Comedy director Oren Kaplan has joined the commercialmaking roster of ArtClass. Kaplan is known for his expertise in visual effects and his experience working with celebrities, as well as his work with major brands including Amazon, Jeep, Ford, Microsoft, Mattel, Pepsi and Quiznos. He also directed a powerful campaign, replete with Easter eggs, for Concussion Awareness, starring Rebel Wilson, which highlights the importance of recognizing and treating concussions.
“Oren’s approach to filmmaking aligns perfectly with our values at ArtClass,” said managing director Rebecca Niles. “His positivity and can-do attitude aligns with our ethos, and his work is innovative and visually stunning. As soon as I saw the flame-thrower shot from his Rebel Wilson spot, I knew I had met my match. We’ve hit the ground running right out of the gate on some exciting campaigns, and the sky’s the limit.”
Prior to joining ArtClass, Kaplan had been most recently repped in the spot sector by Great Guns USA.
Kaplan’s debut feature, The Hammer, premiered at the 2010 AFI Film Festival, winning the Breakthrough Film Award. The movie is based on the life of UFC fighter Matt Hamill and features a cast of primarily Deaf actors. It won seven consecutive audience awards before its theatrical run and release on Netflix. He followed it up with the pulpy action thriller, A Mother’s Rage, starring Lori Loughlin.
Between directing jobs, Kaplan works as a visual effects artist on films such as Oscar-winners Nomadland and 20th Century Women. He loves talking to other directors and has hosted over 300 episodes of “Just Shoot It,” a podcast about the craft and business of being a filmmaker.
“ArtClass is infused with positivity and supports talent in a genuine way,” said Kaplan. “The passion from the team is electric; they see creative opportunity rather than boundaries and have a hand in shaping both advertising and longform content, which is very compelling to me. I look forward to seeing what we develop together.”
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