Michael D. Ratner

Michael D. Ratner is an American writer, director, producer and founder of OBB Pictures. He is known for his frequent comedy collaborations with New York City hip-hop radio station Hot 97 and his romantic comedy film “The 30 Year Old Bris”, which premiered as an official selection at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.[1]

Education

Ratner attended the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Film and minored in English. He then went on to graduate from NYU Tisch Graduate Film School where he received a Masters of Fine Arts in film directing, writing, and producing.

OBB Pictures

Ratner founded OBB Pictures in 2010 while he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. The multi-media production company specialized in digital comedy shorts, and garnered attention putting viral comedy videos on YouTube and Funny or Die from 2011-2012. OBB moved into commercials, music videos, and film following the success in the digital short space. The company has since expanded and now includes a collective of producers, writers and directors.[2]

In October 2014, OBB Pictures signed a first look deal with Relativity Sports.[3]

Film and television

In 2012, Ratner directed two Funny or Die promotional comedy shorts for the film “Piranha 3DD”. The shorts starred Gary Busey, David Hasselhoff, David Koechner, Katrina Bowden, and Chris Zylka.[4]

In the summer of 2013, Ratner directed Houston Rockets forward Chandler Parsons in the "Wear the Hair" campaign, which appeared on ESPN Networks.[5]

In December 2013, Ratner co-created, produced and directed a pilot for a music interview-style television program starring Hot 97's Peter Rosenberg and hip-hop artist Action Bronson.[6]

In the summer of 2014, Ratner directed/produced the final documentary on Governor Mario Cuomo alongisde executive producer and Tribeca Productions co-founder Jane Rosenthal.[7]

In November 2014, Ratner executive produced the Dwight Howard documentary, "In the Moment", which aired on EPIX.[8]

In January 2015, Ratner served as Executive Producer on the documentary, "In Football We Trust". The feature-length documentary explores the role football plays within the Polynesian community in Salt Lake City, Utah and premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.[9]

Awards and honors

In the spring of 2012, Ratner was named as one of the “SUBWAY Fresh Artists Filmmakers” and awarded $50,000 to create a branded content mini-series which was featured at the South by Southwest Film Festival.[10]

In early 2014, Ratner directed segments for the New York Emmy Award winning series "The Lineup: Sports Movies". As director, he won 3 New York Emmy’s for episodes he directed in the categories of “ENTERTAINMENT: PROGRAM/SPECIAL” for “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies – Baseball”, “SPORTS: INTERVIEW/DISCUSSION” for “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies – Boxing” and “SPORTS: ONE-TIME SPECIAL” for “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies – Football”.[11]

In the spring of 2014, Ratner's short romantic comedy film “The 30 Year Old Bris" was an official selection at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, competing in the Short Narrative competition and screening in the “Totally Twisted” category. The film starred actor Nick Fondulis, Jaclyn Jonet, and Donnell Rawlings and featured a cameo from Chris Elliott.[12]

Music Videos

Ratner's work with Hot 97 has spawned a number of popular viral videos, including "Stay Sleepin'" featuring Peter Rosenberg and Vinny Guadagnino from "The Jersey Shore" and "Ratchet, Turn Up, Molly"—a social commentary on the state of hip-hop in 2013— featuring Peter Rosenberg and DJ Cipha Sounds.[13]

In February 2014, Ratner produced the music video for Puff Daddy’s "I Want The Love" featuring Meek Mill. The video was directed by Eif Rivera.[14]

In May 2014, Ratner was listed by Hollywood.com as one of the 6 music video directors turned filmmakers to look out for alongside Spike Jonze, Hype Williams, Jonathan Glazer, David Fincher, and Gina Prince-Bythewood.[15]

In January 2015, Ratner produced the music video for "We Don't" by Ace Hood feat. Rich Homie Quan.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Tribeca Film Festival".
  2. ↑ "Catching Up With The 30 Year Old Bris Director Michael D. Ratner". Paste Magazine.
  3. ↑ "First Look Deal". The Wrap.
  4. ↑ "The Making of Piranha 3DD". Funny Or Die.
  5. ↑ "Everyone Wants Chandler Parsons' Hair".
  6. ↑ "Juan Ep Podcast". Hot 97.
  7. ↑ http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/01/andrews-video-tribute-to-mario/
  8. ↑ http://press.epixhd.com/press-releases/epix-offers-exclusive-look-at-the-life-of-nba-all-star-dwight-howard/
  9. ↑ http://variety.com/2015/film/news/sundance-relativity-buys-football-doc-exclusive-1201412261/
  10. ↑ "Subway Fresh Artists".
  11. ↑ "New York Emmy Winners" (PDF).
  12. ↑ "Tribeca Film Festival".
  13. ↑ "Michael D. Ratner & OBB Pictures Inks Major Deal With Relativity Sports". Hot 97.
  14. ↑ "I Want the Love". IMVDB.
  15. ↑ "6 Music Video Directors Turned Filmmakers". Hollywood.com.
  16. ↑ http://imvdb.com/video/ace-hood/we-dont
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.