Clay Weiner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) United States |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer, writer |
Clay Weiner is an American director and writer of commercials, film and television.[1][2]
Weiner grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Clay studied philosophy at Columbia University. During college, Clay began working with Robert Smigel (writer: Conan O'Brien, SNL) on The Dana Carvey Show. Weiner has now written for The Conan O'Brien Show, The Onion and is a contributor to Dazed & Confused, Vice, Flaunt and BlackBook.[citation needed]
Many know Clay as MTV's "Intro Guy."[citation needed] The campaign, which he wrote, directed and starred in, is rumored to be the inspiration for Napoleon's nerdy dance routine in the film Napoleon Dynamite.[citation needed] The vignettes developed a cult following and won top honors at The One Show.[citation needed] Weiner began his official advertising career as a writer at Cliff Freeman & Partners. He then went to work with David Droga at Publicis New York, Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York and Wieden+Kennedy Portland. As a creative, he won numerous awards from D&AD and One Show Pencils, to Cannes Gold Lions and Clio Awards. [citation needed] He has worked with agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy, Carmichael Lynch, DDB Worldwide, Cutwater, Droga5, 72&Sunny, Mother, Adam&Eve, Ground Zero and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Clay later launched an animated campaign for MTV called "Puberty," which he also wrote, designed and directed. In addition to MTV, Clay has directed commercial films for Ray-Ban, Bud Light, Subaru, Facebook, Uber, Amazon, ESPN, Sonic, Axe, Slim Jim, Vonage, Hyundai, Liquid Plumber, Kraft, Xbox and Snickers. His Bud Light "Dude" campaign has had over 100 million views [citation needed]
Clay's television directing credits include Fred: The Movie and Blue Mountain State. He has created short films such as the Emmy-nominated "The Christmas Tree," "Dad's New Girlfriend" and "Happy Father's Gay."[citation needed] The latter two were co-created with Gemini Award nominee, Jenna Wright.[citation needed]
Clay has written and produced two pilots for F/X and one for Adult Swim.[citation needed] He currently resides in New York City and Los Angeles.
In 2010 Weiner’s first feature, Fred: The Movie, was released by Nickelodeon.[3] Fred is the first Hollywood feature to star a YouTube character, Fred Figglehorn. The character was created by Lucas Cruikshank and the screenplay was written by David A. Goodman, head writer of Family Guy. The film went on to be the highest watched TV movie of the year with a debut of 7.6 million views. It opened in the No. 8 spot, taking in £257,133 in the first week, despite being shown in over 243 cinemas.[citation needed]
Weiner's photography book, TRY-ONs, was published in 2010. The book chronicles Weiner's exploration of identity as he personifies an eccentric array of real and imaginary characters. Designer and stylist Jenna Wright helped transform Clay into over 140 different people. The book won the 2011 D&AD Award for Photography.[4]