Sanctuary Content has added sales veteran Kristen Bedard-Johnson as executive producer and head of sales. Bedard-Johnson’s role at the Culver City-based production company will complement that of Preston Lee, EP and founder, on the West coast.
Bedard-Johnson joins Sanctuary’s new Brooklyn office after two years as director of sales and management–East Coast at Smuggler. With a background in theater and over a decade in advertising at companies like Furlined and RadicalMedia, Bedard-Johnson knew she wanted to join the ranks at Sanctuary when the opportunity arose, having had her eye on their roster since the company launched in 2016.
“Preston has such a strong reputation in the industry, and right away I saw how his vision aligned with my goals. We came together really naturally,” said Bedard-Johnson. “I’m thrilled to be able help the directors bond their artistic output with commerce, to get specific on what success looks like to them and help to build that trajectory.”
After 36 months building the company in Culver City, Lee said now is the right time for the infusion of fresh energy and enthusiasm in Sanctuary’s new Brooklyn office. “In order for us to grow and move onto the next phase of our journey, we needed someone exactly like Kristen to come on board. The strength of two strategic minds working across both coasts is the best way to provide the strongest opportunities for our directors.”
A focus on nurturing talent isn’t the only commonality; both EPs share an excitement for the convergence of entertainment and advertising in the current media landscape. This shines through in a roster of makers who create across the very different formats of filmmaking, including advertising, film, music videos, and television. Having produced five short films to date, the company is continuing to push into long-format in all platforms.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More