Team
Our People
The Bear is a woman-led, Emmy-winning commercial production company based in Austin, Texas, shooting around the globe. Directors Ben Steinbauer and Berndt Mader founded The Bear in 2007, and Executive Producer Elizabeth Spiva leads the company. Berndt won an Emmy for the Disney Channel spot The Time I… Got 322 Pairs of Shoes, and our stop-motion Roto-Rooter spot “North Pole” won a Gold ADDY and a Judge’s Choice award, among many others. We make TV commercials, branded content and documentaries, and we’ve produced projects with our friends Richard Linklater, David Gordon Green and the Austin Film Society.
As a company, we are dedicated to fostering directing talent and have a roster of strong, hungry directors ready to find honey in the wild. Like the city we call home, our work is eclectic and diverse. Whether it’s a 30-second spot, feature film, branded documentary or something in between, we tell stories with humor and heart.
We are best known for our cult classic comedy documentaries, Winnebago Man (directed by Steinbauer); Chop & Steele (directed by Steinbauer & Mader) indie feature, Prince Avalanche (directed by Green); Yeti’s Soul of a City (directed by Mader); and the “C’Mon Ted!” political campaign (directed by Linklater).
Our Executive Producer and fearless leader, Elizabeth Spiva, gives us paws with her 20+ years of experience working with directors, agencies, clients, post houses and production companies. Under her leadership, The Bear is truly a formidable beast.
The only thing we love more than a bear pun is a great collaboration. We look forward to bearing down on a new project with you.
Not affiliated with the FX/Hulu series The Bear.
