Bob Industries has signed two young directors, Alissa Torvinen-Kouame and Randy Wilkins, for U.S. commercial representation. Each is already established in music videos, TV and film and now take on their first representation in the ad arena.
Wilkins is a three-time New York Emmy-winning writer, director, cinematographer, and editor from the Bronx, NY. Wilkins has come up the ranks as a Spike Lee protege, working as an editor and cinematographer on several of the eminent director’s projects, including She’s Gotta Have It and Rodney King, both for Netflix. As a director, Wilkins helmed the ESPN 30 for 30/Lil’ Spike Joint 86-32 which chronicles the story of 19-year-old boxing Olympian Roy Jones, Jr. and the harrowing lesson that all that glitters isn’t gold. In addition, Wilkins has enjoyed success with his award-winning digital series Docket 32357.
Wilkins’ latest effort is directing the series premiere episode of Dear…, featuring Spike Lee for Apple+. Wilkins is currently in development for both his feature script Pray For A Little More Spring and the feature documentary MOVE, while also in co-development for the miniseries Forward Ever. Wilkins’ first foray into commercials came last month with his ad for Major League Baseball’s tribute to the great Jackie Robinson, commemorating Jackie Robinson Day. MLB executives specifically approached Wilkins to direct the ad, and he subsequently singled out Dodgers’ star Mookie Betts to narrate the piece.
Torvinen-Kouame is a visual storyteller with a fresh and vibrant creative perspective, training her eye on moments of lyricism and magic in the everyday world. She has collaborated with artists such as P!nk and Will.I.Am, actors Liev Schreiber and Zooey Deschanel, and has helmed campaigns for clients including Johnson & Johnson, HP, and RAINN. Her first feature film, K-12, is an eerily enchanting feature-length musical film written and starred in by Melanie Martinez to accompany her second studio album. Torvinen-Kouame and Martinez co-directed K-12. The narrative is interwoven with 13 album tracks featuring dance sequences by choreographer Brian Friedman. It opened last year in theaters across 32 countries and garnered over 20 million YouTube views within its first week alone. Torvinen-Kouame’s latest haunting video for Phoebe Bridgers, “I Know the End,” is “a brief cinematic masterpiece, eliciting the chilling horror of a cryptic fever dream. Ending with a spectacular shot in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the video is an unforgettable feat from start to finish,” as described by Frank Ockenfels of Paste Magazine.
T.K. Knowles, executive producer/managing partner at Bob, said, “These two incredibly brilliant young directors are the future of advertising. What they are able to elicit with their visual language and already highly developed sense for natural performance is extraordinary. Our team is looking forward to cultivating their talent and pushing their creative capacity to develop their singular voices further.”
John O’Grady, EP/managing partner at Bob, added, “As a company, we have always strived to introduce new voices that we feel are important to be heard. Both Alissa and Randy are truly inspiring at what they do and we are thrilled to be a part of their creative journey.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More