Michael Clowater

Born in New Brunswick, Canada, he started his career as a plumber with his family’s business. In 1996, he took on "black sheep" status within the family and moved to Toronto to become an agency creative instead. His work as a writer and creative director showcased his ability to make people laugh by having a firm grasp on craft and character driven stories. This earned him hundreds of international awards including Cannes Lions, Clios, One Show and D&AD.

He began his filmmaking career in 2000 and his first short film ‘Alfred's New Dog’ was screened at numerous film festivals around the world, including the Interfilm Festival (Berlin) and the Toronto International Film Festival. The short was also shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City as part of an exhibition on independent children’s comedy films.

It made sense for Michael to transition to directing and he immediately came out of the gate hot with seminal work through Radke Films in Canada. His commercial directorial debut ‘Pyramid Scheme the Rainbow’ for Skittles was shortlisted at the Cannes International Advertising Festival and his recent work for Cheerios set the social world buzzing, scoring a place as AdWeek’s top ad of the week while sending #HowToDad trending on Twitter within days.