After graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, Lance began his career assisting the photographer Bruce Weber. Lance quickly became one of the industry’s most sought after cinematographers.
Lance’s feature DP credits include Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography) and Marie Antoinette, Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo 66, Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are, and, most recently, John Slattery’s God’s Pocket.
He seamlessly transitioned into directing, working with clients such as Nike, Bank of America, and the NBA. Lance has won Gold Cannes Lions for his work with Nike, Adidas, and VW. He was nominated as Best Commercial Director by the DGA in 2003, 2011 and 2012. His 2011 Super Bowl spot for Volkswagen, “The Force”, became the undisputed highlight of the Super Bowl broadcast and went viral, with over 36 million views on YouTube to date. “The Force” was also named the best ad of 2011 by AdWeek, Creativity, and YouTube, and ranks on multiple lists of the greatest Super Bowl ads of all time. His Nike “Jogger” spot was nominated for a 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Commercial and named the best spot of 2012 by Creativity.
Lance’s P&G “Pick Them Back Up”, which aired during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, won a Gold Lion for Direction at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and his Apple “Misunderstood” won the 2014 Emmy for Outstanding Commercial. More recently, Lance directed Apple’s follow up holiday spot, “The Song” and GE “The Boy Who Beeps”, which won Bronze for Direction at the 2015 Cannes Lions.