Director Casey Storm has signed with production company Arts & Sciences for U.S. representation.
Storm has been directing commercials for just over four years, though having grown up an L.A. native with a vaudevillian comic for a grandpa and a sitcom director for a father, he’s essentially been in the creative and film industry his entire life. His passions have always included acting and directing, but he initially found success as a costume designer.
A spur-of-the-moment trip to Reno with some friends including Spike Jonze, whom Storm had never met until then, led to the two becoming quick pals and it is Jonze who suggested Storm try his hand at styling. His first job ended up being the music video for the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. Following that project, which earned him a handful of awards and a budding relationship with the folks at Propaganda Films, his career took off. Costume design credits include the films Being John Malkovich, Zodiac and Her as well as music videos for Michael Jackson, Notorious B.I.G. and many others. However, directing continued to be his desired pursuit and so in 2013 he began developing his reel with the help of Eric Stern of Anonymous Content. Storm’s first directing project was a music video for Maceo Paisley. That and a fashion film for Geren Ford earned Storm inclusion in SHOOT’s Spring 2014 feature coverage of Up-and-Coming Directors to watch. He has since gone on to work with brands like Paypal, Apple, Hulu, Expedia and Halo Top.
Storm credits his directing style to being around his father, the alluded to Howard Storm, on the set of shows like Mork and Mindy and Alf, and while part of that may be true, his varied past experiences, hard work and natural creative talents also lend themselves well to the trade. Casey Storm had been most recently with Anonymous Content prior to joining Arts & Sciences.
“Casey’s creative background and relationship with visual comedy serves him well as a director,” said Mal Ward, managing partner, Arts & Sciences. “We’re impressed by the caliber of his work and are excited to team up to create more.”
Storm said he’s been a “fan” of Arts & Sciences, having known for some time its architects, managing partner Ward, director/partner Matt Aselton and executive producer/partner Marc Marrie. “I appreciate the quality of projects that Arts & Sciences take on, both commercial and non, and the way in which they’re approached,” said Storm. “I’m excited to join a close-knit roster of directors whose talent I admire, and I look forward to seeing what we create.”
Storm and Arts & Sciences are represented on the West Coast by Dexter Randazzo at The Department of Sales, in the Midwest by Mary Kate Hatfield at MKH Representation, and on the East Coast by Tara Averill, John Robertson and Erin Wahed at Representation Co.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More