Sophie Gold has joined Quietman as executive producer and partner. She brings with her directors Brendan Beachman, Justin Coit and visual storyteller Gerald McMorrow.
A native of London, Gold has experience leading teams across multiple territories, with a track record for elevating businesses on both coasts. Most recently, Gold was EP/director of business development at Moondog where she helped to build its production arm and to establish its creative division.
Quietman EP/partner Carey Gattyan said, “With the current climate of our industry, everybody has to throw their hat into the ring and be aggressive and strong. I am consistently impressed by Sophie’s incredible work ethic and how she puts her own brand out there. I know Sophie’s strength in marketing and branding will raise Quietman’s profile even further.”
Gold related, “I so admire the vision that Carey Gattyan and [Quietman founder/creative director] Johnnie Semerad have for the company, which comes to life in the high caliber of production work and polish that they always deliver.”
Founded in 1996 as a high-end VFX company, Quietman has evolved into a creatively integrated shop that covers the gamut of production and postproduction services. With the same core group of creative and production executives overseeing all disciplines, the Quietman team is able to craft content at all stages: from concept and design, high-end production, to editorial and finishing.
Recently Quietman tackled the rebranding of Pepsi Zero Sugar for broadcast and social platforms, producing the spots from start to finish. Quietman also handled the VFX and 3D animation leading up to Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance sponsored by Pepsi, along with creating new social content for Lays and handling the entirety of Matcha Love’s first-ever campaign. Meanwhile Gold recently produced several commercials for Nissan’s partnership with the Star Wars franchise in support of the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More