Smuggler–Adam Berg's U.S. commercialmaking roost for more than a decade–has now expanded that reach globally, taking on U.K. representation for the director. Berg had previously been with Stink outside the U.S. market.
During his Smuggler tenure, Berg has grown from a successful music promo director to a major spot and branded content filmmaker. His decision to move over to Smuggler for worldwide representation marks a move towards a consolidated global management for the director.
Berg move to London in 1998, following an accomplished career as a music promo director in his native Sweden. He continued to find global success in music promos while also breaking into the competitive U.K. commercial scene. In 2009 he won a Cannes Lion Film Grand Prix for Philips’ “Carousel,” a film that went on to dominate awards and festivals worldwide. Since then, Berg has turned out lauded work such as “Homes within Homes: for TalkTalk, the Nike football campaign “My Time Is Now,” and most recently PlayStation “Prankster for BBH New York.
Brian Carmody, Smuggler co-founder and managing partner, said, “The quality and conceptual nature of Adam’s work is phenomenal. Poetry, power, humanity, grace and soul are all traits that come through time and time again. His attitude towards the process of producing that work is equally rare. He never lets up on his process, mining every detail and delivering standout results. His agency relationships are deep and trusted.”
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More