O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul (OKRP) has hired Elena Robinson as its head of production with the goal of redefining, expanding, and growing its production capabilities. She takes over leadership of both the agency’s production work for clients and its independent production capability from long-time agency exec Scott Mitchell who will refocus on producing key agency projects at OKRP, with the new title of executive producer.
Industry vet Robinson’s resume includes everything from Cannes-winning brand work to integrated production jobs at agencies like Energy BBDO, R/GA, and Leo Burnett. Starting her career on the TV side with the Oprah Winfrey led series, Brewster Place, Robinson has worked on nearly every side of the production table from full-service agency to start up digital and everything in between. Most recently she spent the past year in-house at Allstate, managing client-side production. Before that she worked for independent production company Wayfair Entertainment, shooting award-winning, purpose-driven branded documentaries.
“Elena’s the leader we need right now to build on our past success and define and drive our next era through a time of unprecedented upheaval in the industry fueled by changing production demands and the impact of COVID,” explained Tom O’Keefe, CEO of OKRP. “She’s produced great work at every scale and has true command of the constantly ‘blurring lines’ between marketing, entertainment, innovation and art.”
OKRP has rapidly grown its production capabilities through its stand-alone production unit. Over the past year it has produced hundreds of television commercials, radio spots and unique digital and social videos as well as still content for online video, photography and social posts. It also produces print and out-of-home materials for such clients as the Illinois Lottery and the State of Illinois which rely heavily on out of home.
“OKRP is experiencing an impressive period of growth, and being able to put my experience to work here is a wonderful convergence of timing and opportunity. I’m very glad to be a part of it. And their active commitment to the pressing social issues of the day is super important to me,” said Robinson who added, “I believe that as producers, we bring good ideas to life. We take it from the page to the screen and out into the world. Our goal is to enhance the idea through creative execution.”
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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