Joel Bergvall is currently the Head of Film & Television forDown Home, a Nashville-based media, entertainment and marketing company founded in partnership betweenTim McGraw and Shareability,[1] with investment and a first look deal withSkydance.
Bergvall is theAcademy Award nominatedfilmmaker behind some of the biggest brand stories of the past decades. With a unique blend of Hollywood and brand experience, Bergvall is known for the short filmVictor (1999), thethrillerDen osynlige (2002, remade asThe Invisible in 2007) andscreenplay adaption ofTunnels, theBritishnovel series byRoderick Gordon and Brian Williams, as well as some of the biggest and most shareable branded content short films of the past decade, working with brands like Google, AT&T, Ford, MARS, Intuit, and many more, as well as celebrities likeSylvester Stallone,Cristiano Ronaldo,Dua Lipa,John Cena,Ed Sheeran and many more.
Bergvall had a meteoric career in documentary work in his late teens and early 20s, starting intelevision news anddocumentary work, working professionally as acinematographer andeditor, even before graduatinghigh school. After freelancing for local and nationalTV networks, he transitioned to international work as a documentaryfilmmaker andproducer, working on assignment from numerousEuropean networks inIsrael, thePalestinian territories, Pakistan,Afghanistan,Bosnia,Croatia, and other global hotspots.
Bergvall followed this documentary stint with more scripted television work, earning him numerous awards in Guldklappan, Sweden's highest award for media productions.
Bergvall then partnered with Simon Sandquist to produce anddirect theshort filmVictor, earning him an Academy Award nomination.[2]
Bergvall and Sandquist partnered again, to direct thetheatrical featureDen Osynlige (a.k.a. The Invisible). After an award winning international reception, it was sold toSpyglass and, in partnership withDisney, became the first film in a wave of English-language remakes of Swedish films,The Invisible.
Bergvall since worked on several projects at variousHollywoodstudios, including Fear Itself atIntermedia,[3] Books of Magic atWarner Brothers,[4] The Imagined atFox, Trap Door atNew Line Cinema, and more.
Bergvall's first English language feature wasPossession (a.k.a.Addicted), produced byVertigo and Spitfire Entertainment, released byYari Film Group and20th Century Fox, and starringSarah Michelle Gellar.
As a writer, Bergvall also adapted, with Sandquist, the Britishnovel seriesTunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams for Relativity.[5] He also partnered with Converge Studios to produce Ballerz, a scripted lifestyle show based on the life of NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal, and Fly or Die, a New Media TV show inspired by the real-life music duo Rock Mafia, initially released throughBitTorrent.[6]
With the rise of digital media, Bergvall specialized in highly shareable branded content. As Partner and Chief Creative Officer with Shareability,[7] Bergvall produced some of the biggest hits in the world over the last few years, working with celebrities likeSylvester Stallone,Cristiano Ronaldo,Tim McGraw,Dua Lipa,John Cena,Ed Sheeran and many more.[8]
Bergvall is currently the Head of Film & Television forDown Home, a Nashville-based media, entertainment and marketing company founded in partnership betweenTim McGraw and Shareability,[1] with investment and a first look deal withSkydance.
