After appearing in a couple Warren Miller films in his early teens, Kevin Kerslake embarked on a path to emulate Miller and his other childhood hero, Bruce (Endless Summer) Brown, making surf, skate and ski/snowboard films throughout his hormonal years. Fortune intervened after college, and Kerslake became one of a handful of directors responsible for forging the visual identity of the MTV generation, directing award-winning videos for such distinguished bands as Nirvana, Green Day, R.E.M., the Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, Rise Against and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

With a trendsetting visual style infused with the urgency and kineticism of action sports but now working within larger themes, Kerslake’s iconic music video work, in particular, encouraged kids to give their parents the finger and bring the Establishment to its knees. At the same time, he was directing commercials for corporate giants like Nike, AT&T and Coca-Cola, which were subversively filled with subliminal messages that went undetected by the suits.

While Kerslake kept his foot to the floor at the cutting edge of pop culture, making core culture films and documentaries, notably Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!, The Ramones: We’re Outta Here!, Quiksilver’s Continuum, and a long-running film series for electronic music giants Insomniac Events, Hollywood also came calling. Kerslake sold screenplays to Ed Pressman, Millennium Films, Donner/Shuler-Donner/Warner Brothers, Escape Artists/Sony Pictures, and A Band Apart.

Kerslake also directed Fallen, a four hour mini-series for ABC Family that was the highest rated show on both nights it aired, and two episodes, including the pilot, for Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi series The Visitor, plus dozens of live concerts for webcast and broadcast.

Equally at ease with A-list artists and top executives, at underground happenings and in corporate boardrooms, alike, Branded Programming was a natural progression for Kerslake, who has been entrusted with creating new media campaigns for AOL, RealNetworks, Universal Music Group, Compaq, Sprite, Puma, Quiksilver, DC Shoes and Burton Snowboards, which include both shortform and longform properties. Throughout it all, Kerslake has consistently had his finger on the pulse and shown a remarkable knack for eluding the authorities.

Kerslake is currently attached to direct J.G. Ballard’s Running Wild, produced by Andras Hamori and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Rosamund Pike.

Representation: Keith Redmon at Anonymous Content, and Douglas Stone at Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder.