Synthetic Pictures has added NYC-based director Kanyessa McMahon to its roster for worldwide representation. Specializing in sports and entertainment content, McMahon’s longtime clients include sports apparel giants Nike and adidas. She has also worked with MTV, i am OTHER, Billionaire Boys Club, Estée Lauder, (RED), and Pacific World Cosmetics.
McMahon is known for her extensive work with Nike and adidas, and she’s among select artisans who have seamlessly navigated between the two competitors to deliver spot on content for both. She’s directed and produced more than 400 international brand films over five years in countries such as the US, Japan, Italy, Austria, and France, featuring athletes and entertainers including Carmelo Anthony, Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant, Big Sean, A$AP Rocky, and Jeremy Scott. Kanyessa also directed the global campaign #mygirls for adidas, featuring young female athletes and empowering women all over the world.
McMahon was featured on the cover of Black Enterprise after starting her own production company at the age of 24. “I’m always trying to get an authentic moment out of the talent, especially when I’m dealing with big brands,” said McMahon. “Finding their voice and maintaining and tapping into that. Even when it’s scripted, I’m really good at pulling authentic moments out of people.”
Synthetic EP Allison Smith said of McMahon, “She’s a strong and creative voice for women and athletes in the media, and her projects resonate so well with those who love an empowering, energetic and unique journey.”
Founded in 2002, Synthetic Pictures has offices in Los Angeles, Austin, and New York City.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More