Veteran ad agency and commercial industry head of production Deborah Sullivan has joined The Artery VFX as executive producer and managing director.
Most recently managing director and EP for international postproduction companies NO6 and Peepshow Post, Sullivan previously led advertising production departments for DDB NY, FCB and others, and she was a founding partner of independent agency Berlin Cameron and Partners. She also held executive producer posts with @radical.media, Red Dog Films and The Bomb Factory. Along the way, she has built solid relationships with top-tier artists, produced work for leading brands, and garnered an impressive list of awards, including Effies, Cannes Lions, AICE and AICP Show honors.
One of Sullivan’s first projects for The Artery VFX was producing the five-spot national smart cars “city smart” campaign for Merkley+Partners. Reflecting The Artery’s expanding role in supporting its top-tier clientele, Vico Sharabani directed the live-action campaign, with The Artery handling editorial, visual effects, final color and finishing. Sharabani is The Artery’s founder and creative director, and a well known Flame artist. He has assembled a collection of artists spanning VFX, color, CG, 3D and animation, along with VR and experiential capabilities.
“We are expanding very rapidly into a multi-disciplinary art and technology company,” said Sharabani. “As a key part of our senior management team, Deborah is already playing a crucial part in leading this growth. Her vast experience in top-tier agency, production and editorial operations is helping us grow in strategic and systematic ways.”
Sullivan said, “With this growing roster and an amazingly robust pipeline in place, we’re perfectly positioned to partner with creatives, directors and producers around the world to deliver the absolute highest level of creative work.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More