The Mill, a Technicolor Creative Studio, has added four directors to its roster. Michael Jurkovac, Shaun Leong-Williams and the duo Left Shoe Lost have each joined the production studio for global representation.
Award-winning live-action director Jurkovac has joined the The Mill after founding The Bridge Co., a shop designed to connect top creatives and brands. Jurkovac made the jump from producer to director in 2008 and has since directed Super Bowl work for Ram Trucks and ESPN, in addition to projects for Alicia Keys, John Legend, David Guetta, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus.
Leong-Williams is a multi-disciplinary director with a rich background in motion design, honing his skills working on major campaigns across the world for brands such as Nike and Pepsi. Using a multi-media approach to his directorial work, Leong-Williams has a rich visual foundation to draw from and often plays with contrasting visual styles.
Directorial duo Left Shoe Lost consists of Aussie mates and animation artisans Steve Beck and Dael Oates. Their creative journey started in Sydney, Australia, where Oates was an award-winning commercial and short film director and Beck the head of animation at the Animal Logic studio. Since, Beck and Oates have combined creative forces to develop the directing collective Left Shoe Lost that has produced acclaimed work for Dairy Queen and Wholly Guacamole as well as the award-winning animated children’s book “The Adventures of Cloud Girl.” Oates meanwhile continues to be repped as a solo live-action director in the U.S. by production house Chromista.
Jurkovac, Leong-Williams and Left Shoe Lost bring The Mill’s global directorial roster to over 40 diverse creatives, with specialists across linear film, immersive experiences, live action, design and animation.
Alex Schneider, global chief brand officer, described the latest directors to join The Mill as “creative talents with a diverse offering to our roster.” He continued, “Our ambition is to work closely with brands and agencies to offer up the world’s best creative production talent, building on our legacy for visual effects to offer a holistic, end-to-end production solution. Not only do we hope to offer our collaborators the very best creative solutions, but also provide our talent with the environment within which they can create the work they are most proud of.”
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