Kirkley Joins the Passport Films Roster

Kirkley behind the scenes on the docustyle Chevy shoot.

Director William Kirkley has joined the Passport Films team. "He is a fabulous addition to our roster," states Owner/Executive Producer Patti Coulter. "William comes from a diverse background and has a deep knowledge of production, art direction, graphics, editing, and music, which are invaluable assets these days. William's work has its own definitive, fresh, and unique style of organic storytelling. . . think Juno meets Napoleon Dynamite in advertising," says Coulter. He recently directed his first campaign of spots with Passport for NCTA (National Cable Telecommunications Association) out of GMMB-Washington DC.

At the age of 17, Kirkley gravitated to directing music videos for LA-based bands including the Flys, whose single appeared on the Billboard top-ten and whose video was featured on MTV2. Kirkley also toured and traveled with bands, documenting concert tours. In 1999 Kirkley moved to New York City and began a five-year journey directing his first documentary, the Steve Buscemi-narrated "Excavating Taylor Mead," on the Andy Warhol Superstar and Beat Poet Taylor Mead whom Kirkley met in New York's Lower East Side. Kirkley premiered the documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim.

Kirkley returned to the West Coast a few years ago and focused his attention on directing spots. His work has gained big-return clients such as Chevrolet Europe.

Between spots Kirkley is currently in production on his second feature-length documentary, "Orange Sunshine - The Story of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love," also known as the Hippie Mafia. The movie depicts the unbelievable rise and fall of Timothy Leary's legendary cult which started as a group of Laguna Beach surfers and quickly became the world's largest acid, hash and marijuana distribution network.

Published 2, July 2012