Backyard Adds Luke Huxham to Roster

Backyard Productions today announces the arrival of New Zealand-born film director Luke Huxham for commercial representation. Based in Tokyo for the past 15 years and now living in Los Angeles, Luke has been directing commercials and narrative documentaries worldwide for a host of some of the industry’s most celebrated automotive brands, including Porsche, Ferrari, Ford and Mercedes to name a few. 

With a variety of work spanning various genres of film including automotive and people-first storytelling, Luke possesses a deep understanding of his subjects and their nuances that many directors can’t offer. His work has been featured on streaming giants such as Amazon Prime and Hulu, and has garnered over a hundred million views online with his viral projects, including his film, 'Ukraine. Pretty Cool Place', which was selected as a Vimeo staff pick. 

A self-taught visionary, Luke began his career as a DP by combining his childhood love for film with his hobby for cars. Using this as a springboard, he gave himself four years to learn the intricacies of being a DP before beginning to work on campaigns which allowed him to work as a director and DP simultaneously. This experience led to the realisation that his true passion lay in directing. Prior to moving to Los Angeles this year, Luke focused his energy on running a successful production company in Tokyo and directing impressive overseas projects. 

Further showcasing Luke’s impressive portfolio in the automotive world, his work on the BMW Dune taxi project was a standout achievement for the director due to the sheer scale of the shoot. Filmed in Liwa Oasis and starring actress Madelyn Cline from Outer Banks, the project was an incredible technical feat. Overcoming everything from drone-based terrorist attacks during the shoot, to wrangling the cowboys that drove their BMW X5 SUV's on two wheels, the project highlights Luke's ability to bring a certain level of emotion and energy to his subjects. 

Luke’s first job since arriving in the US was for the brand new Corvette, a project that took place in Utah with Local Boy productions. It was through a friend on this project that a relationship with Backyard was formed. The fast-paced commercial showcases the dynamic environments of Utah traversing between snow deserts and mountains.

Outside the automotive space, Luke also favours people-first narratives, be it short-form passion projects shot in Ukraine to award-winning documentaries filmed whilst surrounded by the world's largest waves in Nazare, Portugal. Keen to expand his creative horizons, Luke is looking forward to branching out of the high-paced automotive films he’s known for and further into narrative with the support of Backyard. 

Speaking on the new hire, Rich Schafler,  EP/ head of sales, comments: “Luke is a great fit for Backyard as he joins our team with an amazing body of dynamic cutting edge work in the automotive and visual storytelling space. Luke’s truly committed to evolving and creating unique cutting edge content and he was seeking to partner with a company that he could collaborate with and who would help source directing opportunities in the US market.  

Our artists roster is continuing to expand and we have been fortunate to attract some incredibly talented filmmakers over the past few years. At Backyard we embrace working with rising talent and supporting all aspects of their careers.”

Luke Huxham, director at Backyard, comments: “In the past, I've had to do everything for myself for as long as I can remember, and I've always found a way to get things done. But now, with the incredible support I have from Backyard, I can only see myself going further. I can't imagine a world where I'm not directing my own feature film, so I'm looking forward to going down this rabbit hole and exploring as many opportunities as I can with Backyard in the future.”

Luke adds: “It was at a Corvette job in Utah that I was introduced to Backyard through a friend. Signing with a rep wasn't at the top of my list, but after meeting with Rich and Kevin over a coffee, we had a really great chat, and everything that was discussed just seemed really honest and down to earth. Even if the timing felt sudden, my gut told me I would have been silly to ignore this opportunity.”