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Awkward Pictures is made up of award-winning writer/directors Payman Benz and Sean Becker. Together they produce comedic short films and sketches. Their work has been screened at over 30 film festivals, featured on prominent websites such as YouTube, FunnyOrDie, Atom, College Humor, Break, MovieLine, JoBlo, The Huffington Post, MovieViral, Yahoo Video, Myspace and more. Their videos have over 20 million views online. They've also won several awards, including an Emmy in 2004. Sean Becker most recently took home a Streamy Award for Best Directing in a Comedy Web Series for "The Guild".

In July 2007, Awkward Pictures won the 1st YouTube Sketchies Contest, sponsored by Sierra Mist, where they faced off against over 5,000 other entrants.

'Fanny Pack' and 'Creepy', two comedic music videos directed by Payman Benz, are featured on AdamSandler.com, and are the first videos not produced by Happy Madison to be featured on the website.

Their short film 'Tuesday' won 'Best Narrative Short' at Sundance as part of the 2006 Moving Pictures Magazine Short Film Contest. A few months later, 'Tuesday' won 'Best in Fest' at the 2007 Wizard World Film Festival in Los Angeles. Their short 'The Long Walk Home' won Best Comedy at the RadioAlice Film Festival in San Francisco, California.

Awkward Pictures was the first independent production company to have their own shorts program at a major film festival. This collection of short films, 'Awkward Pictures presents...Comedy Gumbo' premiered at the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival, and featured 8 Awkward Pictures films.

In addition to writing and directing their own material, they've directed videos for other writer/performers/shows, such as the web series "The Guild" (Sean Becker), the UCB sketch show "The Midnight Show" (Payman Benz), as well as for comedians Nick Swardson, Owen Benjamin, Jeff Lewis and more.

They most recently completed production on Season 2 of "Comedy Gumbo/Movie Gumbo", a sketch series created specifically for the web. The series features over 70 new sketches, commercial parodies, short films, one-off jokes and bizarre characters. Season 1 is available on YouTube, Hulu, Myspace, Crackle & AOL Video, and is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. Awkward Pictures is based in Los Angeles, California.

Payman Benz & Sean Becker are represented by New Wave Entertainment and United Talent Agency.