London editorial house Stitch has extended its geographic reach, opening a shop in Santa Monica. Company co-founder/editor Andy McGraw has relocated to the L.A. area to lead a team which includes recently hired editor Leo Scott, exec producer Juliet Batter and rep Millie Munro of Munro & Co.
McGraw and Scott have both hit the ground running in L.A. McGraw recently finished work on Drake’s personal short film Jungle in advance of his newly dropped surprise album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, directed by Caviar’s Karim Huu Do, along with the refreshingly dark comedic Super Bowl spot “Puppy Love” for First Bank directed by Furlined’s Speck/Gordon, while Scott’s “Hear What You Want” campaign for Beats by Dre enjoyed prime airtime during the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, as well as millions of hits online. Prior to joining Stitch, Scott was with Spot Welders.
McGraw has been editing high profile ad campaigns with top directors, creatives and producers for over 10 years. He has scored multiple Gold Clios for Editing, and the Gold Arrow at the British Craft Awards for Best Editing. Outside of advertising, McGraw edited Channel 4’s primetime drama NY-LON and more recently the BAFTA-nominated documentary McCullin.
Scott has worked across commercials, film, music and documentary for the past decade, garnering two Gold Clios for editing. He has collaborated on a number of projects with director Harmony Korine, edited Gia Coppola’s acclaimed feature Palo Alto, and most recently, worked on Die Antwoord’s hugely popular "Ugly Boy" video.
Formerly a sr. producer at Rock Paper Scissors, Stitch EP Batter arrives with a track record of producing major campaigns for Adidas, Nike, Old Spice and Verizon Wireless. For the latter she was the editorial producer on the lauded “A Lot Can Happen In 48 Hours” starring Edward Norton and directed by Matthijs van Heijningen of MJZ for agency mcgarrybowen.
Stitch has established itself firmly in the U.K. over the past four years under the aegis of founders/editors McGraw, Leo King and Tim Hardy. Stitch also maintains recently formed sister company Homespun. Specializing in digital content, music videos and short films, Homespun’s main intent is to marry editors and assistant editors with rising young directors on creative projects.
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