Fackrell Brothers
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About

The directing team MEN is comprised of twin brothers Matthew and Nathan Fackrell. They were born and raised in a small mountainous town among the grand Rocky Mountains. Due to the lack of a working television set in the home, the brothers spent most of their free time outdoors exploring the nearby forest laden hills, using their imagination to create epic narrative scenario’s involving monsters, aliens, heroes and villains. It was also their love of movies and the imaginative bedtime stories told by their father that helped mold their creative minds. They soon discovered the awesomeness of a Fisher Price tape recorder and spent years recording their own radio plays, commercials and narrative stories, all of which helped lay a simple but solid foundation in becoming visual storytellers.

Over the years their admiration of filmmaking grew and eventually they both attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California where they graduated in 2007 with an MFA in broadcast cinema. Soon after they worked as a writing/directing team for Nickelodeon’s international hit kids show Yo Gabba Gabba!  They were nominated for a 2016 Daytime “Best Directing” EMMY for Yo Gabba Gabba’s Restaurant episode. Their episode Farm was nominated for a 2015 EMMY for Best Pre-School Series. During their time working in television Matt also directed commercials and was picked for SHOOT’s 2011 New Director Showcase.

The brothers eventually joined as MEN and have directed campaigns for Oreo, Kinder Chocolate, Maglite, Panda Express, etc. They look back at their childhood with a great fondness and incorporate that nostalgia, imagination and their fascination with the unknown into their commercial directing work, creating visual narratives that allow the child within to always influence the viewer and stories the brothers create. 

 

THE FACKRELL BROTHERS - MATT AND NATE FACKRELL

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Matt and Nate Fackrell are an Emmy-nominated writing-directing duo with credits in television and commercials. They began their film careers as music video directors and (back in the day) had their work featured on MTV, MTV2, Fuse, and VH1.

They soon came to their senses, left music videos behind, and moved onto children’s television, writing and directing episodes of the beloved Emmy and Bafta award-winning and bonafide worldwide hit, YO GABBA GABBA! Working on the (incredibly unique outside-the-box) kids’ show on Nickelodeon was a wild and creative melting pot of extraordinary lightning bolts of imagination.

After Yo Gabba Gabba, over many years, the Fackrells have experienced life at its greatest and as well as its darkest. They’ve been around the block so much that it’s become a circle. They’ve had many incredible adventures…Now, a moment of self-promotion…Ah-hem…They’ve also directed campaigns for Amazon, Oreo, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Dreamworks, Kinder Chocolate, Stride Gum, Nintendo, Panda Express, and many other world-renowned brands.

Let’s now go a little further back in time. The twin brothers were born in the summer of 1977 and raised in the quaint, small, yet mountainous town of Kamas, Utah, close to Park City, Utah. With no TV to watch or fear in their guts, the brothers utilized their wild imaginations, and every day, their childhood was an all-out adventure.

It was also the imaginative (and horrifyingly scary) stories spun by their father, along with their mom’s genre variety of bedtime stories, that played a significant role in helping to shape their creative identities as storytellers. In fact, in the spring of 1981, while camping with their father, he told them a story about how, on the evening of August 11th, 1977, a spaceship came down from the stars, landing in the backyard. Two glowing alien beings exited the ship; each alien being held a twin baby in their arms. The alien beings (in our father’s words)

“Each alien being gave the babies to your mother and me. And do you know who those babies were? (stunned silence) those two alien babies were you and your brother.” This was a seminal moment in the brother’s lives because it opened their minds to the power of storytelling! Their father told that story with conviction and sincerity, so much so that the brothers believed 100% that they were from a planet in outer space; this belief lasted for the next six months. After six months…They discovered the boring truth, but after a few minutes, they entirely forgot about it and were already on to the next thing.

While growing up, their family could not afford a VHS camcorder, the latest in film technology, which seemed to allude to them throughout their youth. So, the brothers utilized the next best thing, a cassette tape recorder with an attached microphone. With this device, they created their very own audible narrative universe. Creating imaginative and very weird radio plays, and also dramatic story recreations here and there.

Finally! During their High School years, VHS technology became more affordable, and the family finally purchased one. This piece of technology opened up so many new and imaginative possibilities, inspiring their unbridled creativity. They created very lame but endearing short films that helped give them an eye for capturing visual imagery that tried its best to tell a story.

From that point forward, the twins’ common goal became the ability to create stories that one day might break the mold of conventional storytelling. Over the many years, the Fackrells have discovered and experienced time and time again that life can and will hit extremely hard. They’ve experienced a lifetime of inspiring and devastating experiences.

Every moment they’ve lived and experienced since their birth in 1977, has left an indelible impression on their film work, and every day their work becomes more and more refined. Continually looking back to their childhood, helps to remember that the magic of creativity and imagination still thrives within each of us! They study the history of cinema and its films, and filmmakers. From the current day, all the way back to the beginning of the silent film era.

A greater appreciation and reverence for the medium is very important to the brothers. Film is a medium that will always leave audiences with indelible, unforgettable experiences. Igniting a spark inside each of us. That is the amazing power of telling great stories within ALL creative mediums, that power and magic must be preserved and continually studied, then implemented.  This is their life’s commitment, this is their journey, this is their path.