Ascent Media Group has acquired substantially all the assets of Beast, an editorial house with shops in Santa Monica, New York, and Austin, Tex., as well as international outposts/affiliations. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“There is no doubt that the world, and more specifically our business, is undergoing changes of seismic proportions,” said Valerie Petrusson, managing partner at Beast. “This alliance allows us to take advantage of Ascent’s global reach and scale and better positions us to lead our clients through the technology and business model challenges ahead.”
Since opening its doors in 2006, Beast has amassed a diverse body of work spanning commercials, features, TV drama, music videos and web virals. On the long-form front, Beast cut For One More Day for Harpo Films. Commercials include he Cannes International Ad Fest-recognized “Butcher” for AT&T, as well as jobs for Reebok, Southwest Airlines, Toyota, BMW, and Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Igor Kovalik, co-founder and editor at Beast, said one of the factors that attracted him to Ascent was the reputation of its postproduction and visual effects facilities, which include Company 3 and Method. “Beast has always operated as an intimate creative environment….The people at Ascent share our commitment and passion. The company’s entrepreneurial spirit and culture was a key factor in us forming this relationship.”
Complementing Beast’s lineup of editorial talent is Ascent’s existing roster at Filmcore, which includes Doug Walker, as well as Lucas Eskin and Michael Elliot. Both Eskin and Elliot came over from the recently shuttered Mad River Post (SHOOT, 4/25).
“The addition of Beast underscores our intent to enhance the best editorial offering in the industry. Beast brings a wealth of expertise and experience, which will help us better respond to the shifting dynamics in the market and accelerate our strategic efforts to extend our services into broad, multi-platform, post-production solutions,” said Jose Royo, CEO of Ascent Media.
Santa Monica-headquartered Ascent Media Group, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascent Media Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCMA), which provides creative and technical services to the media and entertainment industries. Through more than 40 facilities in regions of Southern California, New York, Atlanta, London and Singapore, Ascent Media provides solutions for the creation, management and distribution of content to major motion picture studios, independent producers, broadcast networks, cable channels, advertising agencies and other companies that produce, own and/or distribute entertainment, news, sports, corporate, educational, industrial and advertising content.
Review: Director Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson
So you think YOUR job is bad?
Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it'll never be as bad as Robert Pattinson's in Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" — nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.
Mickey, you see, is an "Expendable," and by this we don't mean he's a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone's tired band of mercenaries ("Expend17ables"?). No, even worse! He's literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be "reprinted" once again as the next Mickey.
And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Parasite." There's creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.
The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn't know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he's adapting here is called "Mickey7" — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.
The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he's part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He's surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: "Haven't you died yet?"
How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan... Read More