Saatchi & Saatchi UK has appointed Jess Ringshall as chief production officer.
The newly created role will see production play a bigger part in the ideation process. Ringshall joins and will work closely with the executive team, reporting to CEO Chris Kay.
Ringshall comes from a varied background having worked across entertainment and advertising, helping brands tap into cultural moments. She joins Saatchi & Saatchi from 750mph, where she spent 18 months as EP and worked with brands such as IKEA, PlayStation and Bodyform.
Prior to 750mph, Ringshall co-founded and ran a consultancy business, which specialized in entertainment partnerships and helping brands and agencies better understand, access and navigate the world of entertainment.
Before founding her consultancy, she spent nine years at Grey London, rising through the ranks from assistant producer to head of content production, delivering Cannes-winning content for brands including P&G, Lucozade, HSBC and Volvo.
Ringshall said, “It’s an exciting time to join a creative company with such a legacy, and big, bold ambitions for the future. Saatchi & Saatchi is bursting with opportunity for new creative ideas to influence the next generation of tastemakers. My focus is to make our work distinctive and influential by involving production right at the beginning of the process.”
Ringshall’s appointment is the latest in a slew of hires for the agency, including the recent appointments of managing partner Alicia Iveson and strategy partner Olivia Stubbings. The appointment also follows recent new business wins for Churchill, Siemens, and BT Sport.
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