Acclaimed actor, screenwriter, producer and director Simon Pegg has signed with RSA Films for global commercial representation. To celebrate his move into the director’s chair in the ad arena, he will be taking to the stage this week to discuss creativity and writing with Uncommon founder Nils Leonard at the UK Creative Festival.
Pegg rose to prominence as co-creator of the UK cult classic TV series, Spaced. After two groundbreaking seasons, he moved on to develop and co-write, with Edgar Wright, the critically praised feature Shaun of the Dead starring as the eponymous hero, Shaun. The film has since been voted one of the Best British Comedies ever made by Empire Magazine, Channel 4 and many others.
After conquering zombies, award ceremonies and the rest of the world, Pegg and Wright reprised their debut movie success with the smash-hit follow-up features, Hot Fuzz and the third and final film in the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,” The World’s End.
In addition to portrayals in Star Wars, Star Trek and the Mission Impossible franchises, Pegg has taken on recent roles which include the much talked about cameo in Amazon Studio’s adaptation of popular comic-book series “The Boys” and the voice of The Chamberlain in Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance. He also starred alongside Juno Temple in Katharine O’Brien’s intimate look at the devastating impact of mental illness in Lost Transmissions. He has just wrapped the next installment of Mission Impossible and completed shooting The Undeclared War for Channel 4 alongside Mark Rylance.
In 2016, alongside Nick Frost, Pegg founded the production company Stolen Picture, with their first major release being the Amazon Prime ghost-hunting series Truth Seekers.
Kai Hsiung, RSA Films’ global managing director, commented: “Simon is one of our leading creative British talents, responsible for some of the most iconic and loved moments from TV and film over the last 20 years. The breadth of his storytelling vision is truly extraordinary. As Simon takes steps into directing, we’re thrilled (and a little giddy) that we’ll be on this journey alongside him.”
Pegg said, “I’m really excited to be joining the RSA family and embarking on this new phase of my career. Excited by all the possibilities.”
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide €2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was “crucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.” Starling added, “The ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why we’re prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.” Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More