Agency hires Olly Markeson as its planning director
Fallon London has made two key senior hires: João Paulo Testa (JP) as creative director; and Olly Markeson as planning director.
JP joins from F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi. With over 14 years’ experience, JP will report to chief creative officer Chaka Sobhani. JP is the creative mind behind many lauded campaigns, including the latest AMG “Made of Power” project. He will partner with existing creative director Ronaldo Tavares.
Prior to F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, JP was at AlmapBBDO for five years working on brands such as Audi, Volkswagen, Pepsi and Havaianas. He also co-founded Workhäuss, a co-working start up that offers workspaces in unused areas of exclusive bars and restaurants.
Markeson comes over to Fallon London from Virgin Management (the Branson family office) where he was its in-house brand strategist.
With over 11 years’ experience, Markeson prior to Virgin held senior positions at agencies including BMB on McCain, and Grey on Vodafone and Pantene. Earlier he was client side at Procter & Gamble where he led the strategy for teenage perfume brand “XX by Mexx.”
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