37 years in Hollywood as a DGA Commercial First AD — 700+ commercials, feature films, and TV across five continents. Engineering precision meets cinematic instinct.
Raised in the UK entertainment industry and holding an MSc. Honours in Engineering from Sussex University, Bryan has spent 37 years in Hollywood as a Directors Guild of America member — working across feature films, TV, and over 700 commercials.
His engineering background gives him a unique edge in the robotic and motion control world — from the first Milo job in Hollywood through to Volumetric capture, Unreal Engine, and Virtual LED stages. He has been a consultant building Sisu Cinema Robotics from concept to an industry leader for 5 plus years.
Bryan specializes in action, 2nd unit directing, and every type of car shoot imaginable — and has worked across Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Germany, France, the UK, Croatia, CZ Rep, Canada, Indonesia, Fiji, China, Hong Kong, and many more countries. A private pilot, certified scuba diver, and active sportsman — he's equally at home on location anywhere in the world.
Over 700 commercials as First Assistant Director, specialising in action, 2nd unit directing, and automotive shoots of every kind — cars, trucks, motorcycles, and specialist vehicles across every imaginable setting and terrain.
Countries Worked Click on box for behind-the-scenes image
SISU Cinema Robotics & Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth — Cine Gear Exclusive
Interviewed alongside SISU VP Jeremy Allen and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, Gone Girl) on the debut of SISU's wireless motion-control robotics.
Behind the Scenes of Tron: Ares with Jeff Cronenweth & SISU Cinema Robotics
Motion-control robotics on the set of Disney's Tron: Ares, featuring cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC.
It's All In The Blood
Why Navigating the Entertainment Industry Comes Naturally
Keith Altham, who died aged 84 after suffering from Parkinson's disease, was a music journalist and broadcaster who in the 1970s pioneered a brand-new career: rock music PR. After founding KA Publicity in 1971 he became the most celebrated music publicist in Britain, with a remarkable list of clients, many of whom he had interviewed as a writer. They included the Rolling Stones, the Who, Marc Bolan, the Beach Boys, Slade, Status Quo and Van Morrison.
Keith was a natural PR, because he understood the needs of both artists and music journalists, and because he had a flair for publicity, even while still a journalist. In 1966, when working at the New Musical Express, he was approached by the music entrepreneur Larry Page and asked if he could suggest a stage name for Reg Ball, a bricklayer who was lead singer for a struggling band, the Troggs. Altham suggested Reg Presley — and the name stuck. The band's next single, Wild Thing, was a hit.
The following year he was backstage at Finsbury Park Astoria for a Jimi Hendrix concert, where he chatted to Hendrix's manager Chas Chandler, who asked how Hendrix could make a bigger impact. "Why don't you set fire to your guitar?" suggested Keith — and so Hendrix did just that, using lighter fuel. He famously repeated the stunt later in 1967 at the Monterey pop festival, causing Ravi Shankar to run out of the festival in horror.
He was present at the Beatles' final performance, in 1969, on a cold rooftop over their Apple Corps headquarters in London. Addressing him as "FabsKeith" (because he liked to remind him he had started on the magazine Fabulous), John Lennon asked "do you want to borrow my coat? … Tough!" "And those," Keith said, "were the last words he spoke to me."
He was successful, said his former assistant Alan Edwards, "because he had been a journalist and knew what a story was. He had a soft, light touch … and he really cared about the people he represented." Altham was Sting's publicist for what the musician described as "many of the most successful, turbulent and difficult years of my career and life. In all of those years he was a true friend, a mentor, and often an annoyingly candid purveyor of home truths, pricking your inflated pretensions with an arch and pithy turn of phrase that would always leave you smiling."
He is survived by his two children, Nancy and Bryan, three grandchildren, Sam, Finn and Tate, and his sister, Janice.
Growing up around that world of famous tempers, bigger egos, and even bigger talent — and later navigating it myself — taught me early that the people behind the legend are still just people. It's a large part of why very little in Hollywood rattles me now.
Obituary excerpted from Robin Denselow's piece in The Guardian, reprinted with his kind permission.
In loving memory of Keith Altham, 1941–2026. Read the obituaries in full at The Guardian and The Times.
Let's make something.
Available for film, commercial, and documentary projects worldwide.
