LOOKER, a fashion and beauty production company launched earlier this year (SHOOTonline, 7/1), has moved to expand its talent base and capability through a bicoastal partnership with Artmix Creative, a still production company and talent agency representing a significant pool of still photographers for fashion and beauty.
This new relationship will expand production capability for both shops while creating a deep pool of motion and still photographers and directors available under one roof, all with expertise in the beauty, fashion, celebrity and lifestyle category. With Artmix focusing on still production and LOOKER on motion, the companies can deliver top talent and creative value for agencies, clients and brands as the trend of integrating still and motion shoots continues to surge.
“Artmix brings an incredible roster of talent to the table beyond LOOKER’s core roster of directors,” sad director Eden Tyler, who is LOOKER’s co-founder and creative director. “They have a great mix of both veteran and up-and-coming talent, and being able to tap into that pool will help us deliver what clients need today while keeping the creative bar at the highest levels.”
The LOOKER/Artmix combination represents talents that have worked for some of the leading global marketers and creative ad agencies, as well as for top designers, labels, fragrances and other fashion and beauty brands.
Among the photographers who will be available via the LOOKER/Artmix relationship are David Oldham, Davis Factor, Marc Baptiste, Mark Squires, Justin Coit and Sante D’Orazio. Among the brands they’ve worked for are John Paul Mitchell, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Studios, Flaunt, Glamour, Marie Claire, Intermix, GQ, New York Times, Lord & Taylor and Guess, shooting high-gloss campaigns focusing on such international celebrities as Sofia Vergara, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Dita Von Teese, Naomi Watts, Donald Sutherland, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jimmy Fallon.
“When you combine Artmix’s talent in still production and its West Coast production base with our experience in live-action production and post and our East Coast studio and facilities, our combined capability has just leaped forward,” said LOOKER co-founder and EP Drew Stein. “Whether it is still, motion, or both, we’ll be able to deliver top creative for our clients and brands across more assets, while maximizing budgets.”
The LOOKER and Artmix union was jump-started by shared talent connections, as a number of LOOKER directors are represented by Artmix for print and still photography assignments. This list includes the aforementioned Coit, as well as Jonathan Lennard, Andrew Kuykendall and Sean Hagwell, all of whom are available for commercials, web videos and fashion films through LOOKER.
“With LOOKER, Artmix is able to deliver motion production and postproduction for our clients and we can now support LOOKER clients with still photography production at industry’s highest levels,” said Bruce Kramer, CEO of Artmix Creative. “With our focus in fashion, both advertising and editorial, and their focus in advertising and branded content, this is a perfect combination with great opportunities.”
Sophie Gold, LOOKER’s director of business development, added that the partnership will allow clients “to get the most out of their shoot days, capturing video and still assets for broadcast, online and print media, and doing so with top talents in each discipline.”
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