EXPEDIA x EMILY IN PARIS

Funny first.
Feed native.
Built to travel.

A curated group of social-first comedy directors with English-language reels, selected for sharp timing, real performances and ideas that land in the first three seconds of the scroll.

ABOUT VERT

A director-led, vertical-native production studio.

VERT helps brands stay relevant, turn followers into fans, and feel human. Our bench of directors and creator-directors makes work built for the feed first, produced at the speed and scale social demands.

We start with the audience a brand wants to reach and what that audience actually thinks, then build the strategy, the story and the concept, and produce content that can grow into a series. VERT was founded by Executive Producer Hope Dotson Farley, who has spent 25+ years producing for brands including Google, Meta, Nike, LG, Tinder and Target.

WHY VERT

Comedy that's made for the feed, not cut down for it.

A social extension of a big entertainment moment has to earn the thumb-stop on its own. That takes directors who think in hooks, beats and payoffs at phone length, and who can get honest, funny performances fast.

VERT pairs comedy directors with a lean, social-native production system, so ideas move from concept to camera quickly and come back as a set of assets built for every platform.

SOCIAL-FIRST COMEDYPERFORMANCE-DRIVENFAST, LEAN PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR CONSIDERATIONS

LANRE DANMOLA

COMEDY / SOCIAL-FIRST

Lanre Danmola is a commercial and music video director based between LA and NYC, named one of the top 30 directors in SHOOT Magazine's 2024 New Directors Showcase. His comedy is surreal, fast and character-driven, the kind of absurd premise that lands because the performances play it completely straight.

He has made comedy for Doritos and Sunny D through Wieden+Kennedy and a run of feed-native work for McDonald's and Lawry's x Wiz Khalifa, alongside brand films for Delta, Meta and Nike. He builds ideas to live in the feed first, with a dedicated social-first, vertical-native body of work.

WORK · 9

ZE'EV WAISMANN

COMEDY / PERFORMANCE

Ze'ev Waismann is a Los Angeles-based director with a sharp eye for comedic timing and character-driven humor: the deadpan pause, the awkward beat, the straight-faced absurdity that makes a brand moment actually land.

On comedy he stays behind the lens directing performance and leaves camera to a dedicated DP. His spot work spans Washington Trust Bank, Hair Club and Arizona Lottery, alongside campaigns for Nike, Adidas, Ford, Chevrolet, Mini Cooper, Reebok and AT&T.

WORK · 6

Washington Trust Bank · Can't Is a Four Letter Word

MATTHEW POLLOCK

COMEDY / SKETCH / BRANDED

Matthew Pollock is a Los Angeles-based comedy director who came up as a commercial editor before directing and editing sketch comedy for CollegeHumor, where his work earned three Webby Awards.

He has directed comedy for Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Microsoft Bing, Intel, Yahoo and IFC, and worked with Michael Bublé, Ed Helms and the cast of Community, with a sharp ear for sketch timing and performances that play the joke straight.

WORK COMING SOONSelected comedy spots will be added here shortly.

EDY RECENDEZ

COMEDY / FEED-NATIVE

Edy Recendez is a commercial director originally from Mexico and now based in East Tennessee, working where creativity meets practicality. From tortilla maker to filmmaker, as he puts it.

He comes at the work social first, with personality-driven comedy built for the phone: TikTok's Go series, Arby's and Bush's Chili Magic. Partners include TikTok, Bush's Beans, Arby's, Regal, IndyCar, Subway, Gucci, Venmo and General Shale.