Global production company Stink Films has signed director Rhys Thomas for global representation. Previously handled by Skunk for spots and branded content, Thomas now joins a Stink directorial roster which includes Nicolas Winding Refn, Nacho Gayan, Eliot Rausch, and Chiara Grabmayr. 

Thomas is an Emmy Award-winning director/producer best known for his work on Documentary Now!, Saturday Night Live and most recently Comrade Detective. The latter, a six-part series which he directed and produced for A24 and Amazon Studios, is set in 1980s' Bucharest. The series was shot entirely in Romanian and subsequently dubbed by an American cast including Channing Tatum, Joseph-Gordon-Levitt, Kim Basinger, Chloe Sevigny, Daniel Craig, Jenny Slate, Mahershala Ali, Jake Johnson and Bobby Cannavale. 

Thomas also recently directed Pringles’ first Super Bowl ad, starring Bill Hader, which will play during this year’s big game on February 4.  Thomas helmed the ad via Skunk for Grey New York.

Thomas hails from South Wales and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Rhys joined Saturday Night Live as a production assistant in 2004, was the SNL film unit’s line producer from 2006-2009, and in 2010 began directing their short films. Since then Thomas has directed more than 100 SNL shorts as well as the opening title sequences for SNL’s 40-43rd seasons, the SNL40 special (which he also produced, garnering him his first primetime Emmy win), and the opening for Late Night With Seth Meyers. (Back in 2012, Thomas earned inclusion into SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase on the basis of a “British Movie” mock trailer for SNL.)

Thomas’ debut feature film was the Paramount production, Staten Island Summer, released in July 2015 by Netflix. That year, he also directed John Mulaney’s Emmy-nominated The Comeback Kid stand-up special for Netflix.

Jeff Baron, Stink Films’ U.S. managing director, said of Thomas: “He has a keen comedic sensibility and strong visual eye, which is immediately evident throughout his body of work. Whether it’s a commercial project or his work for SNL, Documentary Now or, most recently, Comrade Detective, he always makes something that is visually arresting and very very funny.”

Thomas also co-created and directs Documentary Now! for IFC alongside Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers (Emmy nominated for Best Variety/Sketch 2016 & 2017). In 2015 Thomas also produced the Adele: Live In New York City concert special for NBC (broadcast in the U.K. on the BBC) for which he also directed the opening (Emmy nominated for Best Variety Special 2016). 

Thomas said of the Stink team, “They foster such a collaborative and creative atmosphere, and they’re also just a lovely group of people. I can’t wait to see what we make together.”