Welcome Annelise Hickey — Wildebeest

Journal

Welcome Annelise Hickey

Wildebeest isn’t a big company.

And when it comes to bringing new additions to the team, we don’t make rash decisions. Especially when the person you’re looking for is a bit of a (to use an overused term), a unicorn. A creative bull in the proverbial Chinashop of screen production. Someone who is artistically brazen enough to consider smashing together Spaghetti Western stylistic values with the aesthetics of a slightly dilapidated Vietnamese supermarket, but also happy to listen when the production team delivers the heartfelt verdict that something simply can’t be done.

They’re rare, these types.

Filmically speaking, Anno Hickey has stayed busy. Starting her career behind the scenes, she quickly cottoned on that she was better off seated in the director’s chair- focusing on stories which rev her creative engine. The work has paid off- with Anno directing music videos for the likes Jen Cloher & Vance Joy, creating brand content for shoe designer juggernauts New Balance, and shooting docos for internet royalty Vice Media.

We’re chuffed to have her on board, and asked her to share a few thoughts on her new role:

15 December 2021

Anno

“Born and bred in Naarm (Melbourne) with Tongan-Irish roots, I grew up with a glue stick in one hand, a texta in the other and my eyes plastered to the tellie. I was always fascinated with colour, shape, movement and story and so all that crafting, drawing and TV watching translated into filmmaking and visual art as an adult.”

“Seeing few female directors on set and even fewer people of colour made me wonder where I belonged. But after a young producer took a chance on me in the commercial world, I slowly started directing different projects and finding my feet. I realised I loved making people feel comfortable in front of the camera, allowing them to be their vulnerable selves and I could do it in my own way!”

“Being able to tell stories about others from all different walks of life is a real privilege. Even if the story is so far removed from the person I am, I’m not going to lie, I nerd out during the research process in understanding different characters, places and lifestyles.

I see commercials becoming less attractive to brands because they’re expensive and can be a slow process. I think brands will put more energy into content creation in the future (if they haven’t already). The knock on effect drives more opportunities for young creatives to share their voices rather than being dictated by what the big agencies are doing.

Anno’s directing skills are staggeringly good, but perhaps more important is what she brings to the industry.

Yes, a wicked eye for framing and a hardened nose for story, but also a drive to see the content landscape unfold into something beneficial to the screen industry as a whole. She’s not focused so much on rewrapping fads as she is on a fully committed somersault into the artistically unknown.

At Wildebeest we’ve always been interested in the intersection between the creative and the commercial- how do we make something that shatters expectation, and still sells a product? The solution is often simple, but rarely easy.

Thank goodness we hired Anno.