Clay Weiner

Clay Weiner is an American director and writer of commercials, film and television. Clay is a known pioneer of viral videos. He was featured in the 2008 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase in Cannes, was the winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2008 First Boards Awards and has had feature articles written about him, and his work, in Shots, Creativity (magazine), Boards (magazine) and The New York Times. His debut film, FRED: The Movie, was the number one TV cable movie of 2010 across all networks according to TV By the Numbers. His last name is pronounced like “whiner.”

Life & Career

Clay Weiner grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He passed the summer before his senior year of high school in New York's East Village working as a bike messenger. Clay later returned to the city to study philosophy at Columbia University. During college, Clay began working with Robert Smigel (writer: Conan O'Brien, SNL) on The Dana Carvey Show. Weiner has now written for The Conan O'Brien Show, The Onion and is a contributor to Dazed & Confused (magazine), Vice (magazine), Flaunt and BlackBook (magazine).

Many know Clay as MTV's "Intro Guy." The campaign, which he wrote, directed and starred in, is rumored to be the inspiration for Napoleon's nerdy dance routine in the film Napoleon Dynamite. The vignettes developed a cult following and won top honors at The One Show. Weiner began his official advertising career as a writer at Cliff Freeman & Partners. He then went to work at Publicis New York, Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York and Wieden+Kennedy Portland. As a creative, he won numerous awards from D&ad and One Show Pencils, to Cannes Gold Lions and Clio Awards, to something vaguely resembling a pair of gilded athletic shorts. He has worked with agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy, DDB Worldwide, Cutwater, Ground Zero and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Clay later launched an animated campaign for MTV called "Puberty," which he also wrote, designed and directed. In addition to MTV, Clay has directed commercial films for Ray-Ban, Bud Light, ESPN, Axe, Xbox and Snickers. His Bud Light "Dude" campaign has had over 100 million views. Clay is now represented by Biscuit Filmworks in Los Angeles for commercial directing: www.biscuitfilmworks.com.

Clay's television directing credits include FRED: The Movie and Blue Mountain State. In his leisure, Clay creates short films such as the Emmy-nominated "The Christmas Tree," "Dad’s New Girlfriend" and "Happy Father’s Gay." The latter two were co-created with Gemini Award nominee, Jenna Wright. The shorts can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mittymoo.

Clay has written and produced two pilots for F/X and one for Adult Swim. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

FRED: The Movie

In 2010 Clay’s first feature FRED: The Movie was released by Nickelodeon. FRED is the first Hollywood feature to star a YouTube character Fred Figglehorn. The character was created by Lucas Cruikshank and the screenplay was written by David A. Goodman, head writer of Family Guy. FRED was cast and shot in under two months at the end of 2009. The film went on to be the highest watched TV movie of the year with a debut of 7.6 million views. The film was well received in theaters in the UK. It opened in the #8 spot, taking in £257,133 in the first week, despite being shown in over 243 cinemas.

"TRY-ONs"

Weiner's photography book, TRY-ONs, was published in 2010. The book chronicles Weiner’s exploration of identity as he personifies an eccentric array of real and imaginary characters. Designer and stylist Jenna Wright helped transform Clay into over 140 different people. The book won the 2011 D&AD Award for Photography for Design. TRY-ONs is available at small bookstores in Los Angeles and New York City.

References

• "A Clay that Fits No Mold" - STEP Magazine: [1]
• "Fred the Movie Is This Year’s Biggest Cable Premiere" : [2]

External links

• IMDB: [3]
• YOUTUBE: [4]
• INTRO GUY CAMPAIGN: [5]
• PUBERTY: [6]