Marcus Adams

Born: UK

The former commercials director was asked to come up with a "Friday night popcorn movie"...and delivered his debut Long Time Dead.

The thriller about a group of Londoners who tamper with a ouija board - including former EastEnder Joe Absolom - scored one of the best opening weekends for a British genre film.

A former dance student at the Ballet Rambert, Adams studied film and danced with the choreopgrapher Michael Clark.

He formed the audio-visual pop group Meat Beat Manifesto, designing and choreographing the band's live shows.

Adams then moved into directing pop videos - he directed more than 50 and was short-listed for the D&AD Best Direction Award for an RNLI advert.

After the short Android, which he wrote and directed, he was hired by Working Title to conceive, develop and direct Long Time Dead.

Recent work has included the Luxembourg/UK co-production Octane, starring Madeleine Stowe as a mother who loses her daughter to a blood cult.