Arts & Sciences Welcomes Acclaimed Comedic Filmmaker Hannah Pearl Utt

Dec. 03, 2024

Arts & Sciences is excited to welcome director Hannah Pearl Utt to its roster of extraordinary talent. Versatile in tone, her character-based comedy is as heartfelt as it is hilarious. Utt’s films elicit immediate feelings from her audiences, making them uniquely compelling to watch.

Drawing on her background as an actor, Utt has a talent for directing performers to deliver layered, authentic portrayals of complex characters. Her latest feature, Cora Bora, starring Megan Stalter (Hacks) as an unhinged millennial musician, premiered at SXSW and will be released on Netflix in 2025. Her first feature, Before You Know It, premiered at Sundance and featured Utt alongside Judith Light, Alec Baldwin, and Mandy Patinkin. Utt’s filmmaking career began at Sundance with the short film Partners, co-written with Jen Tullock, and she has since participated in several Sundance Institute programs, including the Directors and Screenwriters Lab while mentoring young filmmakers through Ignite.

Utt also co-wrote and co-starred in the Superdeluxe digital series “Disengaged,” which follows a lesbian couple succumbing to peer pressure during the advent of legalized gay marriage. Her commercial work mirrors the everyday idiosyncrasies and nuanced moments of connection found in her narrative films. From comedic spots for brands like Club Crackers, 1-800 Contacts, and Priceline.com to more tender ads for USPS, Samsung Galaxy, and Subaru, Utt’s work platforms the best and worst parts of being a human with a sheen of optimism and grit.

Utt says of joining Arts & Sciences, “Arts & Sciences’ commitment to supporting and elevating their directors’ work across the board is a signature of their success and what I look for in collaborators. The team champions every facet of my filmmaking career, and I’m thrilled to be commercially represented by producers who understand me. I can’t wait to see what we create together!”

Arts & Sciences Managing Director and Partner Mal Ward added: 

“Hannah is an incredible director, writer, and person. No one captures sublime strangeness the way that Hannah does. She has a pitch-perfect sense of humor and a great cinematic vocabulary. We’re proud to have her on our roster and can’t wait to make films with her.”