Born in Louisville, KY and raised south of Nashville, TN, Ballard C. Boyd is a product of the American South. His work as director since has been featured on MTV’s Logo and NBC.com, screened at over 4 dozen film festivals, and garnered awards for “best film”, “best cinematography”, and “best writing”. He has also worked developing and directing original content with companies like Mountain Dew, Jim Beam, and Rounder Records.
He began directing short films in high school, where his early work played in numerous film festivals, and he sold his first short to HBO Family’s “30×30: Kid Flicks” at the age of 17. He was also known locally in TN and KY press for the “lawn art” movement, along with documentarian, J. Rory Fraser and his brother, Ross Fraser, which consisted of building exceptionally large-scale sculptures out of everything in their parent’s garages, then analyzing its deep meaning afterwards. The movement, largely misunderstood by neighbors as a bad yard sale, hit a chord in the media due to Ballard’s and the Frasers’ early skills in self-promotion.
Ballard attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2000 where he graduated magna cum laude in 3 1/2 years with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film.
Following college, Ballard worked at the human consciousness think-tank Integral Institute, based on the work of theoretician Ken Wilber in Boulder, Colorado, as a director, then manager of the company’s in-house video production company, at the age of 23.
He is a member and the director of the NY comedy troupe Better Than The Machine, who have produced original web videos for Hewlett-Packard, MTV, and received a combined, over 3-million hits on YouTube. He was also a founding member of the Boulder, Colorado-based comedy troupe Secret Circus, along with fellow Emerson alumni Dave Burdick and Elisha Yaffe, working as director, writer, and official “third guy”, and where he frequently wore a dress.
In 2009, his music video “Ode To Kulele” by Mal Blum was awarded as one of the Top 10 Music Videos of 2009 (#10), by the viewing audience of MTV/Logo’s “The Click List”.
He has directed and produced programs spanning the divide from music videos to educational docs, promos to independent shorts, and that range in format from 16mm & MiniDV to HD & 35mm. His work in viral videos has been featured on the front pages of ComedyCental.com, Atom.com, NBC.com, YouTube.com, SuperDeluxe.com, and dotcomedy.com.
Ballard C. Boyd currently lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and plays the ukulele.
His résumé is available here, and you can find a sample list of clients as well as a brief filmography & awards listing here. You can e-mail Ballard @ ballard@ballardcboyd.com. And he can be followed on twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/ballardcboyd.