About me

I'm a London based writer and director. I studied Artificial Intelligence at University but after four years of building robots and machine learning I knew I wanted to work in movies or advertising. AI is interesting, but moving pictures are more fun. I have always liked the speed and creative freedom of ads. In my first directing job at Rockstar Games I was fortunate to discover that video game advertising offers an almost unparalleled mix of freedom, budgets, and friendly clients. It took many years in other advertising trenches to fully comprehend that. In 2013 three of us founded the agency Fire Without Smoke. As creative director I wanted - like everyone - to make great work but also have fun doing it. Games provided that opportunity. How good the work was is for others to judge, but we had fun and found success. We started in a small backroom above a supermarket on Berwick Street and grew to almost sixty people between Montreal and London (where we moved to much sexier offices above a betting shop). As a full service ad agency we offered strategy to execution across media, since we were game focused we also provided atypical services such as creative design for game UI/UX and story consulting. We made everything from key art and websites to films, VR experiences and even mobile phones. In 2018 we sold FWS to Keywords Studios where is now the core of their marketing services.

QuestionsProjectsExperienceTeam

Projects

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  Some Personal FWS FavouritesWe've made a lot of trailers over the years at FWS; but here are a few personal favorites. Some are here because I pulled double shifts to cut them myself late at night, some are here because we had fun making them, and some because the metrics showed they sold a lot of games.

Projects credited in

• 1

  League of Legends - European Advertising
• eSport Branding - League of Legends: European League ChampionshipRiot games approached us to continue the work we did in 2015, and for season 6 of the world’s largest eSport competition we’ve been going guerilla. Who will reign supreme in the Spring and Summer splits, and who will make it Worlds? Stay tuned as the best of Europe’s players assert their dominance on the rift. GLHF. 2016 has been a rollercoaster ride for the EU LCS, as revamped teams take each other on in League of Legends. So too has this year’s branding amped up with a graffiti style for our t
• 1

  Metro Exodus - Story TrailerWe've been working with Deep Silver to create a gripping story trailer for the upcoming Metro Exodus. As it's a story driven game we've been able to show some of the epic narrative coupled with stunning shots, all put together by our fantastic team, to really entice players in the final few months before release.
• Ace Combat 7 - Launch TrailerFull trailer production for Bandai Namco's Ace Combat - 7
• 1

  Assassin's Creed Origins: Game of Power
• 1

  Star Wars Battlefront 2: @ Gamescom 2017

Work history

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Executive Creative Director / FounderFire Without Smoke
Jan 2013 - Mar 2020London, United KingdomFull Time
I founded Fire Without Smoke with two friends from the ad world in 2013 to have fun making great ads for video games. Skip a few years and we've been lucky enough to have done exactly that, now with a larger team across three offices on two continents. Day to day, I work with clients; manage creative and production teams; and oversee the creative work we put out.
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Producer / Director / Editorcut/splice
Aug 2008 - Jun 2015London, United KingdomFull Time
Directed and edited ads for TV, cinema and online. Wrote and produced promos and other short form content. Clients included: AMV BBDO, BBC Worldwide, Capcom, Endemol, Estée Lauder, Proctor and Gamble, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, Ubisoft, UEFA.

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Skills

• Film Production
• Film Post-production
• Creative Direction
• Direction
• Editing Avid
• Editing Film
• Brand Direction
• Campaign Advertising
• CGI

Education

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BSc(Hons) Artificial Intelligence and PsychologyEdinburgh University
Oct 1997Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Joint degree in Artificial Intelligence and Psychology, graduated with Honors. Topics included: machine learning, machine vision, natural language processing, neural networks, genetic algorithms, robotics, cognitive modelling and philosophy of mind. Focus on human interaction with AI agents in education and learning situations.
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MA Television, Radio and FilmSyracuse University
Dec 2000 - Dec 2003Syracuse, United States
Focus on advertising and screenwriting.