Publicis Groupe UK has hired Clare Donald as its chief production officer.
With 25+ years’ experience in production and film, Donald will lead both Publicis Groupe UK and production partner Prodigious’ cross-discipline production offering. The heads of production at individual Publicis UK agencies–including Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Publicis.Poke–will have a reporting line to Donald as well as to their respective agency creative leads.
In her new role, Donald will oversee production and delivery of best-in-class marketing for all U.K. clients. She will work closely with Ben Mooge, CCO of Publicis Groupe UK, to raise the level of craft and creativity across Publicis Groupe UK agencies.
Donald joins from Unreasonable Studios where she was global managing director. In this capacity, she ran full service studio offerings across seven offices in six countries, developing cross-company collaboration to enhance both craft and efficiency.
Prior to Unreasonable Studios, Donald was at Ogilvy London as its chief production officer where she worked closely with its then CEO Annette King and her leadership team.
Before joining Ogilvy, Donald led the multi-award winning Google Creative Lab EMEA for three-and-a-half years as head of operations, managing a talented team of producers, coders, creatives and designers. Donald has also worked at such agencies as Havas Worldwide, Mother and JWT), production companies including Stink, Gorgeous and Partizan, and in feature film production.
This year, she was appointed co-chair of the British Arrows as recognition of her breadth of expertise within the production industry.
King, who is now Publicis Groupe UK CEO, said, “We understand the unique and varied challenges facing our clients and having Clare join us reflects the importance of production as a multi-discipline capability for our clients. I’m delighted to be working with Clare again and know that she will bring an impressive heritage of finding new paths to growth through our connected and agile operating model.”
Donald added, “As deliverables and platforms multiply, the role of production is ever more critical to success for any client. I am excited about taking my production company, agency and client experience to create a truly future facing solution.”
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More