ADAM LAVIS
Director
Making entertaining character-driven comedy and drama that blends emotional honesty with absurdity, unexpected humour and a distinctive visual style.
If you've found your way here, chances are you’re either a big shot producer or we've matched on a dating app. Either way, welcome. Here are some frequently asked questions.
Q: So, what kind of films do you make?
A: Mostly comedy and drama about people getting in their own way. I like flawed characters, unexpected humour and the absurdity in everyday life. Above all, I want to make films people genuinely enjoy watching.
Q: How did you get into directing?
A: The long way round. I studied screenwriting, worked as a script consultant, spent years in high-end television post-production, became an editor and eventually started directing. Somewhere along the way, I also became a commissioned film producer.
It's given me a pretty broad understanding of filmmaking and a particular love of bringing writing, performance and editing together to find a story's rhythm.
Q: Have I seen anything you've made?
A: Ah… I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that. Possibly, but probably not. Most of my work has been in independent film, which is a polite way of saying you might have to go looking for it, but not too far! See what I’ve been up to below.
Q: Have you won any awards?
A: A few. My screenwriting was recognised by BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy and the Nickelodeon International Writer Program.
My comedy web series Sparebnb won Best UK Web Series at Pilot Light TV Festival and Best Director at UK Offline Web Festival.
Q: Have you made a feature film?
A: Yes. My first feature, Sabotør, is a Danish dark comedy about relationships, self-sabotage and the extraordinary lengths people go to avoid having an honest conversation.
Q: Are you really rich?
A: Erm… no.
Q: Are you available right now?
A: Absolutely. I'm particularly interested in character-driven comedy and drama, whether that's film or television. I enjoy collaborating with writers and bringing other people's stories to the screen. I actually think directing a block of HETV would be great for my career right now and also I feel—
Q: I mean, are you emotionally available?
A: Oh, right, yes sorry. I'm working on it. Most of my films are about people who aren't, which probably tells you something. I mean yes. Yes I am.
Q: What's your biggest strength?
A: I think it's knowing how to bring all the different elements of filmmaking together. The writing, performances, camera, lighting, editing, all of it. Every film has its own personality, and I love discovering what that is and using everything at my disposal to help it become the film it wants to be.
That includes embracing constraints rather than simply finding ways around them. Sometimes the things you can't do force you to discover something you wouldn't otherwise have considered. I love finding those opportunities, where a limitation becomes a creative choice that makes the film better than it might have been without it.
Q: What's your biggest weakness?
A: At Home With The Furys.
Q: What are you looking for in a relationship?
A: A love like Tyson and Paris Fury.
Sabotør is a Danish-language comedy/drama about a man who loses his job and decides not to tell his wife. What begins as an intimate Scandinavian drama gradually spirals into a classic British farce. Made with a Danish cast and British crew, it uses the collision of cultures and tones to tell a universal story about masculinity, shame, and the self-sabotage of making things worse by trying to deal with them alone.
SABOTØR
FEATURE FILM
WRITTEN BY RICHARD ABRAHAM, DIRECTED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY SUSPENSION + ZERO FEEDBACK FILMS
Trailer coming soon…
SPAREBNB Is an award-winning Comedy anthology about the different people who rent the same Airbnb in London. All 7 x 10 minute episodes can be found on YouTube
SPAREBNB
WEB SERIES
CO-CREATED, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ADAM LAVIS AND JO SMYTH.
PRODUCED BY TWO LARKS FILMS
Winner – Best UK Web Series, Pilot Light TV Festival (2017)
Winner – Best Director, UK Offline Web Festival
CAT WOMEN Is a zany off-beat vertical sit-com about a bunch of queer women who run a ‘slightly’ illegal cat rescue masquerading as a charity shop.
CAT WOMEN
WRITTEN BY AMY MASON, DIRECTED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY ADAM LAVIS AND AMY MASON
Watch the first 3 episodes on instagram
WEAPON A comedy about a midnight break-in that turns out to be a false alarm, and a boyfriend who abandons his partner to hide in the loft. He makes things worse and worse by trying to save face, and she has him right where she wants him.
WEAPON
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY RARE SHEPHERD
IN A WHILE, CROCODILE A Comedy/Horror about a woman who is slowly turning into a Crocodile, trying to fit into a world not made for saltwater crocs. Her roommates, who just so happen to be a couple, use her condition as an excuse to try and get her to move out so they can have the place to themselves.
IN A WHILE, CROCODILE
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN BY LAURENCE TRATALOS, DIRECTED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY RARE SHEPHERD
NOSH OF DA PEOPLE Neffertti Holiday is a salt of the earth working-class spoken word poet, and now host of her own cooking show thanks to her producer mum. Guests cook their comfort food for her and she decides if you are a real working-class person or not… just like she is. Did she mention that she’s working-class already?
NOSH OF DA PEOPLE
WEB SERIES
WRITTEN BY LUCIE BROWNE, DIRECTED AND EDITED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY RARE SHEPHERD
THE REAL WITCHES 3 x episodes of a fake reality TV show about two very real witches and the search for a missing person who they accidentally turned into a pencil. Lionel Rtchie appears a lot… for reasons.
THE REAL WITCHES
WEB SERIES
WRITTEN BY CHLOE PARTRIDGE & KATE-LOIS ELLIOTT, DIRECTED AND EDITED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY RARE SHEPHERD.
PRODUCED BY
THE GOYFRIEND A sweet meet-the-parents style comedy about a boyfriend (Simon Lennon) who pretends to be “Jewish for the night” when his Girlfriend’s family (Jennifer Hulman, Steve Furst, Debbie Chazen) invite him for their Passover Seder but are too scared to tell Grandma (Lesley Joseph) that he is in fact, not a Jew.
THE GOYFRIEND
A PEARS-FUNDED SHORT FILM
WRITTEN BY JENNIFER HULMAN, DIRECTED BY ASHLEY MARGOLIS.
PRODUCED BY ADAM LAVIS
UK Jewish Film Announcement Here
THE TONGUE tells the story of a frustrated woman (Samantha Spiro) returning an unwanted gift from her self-censoring ex (Edward Rowe), his severed tongue.
THE TONGUE
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MATHEW HORNE AND CHRISTOPHER ADLINGTON.
PRODUCED BY ADAM LAVIS
HARRY IS NOT OKAY A dark meta-comedy about a troubled writer who loses his grip on reality when two balaclava-clad men turn up at his flat.
HARRY IS NOT OKAY
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN BY LAURENCE TRATALOS, DIRECTED BY HARRY SHERRIFF.
PRODUCED BY ADAM LAVIS
Director’s Notes Article Here
PINEAPPLE is an avant-garde visual poem about trying to crawl out of the tunnels we dig for ourselves.
PINEAPPLE
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN BY ADAM LAVIS, DIRECTED BY GARRY MACLENNAN.
PRODUCED BY RARE SHEPHERD
EDITED BY
GHISLAINE LEUNG: TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE - A short film about the work and practice of Turner Prize nominee, Ghislaine Leung
GHISLAINE LEUNG: TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE
SHORT FILM
WRITTEN BY GHISLAINE LEUNG, EDITED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY THE TATE
TATE Announcement Here
RICHER THAN GOD: THE TONY MILCH STORY - 5 x episodes of a talking head mocumentary series about money, ego, and the hubris a big rich bastard and the people in thrall to his aura… before he dissapeared without a trace.
RICHER THAN GOD: THE TONY MILCH STORY
WEB SERIES
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY RALPH JONES & VYVYAN ALMOND, EDITED BY ADAM LAVIS.
PRODUCED BY THE AWKWARD SILENCE