Cannes, among others.
And now, Roderick continues directing ground-breaking commercials and short films both in the US as well as globally. He is represented by Believe Media in the U.K., Bully Pictures in the US, and Lizards in Milan. But the most exciting news is that Roderick is set to direct a subversive foodie kidnap caper called HOLEY MOLÉ in the fall of 2024.
www.roderickfenske.com

Director Statement

I’M DEAD, YOU’RE WELCOME is one of the most unusual projects I’ve ever worked on as a director and writer. Unlike other films I write and direct where I audition and choose the actors for the prospective roles – in this case, the actors chose me to be their director.

We were deep in the actor’s strike of 2023 and no one was working. The actor/Exec Producers JR and Taissa contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in directing a script that they developed for themselves and some other actor friends of theirs. The premise was about how four friends unwittingly became expectant parents and were flung together to become a sort of modern family.

I thought, why not? I’ve got nothing going on during this blasted strike.

So much of the writing process involved working closely with the actors in creating distinctive characters that were all very different from one another with their own particular story arcs. This was a welcome luxury for me, and I am so thankful to the actors for working so hard on the characters with me.

We finally arrived at the idea of these friends coming together after a funeral of a very close friend only to learn that he left behind a world of wreckage and pain whereby the friends are forced to come together in order to deal with it.

In the end, we created a film together as a team that I am proud of. It was intentionally shot as an open-ended story that leaves the audience wondering what will happen to the characters now that they have arrived in this new and surprising predicament. How will these friends function now that they are forced to become a sort of family living together and having babies together with one dad? It’s a conundrum rife with comedic conflict – worthy of a longer format to tell this story. A TV series perhaps? At the very least, this could become a full-length feature film.

I look forward to digging into this next stage of the story with these talented actors. I know it will be truly great, however we decide to develop as the story moving forward.

Roderick Fenske
I’M DEAD, YOU’RE WELCOME
Director & Writer)