From the release:

Backyard Productions welcomes acclaimed director Lara Everly to their roster for US representation. Lara joins the creative production studio with a diverse portfolio, having worked with high-profile brands including many family-centric brands like Fisher-Price, Little Tikes, and Walmart, and a myriad of advocacy brands including ACLU, Supermajority, and Swing Left to name a few.

Hailing from a comedy background and a graduate of Upright Citizens Brigade, Lara honed her ability to inject humor into unexpected topics, which is demonstrated in her reel of work. Her early career as an actress on hit US sitcoms, (‘That 70’s Show’, ‘Silicon Valley’, ‘Rules of Engagement’ and ‘2 Broke Girls’, to name a few), saw her arrival into the sketch comedy space where she went on to write and direct comedic and youth-centric spots for a range of platforms including FunnyorDie, College Humor, Refinery29, Disney, Netflix Family, Scary Mommy, Oprah, Awestruck, Swing Left, Acronym, Babycenter, amongst others.

Lara’s passion for directing both short and long-form content, combined with her sharp wit and clever comedy sensibility has won her a lot of recognition. Her narrative films and documentaries have garnered numerous accolades playing the film festival circuit, including winning awards and procuring distribution through Amazon, ShortsHD, and New Wave Entertainment. Lara’s comedic docu-series, “Wags to Riches”, recently won an impressive nine Telly awards, including two for directing.

A highlight of her career was directing actress and activist Geena Davis (‘Beetlejuice’ 1988, ‘A League of Their Own’ 1992, and ‘Thelma and Louise’ 1991) in a comedy pilot presentation entitled ‘I Can By Friday’. Not only inspired by her iconic films, whilst growing up, but also admiring the actress’ continuous efforts in championing gender equality in media, this collaboration played a particularly memorable part in Lara’s career. The premise of the series ‘I Can By Friday’ is to show Geena mastering a new skill in five days – the actress learned how to play the marching drums for the pilot.

Staying true to her love of creating female-driven content, Lara has directed a Netflix comedic docu-series, entitled ‘Like a Mother’, which shines a light on all working moms in male dominated careers. The series profiles a mom astronaut, firefighter, captain and a doctor. Continuing her streak of working with the streaming platform, Lara also directed a spot for Netflix called “Motherhood in Focus” which was an anthemic love letter to moms in the entertainment industry which garnered an impressive 17 million views online.

Lara is about to release her latest film project which she wrote and directed called ‘Heritage Day’, starring Rachel Bloom (‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’) and Vivien Lyra Blair (‘Obi Wan Kenobi’). Based on her own childhood experiences, the film demonstrates Lara’s ability to use comedy as a driving tool when portraying hard-hitting subjects on screen. She is also in the current class for NBCU Launch Directors Programme and is about to direct TV sitcom American Auto.

Lara Everly, Director at Backyard, comments: “I’m serious about comedy and was drawn to the comedy spots on Backyard’s roster. I love the grounded humor that is the zeitgeist in advertising right now. So many spots these days are their own narrative ride and it’s such a rad sandbox for directors. I’ve been directing branded content on my own accord, and I’m ecstatic to join Backyard. This is a relationship and partnership I’ve been super keen to create and I’m stoked to be here.

Rich Schafler, Head of Sales at Backyard, comments: “Lara is an exceptionally talented filmmaker with a true passion for directing both short and long form content. She excels in several genres and brings years of experience in the arts emanating from her early career as an actor. Backyard always strives to work with emerging talent with a real point of view, and a desire to grow as artists. We seek to work with directors who want to embrace new challenges and push the envelope creatively. Lara brings to us an amazing portfolio of work and has a work ethic second to none.