Director Matilda Finn has joined production company Love Song for representation in the U.S. spanning commercials, branded content and music videos. Her many accomplishments include the Best New Director honor at the U.K. MVAs in 2017, and a Best Director nomination at that same competition two years later. She has also successfully diversified into the advertising arena via varied projects, including a PSA that earned inclusion in SHOOT’s The Best Work You May Never See gallery.
Among Finn’s recent endeavors are The Weeknd’s music video for “Gasoline,” from his new Dawn FM album, and a fashion film for the Samsung Galaxy S22 Series and its Night Mode photography. For the latter project out of agency Mother London, Finn teamed with couture designer Charles Jeffrey (of fashion house Charles Jeffrey Loverboy) and pop star Charlie XCX as they enter an otherworldly dreamy night and reveal its mysteries.
Finn was drawn to her new Love Song roost by its founders, director Daniel Wolfe and managing partner/executive producer Kelly Bayett, who is also known for her work as creative director/co-founder at music/sound house Barking Owl. Finn noted that having a director at the helm of a shop brings an inherent understanding for what a filmmaker needs. She added that Wolfe wants to keep Love Song a smaller shop with the focus being simply on doing great work. Finn described herself as a long-time admirer of filmmaker Wolfe’s storytelling, and has felt honored to pitch against him on select assignments in the past.
Finn also cited her affinity for Bayett who has a track record of collaborating with musicians, exhibiting a strong advocacy for artists and a go-getter attitude when it comes to standing up for their creative vision and seeking out the right projects for them. Finn described Bayett as “a special human being,” adding that her decision to join Love Song was solidified upon meeting the EP.
In addition to The Weeknd, Finn’s music video exploits include such artists as Jay Rock, Obongjayar, Danny Brown, Apparat, Bicep, Brodinski, Bob Moses, Rosie Lowe and Bipolar Sunshine.
On the commercialmaking front, Finn’s standouts include several public service efforts, including Medicins du Monde’s “We Don’t Care,” which deployed stark, meticulously constructed black-and-white imagery to underscore the humanity of people–including the homeless, migrants, refugees and drug addicts–in need of care. Agency was Marcel Worldwide, Paris.
Finn also directed for London agency Don’t Panic the alluded to thought-provoking and empowering “Journey to Independence” PSA–which made The Best Work You May Never See gallery in 2019–for the U.K. disability charity Leonard Chesire. The PSA takes us to a job interview, hearkening back to the prospective employee’s arduous journey to recovery after surviving a life-changing accident. In SHOOT’s Best Work coverage, Don’t Panic creative director George McCallum said, “If you want to know about work ethic, ask a disabled person. Disability can happen to anybody and when it does, the hard work never ends; and yet the physical and emotional struggle of disabled people often goes unnoticed or unseen. Leonard Cheshire sees not only disability but ability. Offering much-needed support and understanding whoever you are, and whatever your journey to independence might look like. To shine a light on just one of these stories we posed a run-of-the-mill interview question (in the spot); ‘What’s your work ethic like?’ And answered it by showing the hard, painful, yet empowering story of one disabled man.”
Finn’s body of commercial work additionally includes British telecom giant BT’s “Hope United” for Saatchi & Saatchi London, featuring a diverse team of footballers who’ve come together to combat online bullying and hate.
“Hope United,” and “Journey to Independence” were produced by Stink Films, Finn’s previous production company home. Finn now comes aboard the Love Song roster in the U.S. and has also recently joined Biscuit Filmworks in the U.K. (which produced the aforementioned Samsung job).
Finn is additionally exploring opportunities in the feature film and TV series realm. Should those longer form projects materialize, Finn still plans on remaining active in spotmaking and music videos. She’s long aspired to make groundbreaking commercials, having been profoundly impacted by the work of such directors as Jonathan Glazer, Frank Budgen and David Fincher. Early on Finn shared that Glazer’s work in particular had her thinking in terms of an ad agency/branding career. In fact, her initial involvement in the ad industry was on the agency side as Finn contributed to pitch work to help win jobs for certain agencies. She made a music video which elicited interest on the production company side, leading eventually to a directorial career after she recovered from an illness which had her bedridden for an extended period. In retrospect the adversity made her stronger as a storyteller. She described herself as “grateful for the hardship,” observing that it helped her “to discover my voice and vulnerability.” This life experience informed her work, inspiring her to be selective about projects, drawn to those that carry a sense of purpose, that are important to her and society at large.
