Mary Knox, who most recently served as managing director of commercials for New York-based animation and mixed media production company Curious Pictures, has been hired as managing director of Red Car New York, which maintains a roster of editors that includes Deidre Bell, JP Cadaveira, Charlie Cusumano, Jonathan Edwards, Joe K, John Maloney, Anthony Marinelli, and Wendy Rosen. Additionally, all of Red Car’s editors in its offices throughout the U.S. and internationally are available to work out of any Red Car shop in the global network.
Beyond its core of creative editors, Red Car offers clients an ensemble of producers, designers and visual effects artists backed by a state-of-the-art technical infrastructure, as well as complete finishing services. The company also maintains a Redhead division with animation, design, and VFX talent and resources.
“Curious grew dramatically under Mary’s leadership, and the work she produced won many awards including an Emmy, several Webbys, One Show Pencils, and numerous AICP nominations,” said editor/director Larry Bridges, founder of Red Car, about the appointment. “I’ve known her for a long time and have always respected and admired her management abilities and her knowledge of the business. She’s going to be an enormous asset for Red Car as we enter a period of tremendous change in our industry.”
During Knox’s tenure at Curious she successfully expanded the company’s directorial roster to include a range of talents beyond the animation genre, including Steve Chase, Greg Ramsey, Douglas Keeve, and David Turnley. She also oversaw the development of the studio’s roster of animation directors, bringing on several promising new talents such as Ugly Pictures (now directors Rohitash Rao and Abraham Spear), man vs magnet (Matt Smithson) and Hayley Morris, all of whom have gone on to produce notable work. Knox, who joined Curious in 2005 as executive producer, oversaw all of the company’s advertising assignments, which included the production of TV commercials as well as longer format web video work, network promos and show opens.
Of Bridges, Knox said, “Larry is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in this business, so it’s beyond exciting now to become part of the Red Car team. The Red Car brand is one of the strongest in the entire ad industry–not just among editing companies–and I look forward to working with Larry to realize his exciting ideas for the creative manifest destiny that lays ahead for us.”
Knox succeeds Jennifer Lederman in running Red Car New York. Lederman served as overall national managing director of Red Car before joining New York-headquartered creative editorial house BlueRock as VP/managing director (SHOOTonline, 2/23).
Prior to joining Curious, Knox represented a number of top production and post production companies, including Lost Planet, The Whitehouse, Believe Media, and A Band Apart. She began her career as a journalist and segued into advertising, working as a copywriter for Hill Holliday and Young & Rubicam. She then was named editor of what is now SHOOT.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More