Bruce Andreini has joined Rokkan as sr. VP, head of integrated production, with Jenny Lee coming aboard as executive producer. Their roles will continue shaping agency Rokkan’s content creation capabilities, servicing clients like Cadillac, Verizon, Hilton, and William Grant & Sons. Andreini and Lee strengthen the shop’s ability to meet client demands for cross-channel content while pushing more nimble production models.
Andreini has worked in advertising for 20 years, spending time at Grey, Deutsch, Publicis and most recently, Saatchi & Saatchi. Andreini has produced numerous award-winning campaigns over the years, including work on brands like JCPenney, Chase, Ikea, Snapple, Lenovo and alcohol brands Heineken, Tecate, Miller Lite and Keystone Light. He will head Rokkan’s integrated content production department and help the agency to expand the model and definition for content.
Lee brings to Rokkan over a decade of production experience with a wide and varied client portfolio. Previously, Lee worked in film and television, lending her talents to TBS and NYC Media before transitioning into advertising. Most recently, as a senior producer at Y&R, she worked on campaigns for Dell, Campbell’s Soup, Cirque du Soleil and Pepperidge Farm. At Rokkan she will dedicate the majority of her time to Cadillac with work spanning television, digital, social and virtual reality.
“Bruce and Jenny bring exceptional expertise creating content for clients of all shapes and sizes,” said John Noe, CEO, Rokkan. “And as commerce and content continue to collide, it’s an imperative for Rokkan to continue to evolve our storytelling ability in tandem with all of the other creative work we do.”
The addition of Andreini and Lee comes after key promotions and hires at Rokkan. Promotions included James Cockerille, chief strategy officer, and Lindsay Williams, chief connections officer. New hires Alex Lea, SVP, executive creative, and Tammy Hwang, SVP, strategy, joined the agency in May 2018.
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