DDB New York has hired Madison Wharton to serve as chief production officer. Wharton will be responsible for creating a new operational model and new capabilities for the integrated needs of the agency. She will report to Chris Brown, president and CEO of DDB New York.
This hire is the latest in a string of senior appointments for DDB New York under Brown, who has brought on board Icaro Doria, chief creative officer, and other key executives focused on content and innovation.
Wharton previously served as The Barbarian Group’s executive director of production, where she oversaw production of the creative agency’s work across all media, including video, web, mobile, products and campaigns, while also focusing on operations, developing new agency offerings and managing the agency’s production department.
Before that, Wharton was head of integrated production at Momentum Worldwide, responsible for building and managing an integrated five-office production department for North America. While there, she also established production processes that were implemented across the company’s North American and United Kingdom offices.
Previous to her time at Momentum, Wharton was at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, where she worked on broadcast, digital out of home, interactive and experiential media with a focus on real-time content creation.
Over the course of her 15-year career, Wharton has worked with blue-chip brands including Pepsi, Samsung, GE, Google, Burger King, Microsoft, Volkswagen and American Express. She has produced for awarded directors David Lynch, Spike Lee, Gary Oldman and Werner Herzog. Her work has been recognized at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, D&AD, the Clios, and the Effies.
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