Ryan Ann Davis, Co-Founder & Principal

Ryan Davis (@indieartsvoice) is a film publicist and communications professional with almost twenty years experience in the film industry and arts marketing. She is co-founder and principal at Smarthouse Creative. Named by Media Inc. Magazine as one of Washington State's most influential women in film, TV, and media, Ryan has worked in almost every aspect of the film business--from production and festivals to distribution and exhibition.

As a publicist, Ryan has worked with outlets ranging from CNN and The New York Times, to community newspapers and local radio. During her time at Arab Film Distribution/Typecast Films she was part of the production and release of the Academy Award-nominated Iraq in Fragments. Since then she has worked for a variety of nonprofit arts groups and organizations, including heading the marketing departments for Northwest Film Forum and Northwest Folklife, and was the assistant director of Couch Fest Films from 2010-2014. Ryan currently sits on the board of The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, WA. She has presented at Sundance Collab, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, DOCNYC, and the American Film Market (AFM), among other places.

Since co-founding Smarthouse, Ryan has worked on the promotional campaigns for award-winning documentaries, cross-cultural ballet companies, women-centric film festivals, freethinking comedy events, and blood-spattered thrillers. Ryan loves working on movies and projects that make the world a better place, either by bringing joy and entertainment to people's lives, or because they have a message of social justice and challenge viewers to think in new ways. Her favorite projects push the boundaries of art and filmmaking.

 
Amie Simon, Director of Marketing

Amie Simon (@ReAmimator) has worked in marketing as a content strategizer, creator, and copywriter for social, web, and print for almost 20 years. She spent four years at MoPOP (formerly EMP Museum) creating geek-focused content around incredible artifacts and growing their social audience into an enthusiastic pop culture community. She knows the ins-and-outs of campaigns, taglines, brand voice, social media trends, community building, targeted ads, and hashtag ladders and has shared that knowledge in presentations at Sundance Collab, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and DOCNYC.

Amie’s loved film ever since she saw an Imperial Star Destroyer loom across the UA 150 screen in 1977 and has applied that love to Seattle’s ThreeImaginaryGirls.com since 2009, leading TIG’s film coverage and obsessing over which movie soundtracks are the best. Her two favorite genres are horror and period-set dramas, specifically Jane Austen adaptations. You can learn more about her love of horror on I Love Splatter! – and listen to her rhapsodize over horror films directed by women on the companion podcast with co-host Adrienne Clark.

Rachel Green, Creative Manager

Rachel Green is a performance and artistic director (Rachel Green) with a strong interest in social justice. She received her bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington where she conducted undergraduate research with professor Gray Lock studying the relationship between art and technology in urban environments. Following graduation she volunteered with organizations including the International Rescue Committee, Washington CAN, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and received training in Restorative Justice.

Recently, Rachel was the co-director and performed in, "I Want to Hear the Sea" at On The Boards (2017) and the  writer/director in, "Signal," a multi-media production installed and performed as part of "Duwamish Revealed 2015." She has also volunteered and worked at Seattle arts organizations  On The Boards, 4Culture, and the Northwest African American Museum, and is the co-founder of performance collective Earth and Ceremony. 

Keya Shirali, Junior Associate

Keya Shirali (@KeyaShirali) is an emerging filmmaker with experience across development, pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution at organizations like Women Make Movies, Storm City Films, Gigantic Pictures, Very Rare Productions, SeaLion Films, and more. She is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, has bylines in Obscur Magazine, The Charlatan, and Her Campus amongst others, and has been interviewed by and featured in Edit Girls, Luminous Frames Magazine, and CUNY Callouts. Having been educated and lived in four countries, she aspires to be a global connector in the entertainment industry—someone that can be relied upon to find and bridge resources amongst filmmaking communities across the world.

She wrote, directed, produced, and edited her first narrative short film, PIECES OF YOU, in 2022, which was a Finalist at the Independent Shorts Awards, Semi-Finalist at the Indie Short Fest as well as the IndieX Film Fest, Nominee for the BCIFF AWARD OF EXCELLENCE at the Beyond the Curve International Film Festival, Quarter-Finalist at and reviewed by The Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, Honorable Mention at Luminous Frames, an Official Selection at NewFilmmakers NY, and also screened at The Great Film Club Open Mic Night: NYC at the Westbeth Artists Housing and Center for the Arts. She holds an M.F.A. in Producing (Cinema Arts) from the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema within Brooklyn College, where she served as a Producer, Assistant Director, Script Supervisor, Associate Producer, and Director of Photography on over 10 short films, as well as the Assistant to Producer Bruce Cohen during his time as the Filmmaker-in-Residence. Beyond film, her lifelong love of water sports led her to becoming a competitive National-level Optimist-class sailor at age 14, MVP of her high school swim team during her Sophomore year, and a recreational whitewater kayaker.

 J. Brad Wilke, Co-Founder & Principal

J. Brad Wilke (@jbwilke) is a co-founder and principal of Smarthouse Creative, a full-service publicity and marketing agency that works with independent filmmakers and creative entrepreneurs. Brad holds an MBA from the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, a Master of Communication in Digital Media from the University of Washington's Department of Communication, and a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Brad designs and executes digital, social media, and creative distribution strategies for Smarthouse’s clients. Brad is also an adjunct lecturer in digital marketing & film studies, as well as an award-winning filmmaker, produced feature-length screenwriter, and former artistic director of the Portland Film Festival.