The Cavalry Productions has signed director Mark Pellington for spots, branded content and VR work. The announcement was made by company EP/founder Ross Grogan and COO Aric Ackerman. The prolific director, who was last represented by production house Wondros, is probably best known for his iconic music video work, adventurous 3D documentary film for U2, dark, compelling feature films like Arlington Road and Mothman Prophecies, suspenseful episodic TV fare for Cold Case and Blindspot, and branding campaigns for such clients as United Healthcare, GMC, Merck and Apple.
A Baltimore native, Pellington began his career path in Manhattan working at the fledgling on-air promotions department of newbie music video channel MTV. After producing some cutting edge programming (BUZZ), Pellington started directing music videos. His iconic imagery for Pearl Jam’s song “Jeremy” made a major splash and sparked a directorial career that would soon include videos for U2, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, Dave Matthews band, Flaming Lips, and Michael Jackson. Pellington then successfully diversified into commercials, features and TV.
Now at The Cavalry, Pellington reunites with EP Tanya Cohen, who first met Pellington while working at Crossroads Films. (This past July, producer Cohen and director Vance Malone moved over to The Cavalry from Industropop).
Pellington has a penchant and an affinity for commercialmaking. “It can be immensely satisfying creatively when the ad agency and client put their faith and trust in my vision,” he said. “Spot work allows one to work in short bursts with great cinematographers. The budgets afford you the resources to refine your technique, try the latest toys or tools to tell the story.”
Pellington points to a spot he did highlighting the frustrations of living with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) for Eli Lily. In the spot, a woman attends an important boardroom meeting, but can’t stay focused in the moment. Images from her day flash across the screen, like someone channel surfing with the TV remote. “What if this wasn’t your TV,” says the voiceover. “What if this was you mind?” The spot tells viewers where to go online to take a simple test. “Some people say my work is a little dark,” said Pellington with a laugh. “I think campaigns like this show that I can do what’s appropriate for the story.”
Pellington is starting his second season on the NBC hit TV series Blindspot (director/EP on Season 1, EP for Season 2). His feature film The Last Word, starring Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried, is now slated for release in March 2017. Pellington has also recently wrapped a branding campaign for United Healthcare and is looking forward to actively engaging in more spot work via The Cavalry.
