Richard Sears Signs With Synthetic Pictures
June 19, 2012 by Screenmag
Director Richard Sears is joining Synthetic Pictures for exclusive North American representation.
Some of Sears’s clients include Toyota Prius, University of Phoenix, Nissan, AT&T, Burger King, Sprint and Ole Miss. His work has attracted agencies such as DDB Chicago, Chiat Day LA, Campbell Mithun, Perriera/O’Dell, BBDO, Y&R and Wong Doody.
“His breadth of his Richard’s work is impressive,” says Synthetic owner Justin Corsbie. “He’s a real filmmaker and a master of his craft. I knew he’d be a good fit from the moment we met. He’s a straight shooter with enormous creativity and talent.”
Sears says he’s driven by storytelling -- creating an emotional connection between a character and the audience.
“I approach each project with the question of what’s the best way to tell the character’s story. When I get a board, first I think about words and the characters, and then how do I express those ideas through visuals.”
Sears landed in commercial directing when his short film, An Evil Town, won the Cannes – Le Semaine de la Critique. Creatives at Weiden & Kennedy saw the short and recruited him to direct a campaign for ESPN. Since then, he’s balanced his time between directing commercials, shorts and features, such as the cult classic, Bongwater, with an all-star cast of Luke Wilson, Jack Black, Brittney Murphy and Scott Caan. His next feature project is Bottom of the World, a thriller set to shoot this year.
Now that he’s working with Synthetic Pictures, Sears says he wants to take advantage of Synthetic’s strong presence on the west coast where Sears is based, as well as Synthetic’s offices in Austin. “Having the office in Austin was attractive to me,” Sears says. “It’s a place that’s culturally significant and a hot bed of artistic activity. I’m looking forward to doing jobs down there.”