Creative content company Alkemy X has ramped up through two major moves. First, Alkemy X has entered into a joint venture with multidisciplinary studio Quietman. In addition, Alkemy X has brought on director and creative director Megan Oepen.
The Quietman deal will see founder and creative director Johnnie Semerad moving the operations of his company into Alkemy X, where both parties will share all creative talent, resources, and capabilities.
“Quietman’s reputation of high-end, award-winning work is a tribute to Johnnie’s creative and entrepreneurial spirit,” said Justin B. Wineburgh, Alkemy X president and CEO. “Over the course of two decades, he grew and evolved Quietman from a fledgling VFX boutique to one of the most renowned production companies in advertising and branded content. By joining forces with Alkemy X, we’ll no doubt build on each other’s legacies collectively.”
Semerad co-founded Quietman in 1996 as a Flame-based visual effects company. Since then, it has expanded into the full gamut of production and postproduction services, producing more than 100 Super Bowl spots, and earning a Cannes Grand Prix, two Emmy Awards, and many other honors along the way.
“What I’ve learned over the years is that you have to constantly reinvest and reinvent, especially as clients increasingly demand start-to-finish projects,” said Semerad. “Our partnership with Alkemy X will elevate how we serve existing and future clients together, while bolstering our creative and technical resources to reach our potential as commercial filmmakers.”
Alkemy X is also teaming up with Oepen, an award-winning creative director and live-action director with 20 years of broadcast, sports and consumer brand campaign experience. Notable clients include Google, the NBA, MLB, PGA, NASCAR, Dove Beauty, Gatorade, Sprite, ESPN, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, Regal Cinemas, Chick-Fil-A, and Yahoo! Sports. Oepen was formerly the executive producer and director for Red Bull’s Non-Live/Long Format Productions group, and headed Under Armour’s Content House. She was also the creator behind Under Armour Originals and is a a featured director on Free the Bid.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More