Before she was shortlisted for the shots 2023 New Director of The Year Award, Rebecca Applebaum burst into the commercial directing world with “Distant Friends”, a pandemic-specific spec she sold to BetterHelp that hit over 20 million views online. Her second spot for BetterHelp, “Want”, did even better. Winning the Special Jury Prize for Performance from the Marketing Awards, it also received a bronze statue from Clio Health, nods from The One Show, and ADC Awards — as well as international coverage in Adweek, Shots, Little Black Book, The Message, The Stable, Stimulant, Trendhunter, AdStasher, and Applied Arts. Rebecca has also been featured in Shoot Magazine’s New Directors Showcase.
An experienced performer herself, Rebecca loves and is especially skilled at finding the right actors for a project and bringing out their best on set. Her short film Spooning is featured in CBC Television’s Canadian Reflections series, and garnered a Best Actor win from the Canadian Film Fest and an Outstanding Performance nomination from the ACTRA Awards.