Mark Summers (casting director)

Last updated

Mark Summers is a British casting director who works in North America and Europe.

Contents

Career

Mark Summers began his career as an actor, training at the Barbara Speake Stage School, before moving into casting for adverts, music videos, film and world tours in both Britain and America.

He won the British Advertising Craft Award for Best Casting Director in 2003, and has been nominated on six other occasions. Additionally, Summers has been the chairman of the awards for Best Performance.

He has over 12,000 casting credits to his name. Performers he has cast have been in works such as East is East , The Boat That Rocked and Queer Eye , and in adverts for, among others, Aussie, Boots, Häagen-Dazs, Macy's and Virgin.

Summers has also cast music videos and tours for artists including 50 Cent, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Robert Plant and Metallica.

Summers runs a class teaching the 'do's and dont's' of casting.

Television

Mark Summers and his team (including Associate Director Louise Mason) have also been involved with numerous television shows, most notably joining Jermaine Jackson in December 2009 as a judge on the 6-part BBC show Move Like Michael Jackson . The show also went into production in Belgium and The Netherlands, aired on SBS 6, where Summers also served as a judge.

He is a regular media commentator on dance, media and casting, with a column in Campaign , and has hosted/appeared on many TV shows, including:

Other media

In 2009 Summers and his team were chosen to be the UK Casting Directors on Michael Jackson's This Is It concerts.

Awards

Mark Summers has received many nominations and awards for his work. Having won the British Advertising Craft Award for Best Casting Director in 2003, he set a new record by being nominated on six additional occasions.

In 2008 he was a Craft Finalist for the Casting category at the British Arrow Awards, [1] an honor which he also won in 2003. [2]

In 2010, Summers was honored by Sir Paul McCartney at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), made a ‘Friend of LIPA’, and was awarded a 'Companionship', one of the highest honors ever bestowed by the University. In 2011 Summers was also made mentor and patron of The Royal Academy of Dance. For the past number of years he has also been on the jury panel for Best Performance by an Actor/Actress at the British Television Advertising Awards (BTAA).

Mark Summers (agency)

Mark Summers, located in Kensington, London, UK, consists of three separate divisions: casting, dance, and management. They have worked on over 10,000 productions across the world for film, TV, voice-overs, commercials, dance, print, world tours and fashion.

Mark Summers Dance & Choreography

In addition to retaining trained dancers, the dance division represents choreographers such as Wade Robson, Natricia Bernard, Litza Bixler, Travis Payne and Brian Friedman.

The dance division's choreographers and dancers have worked with artists including Madonna, Kanye West, P!nk, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez.

Mark Summers Casting

Mark Summers is the Casting Director to David LaChappelle, Alek Keshishian, Tony Kaye, Sam Bayer and Paul Hunter.

Mark Summers Studios

Located next to the West Kensington Underground, Mark Summers Studios has one of the largest casting studios in London.

Mark Summers Management

The management division represents actors, dancers, and choreographers, as well as other performers.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlene Phillips</span> English choreographer (born 1943)

Dame Arlene Phillips is an English choreographer, talent scout, television judge and presenter, theatre director, and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts</span> Performing arts school set up by Paul McCartney in Liverpool, England

The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 11 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range of fields across the performing arts, as well as three Foundation Certificate programmes of study in acting, music technology, and dance and popular music. LIPA offers full-time, one-year master's-level degree courses in acting (company) and costume making. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moneysupermarket.com</span> British price comparison business

Moneysupermarket.com Group plc is a British price comparison website-based business specialising in financial services. The website enables consumers to compare prices on a range of products, including energy, car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, mortgages, credit cards and loans. The company's subsidiaries include the Travel Supermarket and Moneysavingexpert websites. Moneysupermarket Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dax O'Callaghan</span> English singer, dancer and actor

Dax Jordache O'Callaghan is an English singer, dancer and actor.

Daniel Quinn Karaty is an American TV personality, actor, producer, dancer and choreographer. He has performed with and/or created routines for pop superstars such as Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and *NSYNC. Karaty is also well known as a judge and choreographer on several versions of the global dance competition program So You Think You Can Dance, including the American, Australian, Canadian versions and as a permanent member of the judge's panel for the Dutch-Belgian version since its first season. In addition, Karaty starred in "Soof," The Netherlands' highest-grossing film in 2013. He appears as a judge or mentor on X Factor, Everybody Dance Now,My Name Is Michael, Holland's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, Belgium's Got Talent and The Ultimate Dance Battle, the last of which he created and on which he serves as executive producer. Previously, Karaty served in the capacity of a performance stager and choreographer on America's Got Talent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cris Judd</span> American dancer and choreographer (born 1969)

Cristan Lee Judd is a Filipino American dancer, actor, and choreographer known for his brief marriage to Jennifer Lopez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mill (company)</span> British VFX production company

Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited, doing business as The Mill, is a British VFX production company and creative studio headquartered in London, England, with three offices in the United States, three others in Europe and three in Asia. It is owned by Technicolor Creative Studios. The Mill produces real-time visual effects, animation, moving images, design, experiential, and digital projects for the advertising, games, and music industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anticipation (advertisement)</span> Advertising campaign for Guinness beer

Anticipation is an Irish advertisement launched by Guinness plc in 1994 to promote Guinness-brand draught stout. The advert, which appeared in print, posters, and cinema and television spots, was conceived by Irish advertising agency Arks, and starred relatively unknown Irish actor Joe McKinney as the 'Dancing Man' and Gordon Winter as the barman. It was the final part of the "Guinness Time" advertising campaign, which had been running in Ireland since the late 1980s.

<i>Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life</i> British TV series or programme

Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life is a dance show created for Living as a tribute to Dirty Dancing's 20th anniversary in 2007. Due to the success of the show, a second series was shown in 2008.

Britain's Missing Top Model is a British Reality TV modelling show for disabled women, aired on BBC Three. The premiere episode aired on 1 July 2008. The show courted controversy, with many arguing that the show made disability a spectator event.

The British Arrows (formerly the British Television Advertising Awards (BTAA)) is an advertising awards body in London, which honours the best moving image advertising in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natricia Bernard</span>

Natricia Tara Bernard is a choreographer and creative director based in the UK who has worked with many leading artists for over 20 years. After appearing in a commercial at the age of 5, she trained at the Super Arts Stage school for 12 years, completing her training at the London Studio Centre. She has since worked with many big names in the entertainment industry, appearing on television, award shows, modelling, and choreographing for various work including music videos, commercials, television and events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Joann Thompson</span> American actress (born 1969)

Lisa Joann Thompson is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, and model involved in multiple areas of show business. She was a Warrior Girl, Laker Girl, Fly Girl, Motown Live Dancer, and Backup dancer to some of the most prominent artists in the music industry. She starred in the hit television show In Living Color as a Fly Girl during seasons 4 and 5, and was assistant choreographer during season 5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blink (company)</span> British production company

Blink is a British development studio and production company. They make TV series, commercials, music videos, short films, branded content and video games. The company structure comprises Blink Industries, Blinkink, Blink Productions and Blink Games. The group operates from 3 studio locations in London.

Dança dos Famosos 9, also taglined as Dança dos Famosos 2012 is the ninth season of the Brazilian reality television show Dança dos Famosos which premiered May 13, 2012, with the competitive live shows beginning on the following week on May 20, 2012 on the Globo television network.

<i>Changes</i> (advertisement)

Changes is a British television advertisement launched in 1987 to promote the second-generation of the Volkswagen Golf. The 50-second ad was directed by David Bailey and stars the model Paula Hamilton as a woman throwing away some of her possessions. After discarding her wedding ring, pearl necklace, brooch and mink coat, she decides to keep her Volkswagen Golf and drives off in it with a smile on her face. Changes was named after the song that was used as its soundtrack, written by Alan Price. It was awarded the Silver prize at the 1988 British Arrows Awards, and is remembered as an indicator of car advertising's recognition of women's growing independence.

The This Girl Can campaign was developed by Sport England to promote sport amongst women. The first TV ad was aired on 12 January 2015. It was accompanied by cinema, outdoor, and social media advertising, which included a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #thisgirlcan. The campaign was created by agency FCB Inferno and the first television adverts were directed by Australian director Kim Gehrig and won multiple awards. The campaign celebrated its fifth birthday with a new campaign in January 2020.It was to help women any shape or size to do sport and feel happy.

Aicha Alicia McKenzie is a former female British gymnast, model and dancer who is also the CEO of AMCK Management, which founded AMCK Dance in 2005, AMCK Models in 2008 and AMCK Fit in June 2017. She is widely regarded as a leader in the entertainment field.

Kim Gehrig is an Australian director whose body of work spans television shows, commercials, music videos, documentaries, short films and branded entertainment. Gehrig directed "The Woman Who Ate Photographs", an episode of Apple TV+ series, "Roar", starring Nicole Kidman. Her notable commercial works include Run This Town and Stay for Rihanna's Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show,The Greatest for Apple, Viva La Vulva for Libresse, Life Needs Truth for The New York Times, the This Girl Can campaign, and work for many more for brands including Airbnb, Google, Lyft, Nike, IKEA, GAP, and Amnesty International. In music videos, Gehrig has collaborated with artists such as Chaka Khan, Brittany Howard, Wiley, Calvin Harris, and Basement Jaxx. In 2023, Gehrig became the 2nd woman of all time to win the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials and her films have won a plethora of awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD pencils, BTAA Arrows and UKMVA's.

References

  1. "British Arrow Awards". Archived from the original on 30 November 2010.
  2. "Britain's Missing Top Model - The Judges - Mark Summers". BBC. Retrieved 11 March 2012.