Director Jonathan Pearson has joined Rascal Films for exclusive North American representation. Last year Pearson’s work for The Pilion Trust “F**k the Poor” campaign out of Publicis London won three Cannes Silver Lions and a Bronze Lion as well as One Show, D&AD, Clio, BTAA and Creative Circle honors.
Produced by Unit 9 in the U.K., which continues to handle Pearson in Europe, the Pilion Trust stunt shows a man carrying a “F**k the Poor” sign being criticized by people in the street. However, when the same guy displays a “Help the Poor” sign and seeks donations, he is pretty much universally ignored. The social initiative shows the difficulties charities have when it comes to getting people to donate–people care, but just not enough.
Pearson gains his first career U.S. spot representation via Rascal. Pearson said his “whole life has been taken up with filmed storytelling.” Propelled by a childhood fascination with movies and television, his directing journey began at film school in New York. Returning to his native London, Pearson worked in various roles in the advertising industry including at agencies, VFX houses, production, and editing companies. His goal was to be conversant with the many facets of the production process.
“I wanted to speak the language of each in order to be an effective director and part of the team experience of production,” he explained. “It was my self-imposed graduate program before stepping into the world of directing, and intensified my appreciation for the many collaborators involved in bringing a project to fruition.”
Pearson began experimenting with music videos and short films, which were screened at festivals around the world winning various awards along the way. Among them, the chilling “Beginningless” which was commissioned by music label Ninja Tune.
Moving into commercials, he went on to win an award for Best New Director at the Midsummers Festival and was featured in the Cannes Young Directors showcase. Among his noted projects are UNICEF’s haunting “Violence Vaccine,” Mercedes-Benz’s visually poetic “If,” and National Geographic’s VFX-intensive “Beyond Magic.”
2013 marked Jonathan’s entry into television drama with Channel 4’s Run, a critically acclaimed show he created and directed. The project was originally intended as a non-linear experience for the web before it was picked up by the network and went on to win a BAFTA and two Royal Television Society Awards. His creativity also extends to photography and the documentation of urban landscapes, as well as how people relate to each other in a city environment.
At Rascal Films, which is headed by exec producers/partners Pete Christy and Jim Golden, Pearson joins a directorial roster that includes Michael Abel, Jon Albert & Matthew O’Neill, Lasse Hallstrom, Adam Bonke, Liam + Grant, and Charlie Stebbings.
