Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Co-creator Matthew Holness Signs to Moxie

Internationally acclaimed production company Moxie Pictures has signed the award-winning director, writer and comedy performer Matthew Holness to its worldwide roster. He joins Moxie’s stellar stable of British directing talent, including Richard Ayoade, Edgar Wright and Ben Wheatley. 

Holness began his career in comedy, working on some of the best British cult television, including co-creating Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. Most recently he wrote and directed A Gun For George (Film4) and The Snipist (Sky Arts Playhouse). 

His first job at Moxie is a summer-long campaign for Tango and Britvic through 101, the agency’s first work for the brand. The campaign kicked off with a deliberately cheesy 10-second animated ad during Britain’s Got Talent on 23rd May, and accompanied by the hashtag #TangoMyLove. The animation was quickly exposed as a joke, as revealed in a 30-second follow-up spot called “Betrayal,” which played out two ad breaks later in the same episode of Britain’s Got Talent. 

Where the exceptionally un-tangy first ad portrayed two animated oranges dancing in a whimsical world of butterflies and blissful music, the latter gave viewers a Gogglebox-style window into the living room of Tango super-fan Rodney Cloomb, who reacts in disgust to the animation, wondering what has happened to his beloved brand.

These two spots were followed on 11th June with an eight-minute online infomercial for the fictional shopping channel Smart Deals TV. It features a typically saccharine presenter and an awkward Tango rep, who take the hapless viewer through the #5StagesOfTang. The film was picked as ad of the day by Campaign. 

Next came another traditional format TV ad, again starring Rodney Cloomb, called the ‘5 Stages Of Tang.’ The next spot will air in August.

Matthew Holness commented; “Moxie has great directors, the whole team are just superb, and they have been absolutely amazing throughout the whole process of shooting the Tango campaign. I wouldn’t want to be with anybody else, they are just brilliant.”

Dawn Laren, MD, Moxie Pictures said; “Embarking on your commercials directing career with a campaign for Tango would be daunting for anybody, but we think Matthew has knocked it out of the park. He has a very singular and individual style that is also completely relatable. We are incredibly lucky to have him.”