Daytime Emmy-nominated studio Hero4Hire Creative has appointed Jane Wu as creative director. She brings to her new roost more than 13 years of experience in art direction and animation design for commercials, films, documentaries, and TV series. Wu’s multidisciplinary expertise will serve the Hero4Hire’s pipeline of motion design, character animation, and mixed media projects.
Evan Sussman, executive creative director for Hero4Hire, noted, “Jane’s design expertise and talent floored us from the start.”
Wu started her career as a storyboard artist, then later branched out to animation and motion design for streaming, broadcast, and digital distribution. Her work has been featured on Netflix, A+E, AMC, PBS Kids, History Channel, ABC, Nickelodeon, Disney, and FX. Wu’s filmography includes “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX), “Sid the Science Kid” (Jim Henson Company/PBS Kids), “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” (Netflix), and “Soul of a Nation” (ABC), the latter of which has drawn rave reviews for her animated Afrofuturism sequence. Beyond show packages, she has art directed and worked on commercials for “Preacher” and “The Walking Dead” (AMC), “The Kid Who Would Be King” and “Family Guy” (Fox), as well as major brands including Nickelodeon, IKEA, Coca-Cola, New York Times, WWE, and Stella Artois.
A native New Yorker and first-generation Asian American, Wu graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, majoring in film & animation and earning awards for her animated student film “Book Girl & Cabinet Girl.” Before Hero4Hire, she served as art Director at creative agency BIGSTAR. Wu enjoys inspiring artists to achieve their highest potential and provides the much-needed link between designers, animators, producers, and clients to create and execute a common vision.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More