FirstCom Music, a provider of music for film, broadcast and new media, has hired Tom Vale to serve as film & TV licensing manager.
Vale comes over to the FirstCom Music team from Austin, Texas. He founded Frog Music Licensing in 2010 with the goal of connecting the singer/songwriter talent in Austin with placement opportunities in TV, film, advertising and gaming worldwide.
Carol Riffert, VP/general manager of FirstCom Music, said of Vale, “He has the unique ability to find just the right music to perfectly set a scene. His extensive experience working with the film and TV community and his knowledge of music licensing are a winning combination for our clients.”
Vale has facilitated music placements in an extensive line up of television programs, including Nashville (ABC), Empire (FOX), Breaking Bad (AMC), The Walking Dead (AMC), The Good Wife (CBS), Ray Donovan (Showtime), Togetherness (HBO), The Following (FOX), Twisted (ABC), Californication (Showtime), Parenthood (NBC), Sons of Anarchy (FX), Lucifer (FOX), From Dusk Til Dawn (El Rey), Satisfaction (USA), Casual (Hulu), Private Practice (ABC), Hart of Dixie (CW), Royal Pains (USA) and Degrassi Next Generation (Teen Nick), and in the films Everything Must Go, Hold Your Peace, The Expatriate, Snitch, The Loft, and more, plus in national ad campaigns for Goodyear Tires, Nabisco, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and PGA Golf, among others.
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