Versus, a NY-based creative content company, has unveiled its new original content division, hiring Mark Grande to lead the department.
As head of original content, Grande will lead the company’s strategy and execution of long-form original programming and production. This move further signifies Versus’ strong growth over the last year, and the announcement comes on the heels of the recent news of Alasdair Lloyd-Jones joining the company as its new president and chief marketing officer.
“I have been a fan of Versus’ premium, award-winning work since the company was founded in 2013. When they approached me about launching a new original content division, I was in from the jump,” Grande said. “I’m excited to work with the amazing team at Versus as we expand our portfolio into new areas and work with partners to deliver amazing IP.”
“Developing an original content division has been part of our company roadmap for some time now, and we’re excited to see it come to fruition,” said Samantha Louise, Versus co-founder. “Mark has a proven track record of creating content that resonates with audiences, and his robust experience will be a huge asset in propelling our continued growth.”
Grande brings more than 20 years of content strategy, development and production experience to Versus. Prior to joining the Versus team, he led content at hip-hop legend Nas’ multi-cultural focused entertainment company, Mass Appeal, where he oversaw digital, film, and television programs, executive producing their first ever podcast slate–including one of The Atlantic’s Best Podcasts of 2019, Freaknik: A Discourse On A Paradise Lost–and was instrumental in the launch of their children’s brand MAJR. Prior to that, he led programming and production at Sony Music Entertainment’s original content studio Rumble Yard, helped launch Derek Jeter’s sports media platform The Players’ Tribune, and oversaw film/television development at The Howard Stern Production Company.
Grande’s team has hit the ground running. They recently set up their first original documentary feature at ALLBLK, an AMC Networks-owned streaming platform. They have also secured multiple content partnerships including Feel The Flow, a comedic documentary that will dismantle misconceptions about menstruation around the world with My Entertainment’s premium doc company, One Foot Forward.
In addition to documentaries, Versus has several animated and scripted projects in the works.
Grande and Versus are repped by UTA.
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.
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