Three-time AICE Award winner Doug Cox has launched production and postproduction collective The Cabinet, with industry veteran Jim Vaughan on board as executive producer. Vaughan joins director/editor Cox, editor Stu Barnes and production manager Scott Wickman at the company, which is currently in production on two projects via Cutwater: a multi-platform broadcast and online campaign for Visit Santa Barbara, and a digital campaign for MD Save. Earlier this year, Vaughan executive produced Cox’s post work on the California Tobacco Control Program’s anti-vaping project “Wake Up,” created via Duncan/Channon. Based on research that teens who use e-cigarettes are three times more likely to smoke traditional cigarettes one year later, the work features Blondie’s “One Way or Another” and is enjoying heavy airplay.
Cox, Vaughan, Barnes and Wickman formerly worked together at Misfit which won Best in San Francisco distinction at last year’s AICE Awards for the 90-second Google/YouTube spot “Watch It Work” from San Francisco agency Camp + King.
As a VP/ sr. producer with tenures at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GSP), Publicis & Hal Riney, and Arnold Worldwide, Vaughan presided over numerous high-profile campaigns, notably the Michael Moore-directed Anti-Tobacco Campaign for the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health (Arnold/Boston), Foster Farms’ “Imposters and Chicken Chorus” (GSP/SF) and Comcast HD’s “Interventions” (GSP/SF). Vaughan earned his Bachelor of Arts from Bridgewater State University and began his advertising career in the mailroom at Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson in Boston, where he became a producer. After a fruitful agency career, collaborating on award-winning brand work from Boston to San Francisco, for Apple, Google and others, Vaughan transitioned to the post side, now joining The Cabinet’s team of creative storytellers delivering TV and digital media content.
Like Vaughan, Cox began his career on the agency side, spending eight years with Publicis & Hal Riney as what he described as “a swiss army knife,” directing, editing and producing content. He also freelanced extensively, executing global work with agencies and brands, including GSP, BBDO, JWT, EVB, Duncan/Channon, Cutwater, DOJO, Swirl, Levi’s, Old Navy, Walmart, Coinstar and Google.
On the production and post side, Cox’s rosterships include Barbary Post, Umlaut Films and Misfit, most recently working on projects for Colorado agencies SRG, LXRD and Grenadier. He is an ADDY winner, as well as a three-time AICE Award winner (and nine-time nominee), including two awards for Best of San Francisco, in 2012 and 2015.
“Our pool of artists meets the needs of agency and client-direct producers seeking a one-stop shop,” concluded Cox. “On a more existential level, this company is simply where I was always meant to be.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More