Clay Riley Hassler is an award-winning writer and director of feature films, documentaries, commercials, music videos, and visual content for brands and agencies.

Clay was named a “director to watch” by Way Too Indie following the release of his debut feature film, HOMELESS, which screened at over a dozen festivals across the country, including Sarasota Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Twin Cities Film Festival, and Justice Film Festival in NYC, before going on to screen internationally in London, UK, Zlin, Czech Republic, Tallinn, Estonia, and Poznan, Poland. HOMELESS was awarded the Grand Jury Award at Dances With Films in Los Angeles. The film was lauded by critics and movie-goers alike with the The Hollywood Reporter writing that the film was “incisive and sensitive… astounding.”

Clay’s films have been written about and featured in Variety, Indiewire, Christianity Today, Screen International, The Wrap, The Sentinel, SRQ Backlot, and Nashville Scene as well as several online blogs by film critics and movie-goers.

Outside of feature films and music videos, Clay has had the opportunity to direct commercials and web content for major brands, including Walmart, Toyota, The People’s Choice Awards, Chevron, Project Lead The Way, Magellan Health, and Kleenex. Clay’s Kleenex spot, “A Shining School”, a recent collaboration with Mark Burnett’s digital studio, VIMBY, received over 2.4 million views on YouTube within a few short weeks of its release.

Clay is a graduate of The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts where he received his MFA in writing, directing, and cinematography. His graduate thesis film, The Planeteer, played at numerous festivals, winning a National Student Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Clay and his wife, Tif, live in Nashville, TN, where they lead a creative collective and film production company, Wet Paint. Some of their latest projects can be found at www.wpcfilm.com.