Photo by A.J. Marson
Ian’s first feature as writer-director is the modern cautionary tale The Way We Speak starring 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Patrick Fabian—known for playing Howard Hamlin on AMC’s hit series Better Call Saul. The film is currently 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com saying “The Way We Speak has already been compared to the work of Aaron Sorkin. The comparison fits…Ebright is ruthless in the best way.” Among the film’s awards, Ian won Best Director at the 2024 Albuquerque Film & Music Experience. The Way We Speak is distributed by Gravitas Ventures and is available to rent or own in the U.S. and Canada. Collider had the exclusive premiere of the film’s official trailer.
Ian also wrote and directed the award-winning short films Pinwheel Horizon (2023), The Devil Needs a Fix (2017), and From the Sky (2014).
Set on a distant planet, Pinwheel Horizon is a minimalist fantasy about three elite warriors approaching their final confrontation—and a film where “story wins out” according to Film Threat. American Cinematheque called Ian’s second short The Devil Needs a Fix “deliciously intriguing…a sophisticated dark comedy with an edge,” and Cinephilia & Beyond described the Arabic-language thriller From the Sky—the writer-director’s debut—as “an amazing and pioneering short film.”
Ian has published interviews ranging from Actor Terence Stamp to New York Times’ Journalist & Historian Sam Tanenhaus.
A Seattle native, Ian studied filmmaking at the Seattle Film Institute and storytelling under Brian McDonald (Invisible Ink); his influences include Martin Scorsese, Bennett Miller, Werner Herzog, Alexander Payne, J.C. Chandor, Debra Granik, David Mamet, Nicole Holofcener, Laura Poitras, and Joachim Trier.
