Ad agency Eleven, Inc. has appointed Gary Stein as group director of marketplace insights, and Monique Verrier as director of creative services. Both are newly created positions at the shop.
Stein will focus on expanding the agency’s abilities to connect to consumers throughout their journey. His expertise in research and insight, coupled with his ability to map out a client’s business landscape will drive Eleven’s media and communications strategies. He will report to Alison Fowler, Eleven’s chief activation officer. Prior to joining Eleven, he was the sr. VP of strategy at Sterling Brands and served in strategy and management positions at Isobar and iCrossing.
Verrier will act as an advocate for Eleven’s creative teams, overseeing professional development, leading recruiting and resourcing efforts and providing mentorship for young creative leaders. She will report to Mike McKay, Eleven’s chief creative officer. She brings global experience in making personal and professional connections as the founder and principal of ADEPT Creative Project Management, a training series offering a curriculum for project managers who manage projects and people in creatively-driven environments. She previously managed creative departments at Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
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