Rod got his start in commercials directing the 2014 rebranding of Airbnb. Since then his work includes AdWeek Ark Award Winner ‘Delta – Give Life’, the global ‘Panadol – Great Pains’ campaign,  the commercial rebranding of Airbnb and the Cannes Lion Shortlisted ‘Uber Freight – Take Me Home’.

Beyond short form work Rod Blackhurst is best known as the Emmy Nominated Director and Producer of the Netflix Original Documentary AMANDA KNOX which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and was named a New York Times and LA Times Critic’s Choice. His first fiction feature, the micro budget HERE ALONE, which he Directed and Produced, premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature before being released worldwide by Vertical Entertainment in 2017.

Rod is currently in development on the Amblin Partners film THE WHITE ROOM alongside producers Evan Hayes, Noah Lang and Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona of The Picture Company. THE WHITE ROOM, co-created with Bryce McGuire, was named to the 2018 Blood List and is based on Rod’s family and set in his hometown.

*Not all of the director’s work examples were produced by Gear Seven*