IT ALL STARTED WHEN - AFTER graduatING from oxford WITH A DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHS - I MOVED TO the french alps TO MAKE SKI FILMS.

Undeterred by the fact I had absolutely no experience, I opened a one-man production company called ‘Mogul Movies’ and immediately fell in love with all aspects of filmmaking. From producing and directing, to shooting and editing, I was having so much fun as a punk kid running my own business that at the end of the ski season instead of taking the banking job JP Morgan had waiting for me - I opted to keep going along this exciting new career path.

The next stop was top VFX shop MPC in London, where my maths education and instincts for problem-solving quickly helped me build an impressive body of work as a VFX director and it wasn’t long before I found myself in Los Angeles working magic on high-end commercials and music videos with artists including Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz and Madonna. I even made a guest appearance on the NBC explaining how I created the effects for Pepsi’s Adbowl winning spot, which also earned me a Gold Lion.

But as much as I loved working on spots with mind-bending visual tricks, I saw how much ideas depended on authentic emotional performances. So I immersed myself in the human side of storytelling and quickly developed a skill for finding the comedy in everyday reality by combining natural human emotion with entertaining visuals.

A couple of hundred projects later and I’ve directed ads for a host of high profile brands like Pepsi, Google, Goodyear, Coors, and Johnson & Johnson as well as a fleet of automobiles including Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Chevy, GMC, Nissan and Toyota.  What ties all of this diverse work together? Simply put, I like to think I bring the same meticulous preparation, fresh point of view, and kid-on-a-ski-slope enthusiasm to everything I direct. Whether it’s a quirky visual effect, an unexpected plot twist, or a heartwarming human moment, the excitement I feel when I’m on set collaborating with cast, crew and creatives is just as strong as when I first skied backwards down an Alpine mountain with the wind on my face and a camera in hand.