Director James Rouse–whose “Sorry I Spent it on Myself” for retailer Harvey Nichols recently won a Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix in the TV/Cinema category–has joined The Corner Shop for U.S. representation. He continues to be handled in the U.K. by Outsider, London, which produced “Sorry I Spent it on Myself” for adam&eve DDB, London.
The Harvey Nichols spot is a tongue-in-cheek 180-degree departure from the yuletide spirit, encouraging folks to be unreasonably selfish and spend less on Xmas gifts for their loved ones in order to spend as much as possible on themselves at retailer Harvey Nichols. Towards that end, adam&eveDDB, conceived and designed a new Harvey Nichols gift collection consisting of a range of Ultra Low Net Worth presents such as neatly packaged paper clips, wooden toothpicks and a sink plug. The film consists of vignettes in which people open their Ultra Low Net Worth presents as the gift givers enjoy the lavish gifts they bought themselves.
Other Cannes-honored work in Rouse’s filmography includes Marmite’s “Rescue,” which copped a Gold Lion, and a VW campaign that yielded three Bronze Lions.
Rouse made his directorial debut in 2003 with a heralded viral web campaign for Trojan Condoms via production house The Viral Factory for London agency Media Therapy. Largely on the strength of the comedic Trojan fare, Rouse earned a slot in SHOOT's 2004 New Directors Showcase. Since then Rouse has been perfecting his craft with continued success through Outsider in the U.K. Prior to joining The Corner Shop, Rouse was handled stateside by Station Film.
This year saw the release of Rouse's first feature film, a British comedy titled Downhill.
The Corner Shop–which was formed in October 2013 by director Peter Thwaites and producer Anna Hashmi–is represented by Resource on the West Coast, (Dana Balkin and Frank Antonoff), Mary-Kate Hatfield in the Midwest, and Ziegler-Jakubowicz, (Peter Ziegler and Jonathan Jakobowicz) on the East Coast.
