Now playingFace ValueDirected by Nivedkrishna Thavarayil
Creative Strategist and Director, New York
I build the campaigns people stop scrolling for, organic and paid, then direct the series that keep them watching.
Every frame has a job in the feed: stop the thumb, hold the watch, sell the next episode. I plan the hooks, the creators and the paid push before the camera rolls, then cut one shoot for the cinema strip and the phone.
Watch on CanvasEvery frame has a job in the feed: stop the thumb, hold the watch, sell the next episode. I plan the hooks, the creators and the paid push before the camera rolls, then cut one shoot for the cinema strip and the phone.
I direct short-form series, and I build the strategy that gets them watched. The hook, the shoot, the cut and the paid push all come from one desk in New York.
Most teams hire a strategist, a social lead, a director and an editor, then book a meeting so they can disagree. I skip the meeting. Strategy first, camera second, results always.
Campaign ideas, content systems and Meta, TikTok and YouTube ads, from the brief to the boosted post. Hub, hype and hygiene content on every account I run.
50+ campaigns at WLDD. A World Cup Meta campaign for Frangos. 112 posts in ten weeks for three Brooklyn restaurants.
Brand identities, launches and creator collaborations for restaurants, founders, fashion, luxury and jewelry brands. I pitch the creators myself, DMs and all.
Priya's Plates for Brick Lane, 57,000+ views. It's Malu for Infamous Coconuts. A full brand and merch line for LR Legacy.
Film and OTT launches built to get talked about. I brought Sony Pictures to WLDD as its first international client, and our Pope's Exorcist cinema stunt went viral across India.
Sony Pictures, Netflix India, Prime Video, ZEE5. Covered by Hindustan Times, India Today and The Indian Express.
Writer, director, line producer and editor on short-form series, branded content and docs. Three-to-four-day shoots, cut for every screen, launched by the same guy.
12 series for Canvas. A credentialed FOX 5 shoot for Michael Samen. Short films on the festival circuit.
Restaurants, founders, a mentalist, a Hollywood studio and one very photogenic Borzoi. Strategy, shoots, edits and paid media through Thava Studio in New York, and before that at WLDD in Bangalore. I shot, cut and posted most of it myself. Each result says where its number comes from.
Canvas is a streaming app for creator-led vertical series. In 2026 I directed twelve of them across New York, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Most shoots ran three to four days, and I stayed through the edit, the grade and the paid launch. Open any series for the story behind it.
The first trailers premiered to about 370 people at the Canvas launch during SF Tech Week on October 10, 2026, and two days later at House of 434 in Los Angeles. Series still in post show title art until their posters are ready.
Nine people who worked with me, put in writing. My mom is not one of them.
Excerpts from letters of recommendation written in 2026 by clients and collaborators. Full letters available on request.
Every piece links to the original. Yes, even the one about the woman crawling down a cinema aisle. That was us.
Before the series there were shorts, made at and after the New York Film Academy (Dean's List, 2025) on budgets that wouldn't cover a Manhattan brunch. I worked on more than 20 of them.
Stills from Face Value, Taser Fight Championship, Dear NYC, Red Flags and Demo Day. I directed all five in 2026.
I'm a creative strategist who directs. Or a director who can't stop strategizing. Depends who's buying lunch.
Officially Nivedkrishna Thavarayil, which is exactly why everyone calls me Nived. I've been making things for screens since I was a kid with a YouTube channel and a serious Zach King problem, and selling things since I found out people pay for websites.
All those campaigns taught me one thing: a film, or a brand, works for two reasons. It's made well, and people hear about it. Miss either and it flops. I spent years mastering the second, moved to New York to master the first, and now I do both. That's not a split personality. That's the job.
Directed by
Nivedkrishna Thavarayil
Creative strategy, paid and organic campaigns, creator partnerships, a launch or a series in development. Based in Jersey City, working across New York. First meeting's on me: matcha, chai or a samosa, your call.
nivedkrishnathavarayil@gmail.com
