Empress Studios: The female-only director production company changing the balance

New Los Angeles production company, Empress Studios, is on a mission. It wants to collaborate with companies to promote uplifting, inspiring change in production and set the standard for future aspiring filmmakers.

It’s a production company that only represents female directors. It’s already doing its bit to get the gender balance right in production.

International producer, Micki Poklar, leads the company as executive producer and manages the roster. The company has launched with directors, Alissa Torvinen, Charlotte Rabate, Montana Mann and Tabitha Denholm on its roster.

“I feel passionately about being able to champion female directors, to get them more opportunities and the recognition that they are just as talented and capable as their male counterparts,” Poklar commented.

“When I’ve talked to people at agencies, it’s not that they don’t want to hire female directors, they just seem unclear about where to find them. I decided to create Empress to address this issue and to empower female directors as they helm a wide range of projects within the industry.”

Each Empress director has helmed spots for top brands, including Audi, Johnson & Johnson, HP, AT&T and Calvin Klein. Empress award-winning directors have also helmed music videos for bands and artists including Jennifer Hudson, Black Eyed Peas and Florence and the Machine.

Empress considers itself a hub for agencies and brands to locate and hire female directors for compelling, diversified content. It is also active in helping to ignite a movement of acceptance and openness toward women working in all roles of production, and aims to advocate for female directors and show, through great work, that they can conquer advertising production.

Poklar noted, “I think people are ready for change. It’s time to shift the paradigm.”

Empress is represented by Devine Reps, Sara Barnthouse and Steven Cook, on the West Coast.

The Empresses:

Micki Poklar has spent the past fifteen years producing commercials for major brands including Apple, Google and Samsung. She has freelanced for the last five and a half, working for Bob Industries, Caviar Content, Uber Content, Slim Pictures, Sanctuary Content, Farm League, Greendot Films, Raucous Content, First Shot Productions, Big Block Content and Concrete + Clay. Poklar produced Google’s longest running TVC, The Story of Jacob and City Gym for Google in 2015, that went viral achieving nearly 2 million hits to date. Adweek, Creativity Online, Ad Age and Ad Forum have all recognised her work.

Alissa Torvinen grew up on nature, music, pasta and cars in Northern Minnesota,. She attended Montana State University for Film Production in Bozeman, MT, where she took to the mountains with cameras, friends and whatever gear was in season. After school, she followed her childhood dreams to Hollywood and began working in film. As a director, Toryinen’s start in music videos eventually led to her work in commercial, narrative and documentary fields.

Charlotte Rabate’s film career began when she convinced her friend Lola to let her drop a condom filled with water on her head and shoot it. This Durex ad went quickly viral with over one million views and later won numerous awards, including the AICP award and Porsche Award, and was nominated for a Young Director Award at Cannes Lions. Rabate is now a French writer/director based in New York. She holds a BSC from the London School of Economics and an MFA in Filmmaking from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Charlotte attended the Sundance Rawi’s Screenwriters Lab in 2016 with her first feature film, Tourne Cheri, a coming-of-age story that takes place in Syria and Lebanon in the 1960s.

Montana Mann graduated with a BFA in film from the prestigious Art Center College of Design, and has won awards for her short films as well as commercial work. Her strong conceptual visual style drew the attention of professionals at an early age and she was named one of the top new directors to watch out for in Shoot magazine. Her commercial work has made her a CTA finalist and won her a YDA nomination at Cannes. Recently she signed a TV development deal with Universal Studios.

Tabitha Denholm is a VMA-nominated music video & documentary director known for her work with Florence & The Machine (as creative director and director on her past three albums), Haim and Jennifer Hudson, among others. She is a frequent contributor to Dazed, Ch4, I-D and Nowness, and has directed branded content for notable clients including Audi, Louis Vuitton, and Tory Burch. Since relocating to LA, Tabitha resolved to use her influence to make a positive impact on the industry she loves. She originated Women Under The Influence, a multi-dimensional community and content provider committed to amplifying the work of female directors.