Ryan Barkan and Mike Ladman have joined Droga5 New York as music supervisors, two new roles at the agency. Barkan and Ladman will further develop Droga5’s music and audio capabilities while seeking new opportunities for the agency and clients within traditional and nontraditional spaces. Barkan and Ladman will report to Droga5’s chief creation officer, Sally-Ann Dale.
Barkan joins Droga5 with 11 years of music industry experience as a sync-licensing and brand-partnerships specialist. He started his career at EMI Music Publishing, followed by a seven-year run at independent music publisher/management firm Primary Wave. As partner/executive creative director of licensing at Primary Wave, Barkan brokered creative partnerships between Wieden+Kennedy and Daniel Johnston and The Martin Agency and Def Leppard, respectively. His next venture took him to Warner Bros. Records as VP, creative licensing for ads, where he worked on releases from the Black Keys, Damon Albarn, Tom Petty and Royal Blood, to name a few. Barkan has licensed music for numerous brands over his career, such as Activision, Apple, Buick, Burger King, GMC, Google, Nike, Nissan, Sony and Southern Comfort.
Ladman comes from McCann Erickson, where he held the role of music producer for the past seven years. During that time, he provided music for clients across the agency’s roster, including Microsoft, the U.S. Army, Verizon, MasterCard, Weight Watchers, Nikon, Jose Cuervo, Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Postal Service, General Mills and L’Oréal. Most recently, he managed the music supervision for an indie film, Tracktown, which recently premiered at the LA Film Festival.
“After working on the label and publisher sides of the music business for over a decade, it is exciting to help shape Droga5’s musical point of view, as well be a part of the creative process at the agency,” said Barkan. “While Mike and I have diverse professional skills and experience, we share the same creative and forward-thinking vision for strategic music integration, and look forward to creating a dynamic, well-rounded music team together.”
Ladman added, “The opportunity to join the Droga5 team to develop the music department with someone as talented and experienced in music branding partnerships as Ryan is humbling. I’m thrilled about this new venture at Droga5 and can’t wait to push the boundaries of advertising, innovative content and engagement through the power of music.”
Droga5’s chief creation officer Dale noted, “For a long time we have succeeded quite well in positioning music for our brands. With the growth of the agency and the increased diversity of our work, this is the perfect time to add this greater expertise into our offering to better serve our clients. We’re looking forward to creating innovative and strategic partnerships to enhance the way in which Droga5 clients interact with music.”
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More