Biography
Evan Kananack is a creative leader with over 10 years of experience and is passionate about impacting others through storytelling — helping audiences feel more connected to the world and each other, helping established brands improve or grow their engagement by embracing their authenticity, and helping his cross-functional teams, clients, and production crews shine and feel empowered to do their best work.
He has written original TV for PlayStation and branded content for the United Nations; directed TikTok shorts for CVS; produced short films for Google; and written and directed Arnold Palmer’s Ryder Cup memorial tribute for The PGA of America, nationally televised March Madness commercials for the NCAA, documentaries about Holocaust survivors for Atlanta's The Breman Holocaust Museum; and animated shorts for Sofia Vergara's Empowered By You.
Evan has extensive experience directing high-profile talent to deliver impactful performances, from some of the greatest performers of our time, like Morgan Freeman, to famous athletes like pro golfer Jordan Spieth and NBA star Chris Paul, to Pulitzer-winning journalist Martin Baron, to scholars and researchers at The Smithsonian Institution, like Founding Director of the Event Horizon Telescope, Sheperd Doeleman.
Before entering into the branded world, Evan worked and learned with some of his writer and director heroes on Hollywood productions, Silicon Valley’s (HBO) writing team, and with the directors behind Airplane!, Friends, and Dumb and Dumber.
Regardless of the project, Evan makes time to write and think about stories' power to create empathy and instill values in our culture. He has always sought to understand the human need for story, and has examined the tales we tell about ourselves by reading The Aeneid in original Latin, studying Arthurian mythology and Shakespeare’s works as a history and English major, and traveling to sacred sites like France’s Chauvet Cave, where humans' proclivity for sharing stories may have originated.
Evan is currently writing a prehistoric animated comedy-adventure series that pokes at what makes us human by going back to our origins.
Directing Philosophy
The director’s job is many things: identifying a story’s narrative and emotional through-line; knowing when to slow down and speed up time; choosing whose perspective to view an emotional moment through. But first and foremost, it’s understanding that filmmaking takes a village.
It’s a beautiful collaboration, bringing together talented, creative, hardworking people around one common purpose, and when things are good – really, really good – they become greater than the sum of their parts. A stellar director understands this, and beyond anything else, empowers his teammates, direct-reports, and superiors to shine. Robert Altman put it best when he said that his job as a director was to ensure everyone around him looks good. Evan works to embody that sentiment every moment he directs.
On set, in his brainstorms, and within every one of his collaborations, Evan empowers his team by championing vulnerability, curiosity, and the openness to learning and iterating. He strives to listen, stay curious, and create space for his team to get excited and to play. We are capable of our best work when we feel the safety and encouragement to chase and take ownership over that which excites us. Plus, why not have a good time while we’re at it?
Evan also recognizes he’s the project’s #1 audience member and fan. He uses that understanding to protect and shepherd, from beginning to end, the creative vision: the tone, the genre, the narrative through-line, the visual storytelling, and ultimately, the emotional experience of the audience. It’s with that perspective, coupled with the focus and discernment to know if the scene is emotionally truthful, that the director can best serve his team and ensure their work and style are in harmony with that truth. That’s how everyone ends up looking good.
Which leads to communication. The team’s empowerment hinges on the director’s ability to communicate his vision so that they are set up for success throughout the project. Evan makes sure to check in with his teammates early and often. As things change and challenges arise, their understanding of the vision must grow and adapt as well. On-screen visual harmony comes out of having that constant dialogue.
Rest assured, when you watch a show or movie, whether you’re thinking about it or not, you’ll feel when the director empowered their crew to shine. Every department, from the set-dresser to the costume designer to the studio marketing team, will have injected a little extra meaning and a little extra fun into their work. That’s what directing is all about.
