Bio page
About Misha Koroteev
Hi, I am a bio page, so I want you to know, there’s going to be some bragging, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends.
hat (missing)
the bandana
The short version
Misha Koroteev, director and creative director
Misha Koroteev is a comedy director and creative director based in Brooklyn, New York. He writes and directs commercials and branded series for agencies, production companies and brands, and he judges the Webby Awards.
He started in marketing, with eight years in magazine publishing that ran from Cosmopolitan and FHM to marketing director at Men’s Health. He moved into digital advertising at Havas, then co-founded the interactive agency VGNC as its creative director. He directed work for Visa, Vodafone, Vichy and Nivea before moving to New York in 2014.
He wrote and directed mock music videos for Samsung, taught Jennifer Lopez how to pronounce Azerbaijan and made talking cheese TikToks for Pinterest. His work has collected about 50 awards, including 12 Webby wins and mentions and 4 FWAs. He founded VeryVertical, a studio for food and drink brands, and he hosts hihello and yyyyy.show.
Eight years of these.
The long version
How a magazine marketer ended up directing comedy
I have a master’s in marketing, with research in media planning. Not the best choice of subject in hindsight.
Then eight years in magazines. Cosmopolitan first, then FHM, then marketing director at Men’s Health, which is a job where you learn what a cover line does to a person standing at a newsstand. Still the best training I’ve had for a 6-second ad.
Then digital. Havas, then VGNC, the agency I co-founded, where we made interactive films and called them advertising so we could keep making them. I was the creative director. I also kept wandering onto set until people started calling me the director, which is how most promotions should work.
In 2014 I moved to New York with a hard drive and an accent. Since then: comedy spots, a Netflix trailer, a music video shot entirely on a phone, a lot of vertical video, and one studio of my own.
All caught up.
8 or 9 years in magazines, NYFA, KAMA teaching
Moved here with this. And an accent. Do not format
Bragging, as promised
Awards and festivals
- 12Webby wins and mentions, including Best Use of Interactive Video and Drama: Individual Short or Episode wins, honorees or both
- 4FWAs
- 2015Cannes Court Métrage and the Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, for “The House on the Edge of the Planet” selection, award or market
- 2013The Quarantine Film Festival and Festival Parachute Light Zero Act II, for “Partly Tired Slightly Dead” (PTSD for short)
- NowWebby Awards judge
Off hours
Outside the edit room
I train Brazilian jiu-jitsu, draw comics in a Sin City style and every now and then try stand-up. I work in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Off hours, exhibit A.
One more thing
After the full-scale invasion in 2022, I made a series of videos about anxiety for young Ukrainians. Some videos are infrastructure. Those were.
