Director of Pretty Persuasion

Background:

A Grammy-nominated music video, commercial, television and movie director hailed from New York, Marcos Siega entered the showbiz as part of the New York-based punk group Bad Trip before transforming into a flourishing career as a director. He was nominated for three MTV Music Video Awards and a Grammy Award for helming the 2000 video clips “All The Small Things,” by Blink-1982, and “Broken Home,” by Papa Roach, respectively. He has also worked with many other artists, including P.O.D., Kelly Osbourne, System Of A Down, All American Rejects and Anthrax. In 2005, Siega made an auspicious debut as a movie director with the Sundance-screened “Pretty Persuasion,” from which he picked up Sundance's Grand Jury Prize nomination, Deauville Festival's Grand Special Prize nomination and an Oldenburg Film Festival Award. He also directed “The Underclassman” (2005) and “Chaos Theory” (2007), and executive produced “Drive Thru” (2007). As a TV director, Siega has worked in such noted series as Veronica Mars,” “Cold Case” and “Dexter.”

Son of Queens

Childhood and Family:

Marcos Siega was born on June 8, 1969, in Queens, New York City, New York.

Broken Home

Career:

Queens, New York-born and raised Marcos Siega began his career with Bad Trip, a punk group based in New York. During his eight years tenure with the band, he released two full length albums and a number of EP's as well as toured extensively throughout the country. Siega then tried his hand in directing music video, for which his own experience in rock music was considered advantageous by many bands and musicians. As a result, he was flooded with numerous offers and so far has directed clips for such artists as Bif Naked, Peter Cearcy, P.O.D., Goldfinger, System of a Down, Quicksand, Anthrax, Toad the Wet Sprocket, C.O.C. Blink-182, 311 and Papa Roach, among others.

Siega's hard work paid off in 2000 when his video for Blink-1982's “All The Small Things” brought him three nominations at the MTV Music Video Awards, including Video Of The Year. Also in that same year, the director received a Grammy nomination for his Papa Roach video “Broken Home.” With such an impressive accomplishment, Siega started his partnership with noted commercial production company Hungryman Films in 2001.

In addition to directing video music and commercials, Siega has also branched out to film and television. In 1999, he produced and directed a short film called “Stung,” which was penned by Tracy McArdle and starred Damon Shalit, Vincent Marotta and Carlos Molina. He went on to co-direct the music series “Rock the House” in 2002, which he also executive produced, and helm two episodes of the short-lived action/thriller series “Fastlane” called “Ray Ray” (2002) and “Defense” (2003). He also directed the Fox brief comedy series “Oliver Beene,” which ran for two seasons from 2003 to 2004.The show was nominated for a 2003 Teen Choice for Choice TV Breakout Show and a 2004 GLAAD Media for Outstanding Comedy Series.

“My producing partner, Matt Weaver, brought it to me about five years ago. He was a fan of my music videos, and he was trying to find… something for me. He brought it to me, I read it, and loved it. And then I had to convince Skander not to direct it.” Marcos Siega

Eventually, in 2005, Siega made his feature directorial debut with the Skander Halim-written “Pretty Persuasion,” a comedy/drama about a manipulative high school sophomore who propels chaos among her peers and a media craze by accusing her English and drama teacher of sexual assault. Starring Evan Rachel Wood, James Woods, Jane Krakowski and Elisabeth Harnois and others, the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2005 and went on to hit the festival circuits at the Seattle International Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival before receiving limited theatrical release in August 2005. For his bright effort, Siega netted a German Independence Award at the Oldenburg Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize-Dramatic at the Sundance and the Grand Special Prize at the 2005 Deauville Film Festival.

Still in 2005, Siega directed an action/comedy for Miramax called “The Underclassman,” which were jointly scripted by Brent Goldberg and David Wagner and starred Nick Cannon and Kelly Hu. Despite his good directing, the film was considered as a flop. Siega also directed the TV series “Eyes” (2005), three episodes of the Kristen Bell vehicle “Veronica Mars” (2004-2005) and two episodes of “Cold Case” (2005-2006).

Siega returned to movie with “Chaos Theory,” which was released for European market in the early 2007 and did not hit America until April 2008. The comedy/drama starred Ryan Reynolds, Emily Mortimer, Stuart Townsend, Sarah Chalke and Mike Erwin and written by Daniel Taplitz. 2007 also saw Siega executive produce “Drive Thru,” a comedy/horror co-directed and co-penned by Brendan Cowles and Shane Kuhn, and direct such episodic TV as “Traveler,” “The Nine,” “Shark,” “Life” and “Dexter.”

Recently, in 2008, one of the founders of Prospect Pictures, a television and film production company based in Los Angeles, Siega helmed an episode of “October Road” called “We Lived Like Giant.” He also serves as executive producer for the upcoming based-on-novel comedy “Barry Munday” (2008), starring Patrick Wilson in the title role. Directed by Chris D'Arienzo, the movie also stars Judy Greer, Colin Hanks, Chloë Sevigny, Malcolm McDowell, Christopher McDonald and Cybill Shepherd.

Awards:

• Oldenburg Film Festival: German Independence Award, “Pretty Persuasion,” 2005