By Robert Goldrich
The Cannes Lions Preview in this edition of SHOOT canvasses jurors who reflect on how the pandemic and social justice issues that have come to the fore over the past year-plus might inform their approach to judging the awards competition. In the same vein, this week’s installment of our The Road To Emmy Series shows how the influence of events over the past year affected several TV shows directly and indirectly in terms of storytelling.
Oscar-nominated actor Ethan Hawke, showrunner and star of The Good Lord Bird (Showtime) miniseries, said that the story of the Harper’s Ferry raid led by abolitionist John Brown in 1859–told from the perspective of a teenager freed from slavery,–took on a special resonance in light of current racial unrest, the murder of George Floyd, and the momentum generated for Black Lives Matter. “You can’t touch on any serious subject without bumping into this country’s relationship to race and how destructive it can be,” observed Hawke, explaining that he “felt the call to make some art about it.”
Similarly race relations proved to be a compelling force in this latest Emmy-eligible season of This Is Us (NBC). Director/EP Ken Olin, a three-time Best Drama Series Emmy nominee for This Is Us, related that the show took an unprecedented turn with the killing of Floyd.
Series creator Dan Fogelberg and the writers, said Olin, “felt a responsibility to integrate what was happening in the world with our storytelling.” As a result, continued Olin, “you could see our characters changing in some ways as they confront these events. In other ways, you could see characters looking at themselves through a new prism. This was the first time in five years that a season had to address a changing landscape that was very immediate, very current. Before that, this show wasn’t particularly topical. It was more about how the past informs the present. What’s happening politically, the health of the country, were not part of the original tone of the show.
“To the credit of Dan and the writers,” continued Olin, “they took all that on within the show’s vocabulary, particularly in terms of Randal’s character (Sterling K. Brown), and the dynamic of a Black child being adopted by a white family. We delved into aspects of racism but in terms that are meaningful to the show. That’s been really extraordinary, very challenging in a good way for everybody.”
Robert Goldrich is an editor for SHOOTonline.
Human promotes Kamela Anderson to West Coast EP and head of sync
Music production and supervision company Human has promoted Kamela Anderson to West Coast executive producer and head of sync. In this new role, Anderson will oversee all West Coast operations for Human, including PostHuman, an independent postproduction entity.
As Humanโs former head of sync and A&R, Anderson helped build the music supervision department. Anderson has spent the past eight years in various roles within Human. She has grown with the company as a rising voice in commercial music.
Andersonโs career in advertising began in sales at HSI Productions before joining Anonymous Content to work in its in-house sales department. After that, her journey at Human began, where Anderson worked on several notable brand films that went on to win many industry awards, including four Clio Awards, a Bronze Pencil, a Gold Andy Award, and a Silver Lion. Her work at Human spans brands like Apple, Xbox, Adidas, Samsung, Amazon, BMW, Netflix, NFL, Meta, Gatorade, Google, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and a Nike spot which garnered recognition from the soundtrackโs artist. For โDream Further,โ Nikeโs gloriously girl-powered ad promoting the Womenโs World Cup, Joan Jettโs โBad Reputation,โ was synced, delivering optimal emotional impact. Jett later lauded this needle drop as โstunningโ and โcarrying a strong message beyond the brandโ while being honored that year with a Bronze Clio.
โI built HumanSupervision as a new offering in 2020, and weโre continuing to expand our reach, both on the West Coast and internationally,โ remarked Anderson. โMy creative partner Mike Jurasits and I are very hands-on collaborators and continue to push the envelope with our artist partnerships. Recently, we took a simple music supervision... Read More