Jay D. Roth, the Directors Guild of America’s national executive director, announced two new executive appointments: Rachel Paster is joining the DGA as assistant executive director in the Guild’s New York offices, and Steven Knauss has been promoted to assistant executive director in the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.
Paster will be involved in the administration of the Guild’s film and television agreements and represent assistant directors and unit production managers in the Eastern region. Paster, who will report to Eastern executive director Neil Dudich, will also serve as staff liaison to the Guild’s Eastern AD/UPM Council.
In his new role, Knauss will represent assistant directors and unit production managers in the Western region, serve as the staff liaison to the Guild’s Western AD/UPM Council, and oversee matters related to set safety. Knauss will report to Western executive director Danny Bush.
Roth said of Pater and Knauss, “Their labor relations and union experience will be a valuable asset in negotiating and enforcing DGA agreements. We look forward to putting their extensive experience and skills to use in the service of our AD and UPM members.”
Paster has more than 15 years of experience in union-side labor law. Prior to joining the DGA, she was a partner in the labor law firm Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis where she focused on representing labor unions in contract negotiations. She has also worked for Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP and Cary Kane LLP, as well as the County Attorney for Nassau County, New York. Paster received both her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Michigan.
Knauss joined the Guild in 2013 as a field representative. Prior to that, he held a number of positions in Nevada and Florida Locals of the Service Employees International Union where he most recently served as healthcare division director and chief negotiator for Local 1107. Knauss received both his B.A. and M.A. from Appalachian State University.
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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