Global director Trevor Clarence has joined L.A.-based production company JOJX for commercial representation.
Specializing in comedy, Clarence had prior affiliations with U.S. production companies Gifted Youth and Picrow. He continues to be repped in Australia, New Zealand and Asia by Sweetshop, in the U.K. by Hunky Dory, in Canada by Merchant, and in South Africa by Your Girlfriend, a production and service company which he co-owns and co-manages.
Born in South Africa, Clarence worked professionally as an international stand-up comedian and actor before establishing a career in filmmaking. At the age of 25, he directed and co-wrote Straight Outta Benoni, a highly successful South African film which was number one at the box office for three consecutive weeks.
Clarence has turned out campaigns that have aired on almost every continent, working with brands such as Amazon Prime Video, McDonald’s, Pond’s, Coca Cola, Haier, Aldi, Toyota, Virgin Mobile, Nando’s, Carlsberg, Cadbury’s, BP, VW, Heinz, Renault, Lucozade, McCain, Europcar, MTV, Fanta, Jet Air, and Total. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including being voted Young Gun of the Year in Australia.
JOJX founder Jackson Morton said, “Trevor’s a very established, sought after director, and we can see why. His understanding of comedy goes beyond directing. It’s in his nature, which is why he’s so brilliant at making the absurd absolutely sublime every time.”
Clarence said of JOJX, “I’m sure we are going to have a long relationship and make great things together.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More