Tool Adds Director Duo The Chartrands to Expanding Roster

Creative production partner Tool has added Marc and Melanie Chartrand, known professionally as The Chartrands, to its growing roster of directors. A director duo defined by a blend of technical precision and narrative sensitivity, The Chartrands bring a cinematic yet deeply human perspective to Tool’s celebrated lineup. The team has directed commercial campaigns for brands including Starbucks, McDonald’s, KitchenAid, Nissan, Ram, Arby’s, Panera, and Miller Lite, among others.

“From our first conversation, I knew that we would want them to join our team. The joy and creative chemistry between them was palpable,” said Michelle Towse, managing director of content at Tool of North America. “Their photojournalistic roots mixed with their intuitive grasp of human emotion gives their work an immediacy that stands out.”

Based in Dallas, TX, The Chartrands, met as photojournalists and have been students of communication ever since, embracing embodied perspectives in their storytelling and maintaining a clear sense of where narrative gravity lives within a story. This instinctive, observational discipline informs their visual style: intimate, immersive, and attentive to the subtle, lived-in details that make moments feel authentic rather than manufactured.

Together, Marc and Melanie bring a unique set of strengths. Marc’s approach draws on a lifelong interest in psychology, perception, and the phenomenology of experience, while Melanie shapes narrative through a highly visual eye and a natural fluency with character and environment.

Across food, automotive, lifestyle, and design-driven commercial spaces, they are known for films that resonate long after the final frame, stories grounded in a deep reverence for how audiences see and feel.

“We’ve always believed that great filmmaking begins with a reverence for the audience: their time, their attention, their intelligence. In today’s media saturated landscape, that belief is more essential than ever,” said The Chartrands. “From our first conversations with Michelle Towse and Rob Sexton at Tool, it was clear they share that instinct. They are strategic, disciplined, and, above all, genuinely wonderful people. That alignment is why we’re so excited to join a team that reflects our values and loves the craft of filmmaking as deeply as we do.”

Tool will represent The Chartrands’ commercial career in the United States, effective immediately. For more information on their work, please visit www.toolofna.com.