Susan Neuman has been named to serve in the newly created role of SVP, head of production, at Barkley, an independent agency in Kansas City.
“The creation of the role comes after a year of supernova growth in our production department—not only in size, but the array of things we’re producing and kinds of companies we’re working with,” said Jason Elm, Barkley executive creative director. “Susan has already been instrumental in that growth, and she’s the right person to lead it going forward.”
In her previous role as VP, executive producer, Neuman worked with Barkley leadership to revamp production protocols to support non-traditional marketing efforts.
“I hate to see an amazing idea get killed because it’s not clear how to make it happen,” said Neuman. “In this new role, I’m even better positioned to push forward solutions.”
Neuman joined Barkley in 2014 to head up production efforts for the International Dairy Queen account. Neuman previously served as VP/executive producer at Bernstein-Rein Advertising, another Kansas City independent, working on national broadcast and digital campaigns for Wal-Mart, Time Warner Cable, Hostess, Petsmart, McDonald’s and Ruby Tuesday, among others. Immediately before Barkley, she held a sr. manager role on the client side with Applebee’s Marketing Communications team , on point with then-agency of record CP+B, to produce national broadcast work and other integrated marketing initiatives.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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