Former Protein editorial executive producer/partner Tim Jacobs has joined production and post house Optimus in a new position as director of sales. In this role, Jacobs will be dedicated to all of Optimus in Chicago and Santa Monica, including production arm One at Optimus, as well as editorial, design, graphics, audio, color and finish. Optimus sales reps Sean Sullivan and Doug Sherin will work with Jacobs on sales efforts across the country. Prior to his Protein tenure, Jacobs was a producer at Whitehouse Post in Chicago. Before then, he was a producer at Filmcore in Los Angeles, where he worked with Therese Hunsberger, Optimus LA’s executive producer/managing director. He started his career on the advertising agency side of the business, working with clients such as Gatorade, Coors Light, Visa, Pioneer, Mattel and Motorola at Draftfcb, BBDO and Ogilvy…Los Angeles-based The Cavalry Productions has signed independent firm Saxon + Partners to handle representation on the West Coast. Headed by executive producers Ross Grogan and Chris Wedding, The Cavalry Productions is active in both the commercial and digital realms, and maintains a directorial roster that includes Gil Green, Bryce Gubler and the recently signed Woodhead, a directing team which consists of director/writer Tony Yacenda, writer/comedian/actor Dan Perrault and comedian/actor/producer Sean Carrigan…..Cinematographer Peter Eastgate has joined The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation for commercials, television and feature films. Production designer Kevin Kavanaugh has recently completed work on the pilot Ballers starring Dwayne Johnson and Omar Miller, written by Stephen Levinson and directed by Peter Berg. Kavanaugh is available for commercials, TV and features through The Skouras Agency…..
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