We are overjoyed to be welcoming James De Frond to our company's growing and diverse roster.
James emerges from a TV comedy background - having produced, written and directed some of the funniest comedy shows over the past few years - he brings a reel full of laugh-out-loud funny moments, a genuine love and understanding of the mechanics of comedy and a brilliant repertoire of strange but true stories. This is James' first foray into commercials and he has chosen Nice Shirt Films to explore it with.
London-based James honed his comedy chops whilst still a teenager, working with Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones at their phenomenally successful company, Talkback, on such comedy greats as Brass Eye, Da Ali G Show and I'm Alan Partridge. He was soon researching and writing with burgeoning comedians like Jimmy Carr and Leigh Francis in the early days of E4. His directorial breakthrough came whilst shooting Francis in "Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour". This led to a long term collaboration between the two where James developed intense relationships with each of Francis' Bo'Selecta characters including a coquettish liaison with Mel B. Spending time in each of Francis' characters' heads taught James to find each character's voice and comedic capability.
Further productions James has co-written, produced and directed include VIP and The Morgana Show, both for Channel 4. It was James who developed all of Morgana's male characters and although initially Morgana hated him for it (she'd only ever mimic-ed women and there were lots of tears), it led to the Best Breakthrough Award at the British Comedy Awards. James has also been nominated in the Bafta Best Writing category.
James brings a fresh approach to comedy direction; exacting hilarious, multi-layed performances and situations from a beguiling array of characters. Highlights on his showreel include a Tourettes-addled hillbilly family at a baseball game, the untold story behind "Michael Jackson's iconic Billie Jean music video and a glimpse into Terry Wogan's integration into post-retirement life in Jamaica.
He continues to develop, write, produce and direct comedy. He is in development on a BBC prime time comedy sitcom and a sketch show for FX in the US: his first production meeting for the new show took place on the set of Arrested Development - specifically the Bluth family model home kitchen.
You can catch all of James' work over on his showreel at the website.
You can catch all of James' work over on his showreel at the website.
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