Butter Music + Sound has promoted Annick Mayer to executive producer in its Venice studio. Mayer has been with Butter for nearly four years as a senior producer in New York and then as a part of the launch team in the Southern California office. She has a diverse background in both music and advertising. Her promotion comes ahead of the launch of Butter Music + Sound’s debut European outpost, which will be led by current LA EP Marcus Nelson.
“Annick and I made a great team launching the West Coast studio,” said Nelson. “And now that we are up and running I’m off to launch Butter in Europe! It makes perfect sense for Annick to take over, as she has proven to be a driving force in our Butter family.”
Mayer followed a love of music to study at Berklee College of Music, eventually making her way to New York City, where she graduated from The New School, studying music and new media. She got her professional start at music marketing firm Sneak Attack Media, working with rising artists of the time such as Calvin Harris. She segued her music expertise into journalism, covering the beat as a freelance music writer and expanding that role to include directing and producing video/photo editorials as a founding editor of creative webzine Arcade44.tv.
In 2010, she shifted into the advertising world, landing the role of associate integrated producer at Saatchi & Saatchi NY. Her passion for music was reignited while collaborating with Butter EP Ian Jeffreys and CCO Andrew Sherman on a music showcase with then Butter artist in residence, Kishi Bashi. She officially joined the Butter team in 2012, migrating west to be a part of the team opening the Venice studio in 2014.
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