Nathan Burland IS A filmmaker AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR FROM South London AND Toronto, WITH Ghanaian heritage. HIS WORK IS rooted IN culture AND movement, SHAPED BY A SENSITIVITY TO WHAT SITS BENEATH THE SURFACE. WORKING ACROSS COMMERCIAL, MUSIC VIDEO, AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES, HIS APPROACH IS DRIVEN BY feeling, LED BY instinct, AND REFINED THROUGH intention. THERE'S A FOCUS ON presence, ON THE DETAILS THAT DON'T ALWAYS ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES BUT HOLD WEIGHT. MOMENTS OF tension, STILLNESS BEFORE SOMETHING SHIFTS, ENERGY THAT DOESN'T NEED TO BE FORCED TO BE UNDERSTOOD. EACH PROJECT IS built WITH CARE, KEPT honest, CONSIDERED, AND TRUE TO THE FEELING IT BEGINS WITH. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED. SOME THINGS JUST LAND. If it feels right, it usually is.
Nathan Burland, known as This Was Needed, is a film director and creative director born in London, raised between South London and Toronto with Ghanaian roots. His work stands as a beacon for those with similar perspectives — reminding them their voice and worth are needed.
Working across commercial, music video, and long-form, Nathan's approach blends technical precision with a deep instinct for storytelling. He's brought this to Nike, Adidas, Hoka, Stormzy, Rema, Wizkid, Shenseea, Gunna, Headie One, and more.
Graduate of The Remix Project. Represented by Kode Media (UK), Fela (North America), and Sterntag Film (Germany).
He also builds Needed Tools — the software he runs his own productions on.
The tools I built to run my own productions — references, mood boards and treatments, shot lists, cards, stills, credits and invoices, all around one project. Now yours.
Everything lives on your Mac, in your own folders — your projects, your pictures, your documents.
Coming soon For Mac · macOS 11.3 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel
The pocket half of Needed Tools. Catch references wherever you are — photos, screenshots, clips — straight into a project, with tags. Even with no signal.
Nothing goes to this website. Your pictures stay on your phone until you tap Sync — then into your own Photos, and iCloud takes them to your Mac, where Sync files each one into its project, once.
Open Needed Mobile Vault ↗