Nick Piper

Born and raised in Lancashire, England, Nick Piper attended Oxford University to pursue a MA in Mathematics. While at Oxford, Piper began boxing, which fatefully delayed his corporate placement, leaving him a year to travel. In his travels he moved to the French Alps and began directing, editing and marketing extreme sport promos and eventually started his own one-man production company, “Mogul Movies”. At the end of the season he then went back to England looking to continue his passion for filmmaking.

Piper began working as an editor, working on the newly established Avid and specializing in digital effects for the Moving Picture Company out of London. While there, Piper garnered recognition through various advertising spots for clients ranging from Volvo to Pepsi. He continued to pursue digital effects, with his next move taking him to Novocom in Los Angeles. While at Novocom, Piper had the opportunity to work on Pepsi’s “Boy in the Bottle”, Rold Gold’s “Pretzel Boy” and Budweiser’s “Bud Bowl”, three of the top 5 spots at the 1995 Super Bowl.

Piper also ventured into the world of music videos with award-winning work for artists such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, the Wallflowers, and Tom Petty.

Piper then joined a52 where he continued to hone is craft with projects for BBDO, Campbell-Ewald, and GMO. He also explored his own writing and directorial abilities with a spec spot called “Some Like It Fosters” using blue screen techniques and footage from the film “Some Like it Hot”. Shortly thereafter, Piper signed up as a fledgling director at Plum Productions, where he worked on spots for Chevy, Energizer, Dodge, Ford, Blockbuster, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and Canon. After Plum he moved on to Crossroads where he worked on Toyota, Kraft, Bausch & Lomb, and Microsoft. While at Crossroads, he focused his directorial skills on another spec spot, this time writing, directing and editing a spot for Lifesavers called “Purgatory”. Piper then signed with Backyard Productions where his career continues to escalate, shooting many spots for brands such as, Aquafina, Kia, Nissan, Cadillac and Kawasaki to name a few.

Recently, Piper was inspired by a clever radio advertisement for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and became determined to bring the message to the medium of television. Despite the radio being an unconventional origin for a spot of this nature, Piper made it his personal mission to bring his idea to life. The culmination of Piper’s imaginative efforts and hard work of all those involved with the spot, are playing on the air now.

Nick Piper lives with his wife Lisa and daughter Kiera Lily in Santa Monica.