Director Hannah Pearl Utt has signed with bicoastal Epoch Films for commercial representation in the U.S.
Utt is a director, writer, and actor who’s feature directorial debut, Before You Know It, came out in theaters on August 30. The film, which also stars Utt, alongside co-writer, Jen Tullock, played in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It was also recently screened at the W+K Film Series, which was founded and is curated by its head of production, Matt Hunnicutt. The series invites writers, directors, and others to share their stories through private, pre-release screenings at a local theater with the goal of enriching W+K’s creative culture and exploring future opportunities to collaborate on commercial projects.
Utt and Tullock also co-wrote/created the series Disengaged for SuperDeluxe, which Utt also directed.
In 2017, Utt participated in Sundance’s inaugural Catalyst Women’s Initiative, as well as the Sundance Screenwriter and Director Labs, and received a 2018 Adrienne Shelly Foundation Women Filmmakers Grant.
As an actor, Utt can be seen in Dorm Life, Ingrid Goes West, and many commercials (including a few from fellow Epoch director, Phil Morrison), inhabiting such roles as “Toilet Girl” and “Egg Woman.”
Utt said, “I’ve been a fan of Epoch’s taste ever since getting cast in Phil’s 1-800-CONTACTS spot–that kind of vision is 20/20. I am honored to be in the company of the directors on Epoch’s roster, and getting to collaborate with the brilliant, hilarious and incredibly stylish women who run the company is a literal daydream come true.”
“A few years ago, Phil Morrison called me about Hannah,” recalled Mindy Goldberg, founding partner of Epoch Films. “He had worked with her as an actor and saw Disengaged, the series she wrote, directed and starred in. He said, ‘she’s fantastic, Epoch should sign her!’ Melissa (Culligan, Epoch’s managing executive producer), Hannah and I met, fell madly in love (we girl crushed on her) and knew we had to work together. A female director who understands nuanced comedy and has a sophisticated visual vocabulary. I think the ad world is ready to embrace Hannah.”
Utt and Epoch are represented in the West by Dexter Randazzo and Jonathan Logan at The Department of Sales; in the East by Tara Averill and John Robertson at Representation; and in the Midwest by Chris Brown at Baer Brown Reps.
