Droga5 New York has made three key new hires in its production department. Ross Plummer and Amanda Revere have joined as executive broadcast producers, and Shayan Amir-Hosseini comes aboard as executive interactive producer. The three additions come on the heels of Lucia Grillo taking on the newly created role of production development director.
Plummer spent the past eight years at Wieden+Kennedy where he initially served as a producer for the agency’s Amsterdam office. While there he produced notable global campaigns for Coca-Cola, EA, ESPN, Intel, Heineken and Nike. After being transferred to Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Plummer spearheaded production for Nike Global Football/Soccer as sr, integrated producer. Prior to Wieden+Kennedy, Plummer enjoyed a stint in Dubai working for Warner Bros. on the Oscar-winning movie Syriana.
Revere began her production career at Fallon New York, before moving to Fallon’s main office in Minneapolis. She returned to New York in 2011 and was one of the first producers hired at Barton F. Graf 9000. While helping build the production department at Barton F. Graf 9000, she produced award-winning campaigns for Kayak.com, Ragù and Dish Network. Revere joins Droga5 after a year at McCann where she worked on New York Lottery, General Mills, MasterCard, Choice Hotels and Cigna, among others.
Amir-Hosseini joins Droga5 from Google Creative Lab where he worked on the Android Experiments Initiative and helped launch the platform website and a variety of Android applications. He also worked on the Tap to Translate feature you find in the Google Translate app. After his time at the Creative Lab, he helped the Google Access and Energy team, working mostly on content for the Google Onhub router that was released late last year. Prior to Google Creative Lab, Amir-Hosseini worked as a digital executive producer at Saatchi & Saatchi New York and working in the Los Angeles office, as well. During his time at both offices, Amir-Hosseini worked on a variety of digital initiatives, including Ideas for Good, Toyota/Yahoo Fantasy Football Hall of Fame, 100 Cars for Good, as well as the first ever social vehicle configurator (using Google Hangouts).
Sally-Ann Dale, chief creation officer of Droga5, noted that “hiring top talent is critical to business success for our clients, as well as for the agency. Ross, Amanda and Shayan’s considerable talent and extensive expertise will align quite nicely with the momentum we have going. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the future has to offer with them on board.”
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