Music shop ELIAS has added executive producers Emily Kimball in New York City and Mat Martin in Chicago. The new hires come on the heels of the recent opening of ELIAS’ Nashville office, led by ECD Vincenzo LoRusso. Kimball is a talented composer and musician who fuses an in-depth knowledge of the musical process with her experience and expertise on the business side to bridge the gap and offer creative solutions to clients across a wide scope of projects and needs. Martin has over a decade of experience in the commercial music space spanning music licensing, producing, sales and marketing roles in Chicago and New York City.
Kimball began playing the guitar and writing music at an early age, leading her to study Music Technology at Northeastern University. After earning her Master’s Degree in Music Theory and Composition at the University of Florida, she shifted gears and transitioned her expertise to the commercial music space. She joined Pulse Music in 2012, quickly working her way up through the ranks to become head of business development and marketing. In her six years with the studio, she worked with a wide range of notable clients including Crayola, Pizza Hut, BMW and Cheerios. Kimball continues to perform with her self-titled Emily Kimball Band and has a new album in the pipeline that is slated to release in 2018.
Growing up in New York, Martin fed his love for music by composing, performing and recording with various bands, eventually marrying his passion with a career direction in the then emerging field of music supervision. After studying Music Business at Columbia College Chicago, he started his career in the Windy City, nabbing a gig as a marketing/licensing Rep at Uncommon Trax. He spent two years at the music licensing shop working across TV, film and advertising before joining Revolution 9 as a production manager/licensing rep. In 2011, he made the move to NYC, spending six years with Extreme Music as a sales/marketing executive and manager of NY sales and marketing.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More