INSTITUTE, the commercial production company founded by Lauren Greenfield, has expanded its leadership team with the addition of Sean Lyness as executive producer. Lyness previously worked with INSTITUTE as a freelance line producer on notable projects including Greenfield’s recent WhatsApp campaign “A New Era of Privacy,” Pamela Adlon’s Thinx campaign “How a New Generation Thinx,” and Karyn Kusama’s “Your Voice” PSA for Planned Parenthood.
Lyness brings a versatile, energetic attitude to any project, with extensive producing experience across documentaries, commercials, and branded content. He worked as a field producer on the Academy Award-nominated feature documentaries Life, Animated and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, and has collaborated with brands ranging from Nike and Adidas to Intel and Bose. Following INSTITUTE’s recent brand evolution and tighter integration with its sister companies, Lyness will also work closely with INSTITUTE’s documentary division Girl Culture Studios, which produces film and episodic content. Originally from New York City, he is now based in Los Angeles.
“Sean’s background across advertising, documentary, stills, and entertainment really complements the INSTITUTE approach of telling authentic stories and straddling artistic mediums,” said Tori Palmatier, managing director at INSTITUTE. “Sean played a key role in several of our biggest projects of 2022–including the first-ever commercial shoots for both Pamela and Karyn–so we know and admire his inventive and creative approach to producing every project, and we’re excited to make it official!”
“The world of advertising is influenced so much by culture, often originating from underrepresented communities, but it’s still rare for those communities to have a seat at the table. I deeply believe in the INSTITUTE mission of uplifting underrepresented voices in advertising and actually doing the work of breaking that cycle,” added Lyness. “I’ve had so many positive experiences working with INSTITUTE as a freelancer, when they offered me the EP position it was a no-brainer to come in-house.”
INSTITUTE is repped by Pop Arts on the West Coast, Samuel Guthrey in the Midwest, and Champion on the East Coast.
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