Global creative audio network Squeak E. Clean Studios has tapped Michael Gross (MG) as executive creative producer out of its Los Angeles studio. In addition to overseeing work from Squeak E. Clean Studios’ West Coast office, MG will collaborate with the company’s team of producers, creative directors and artists to continue to bolster strategic growth with a focus on brand-direct creative solutions. This direction will leverage the studio’s expertise to design integrated audio strategies that reimagine a brand’s multifaceted sonic touchpoints with its audience.
MG’s diverse experience across agency, client and freelance posts informs a holistic approach to creative audio and music solutions at the intersection of media arts, technology and advertising. He most recently filled the role of sr. creative producer at Google, overseeing the launch of cloud-gaming platform Stadia. Prior, he held freelance posts as music creative director of Twitter, and music director for Droga5’s D5X Festival. As a music supervisor, brand consultant and producer, he has collaborated with brands such as Audi, Energizer, Google, the NFL, Nissan and Samsung, among others.
Oscillating between producer and music supervisor roles, MG cut his teeth in his native Los Angeles as agency music supervisor for TBWAChiatDay and Omelet, before moving to the U.K. to take on fashion and music editorial pursuits as head of music for AllSaints, developing its brand music strategy, talent partnerships, retail audio playlisting, whitelabel music video platform, creative direction and more. After three years abroad, he returned stateside, where has continued to grow his experience across the agency and brand sides of the industry.
His appointment serves to accelerate Squeak E. Clean Studios’ rapid growth in recent weeks, joining Matthew “Cornbread” Compton as sr. composer out of New York as well as Amanda Patterson stepping into the national role of head of production.
Hamish Macdonald, managing director of Squeak E. Clean Studios, said, “MG’s breadth of experience and expertise on both the agency and brand side will be invaluable as we continue to grow across all our studios. His deep knowledge and passion for music and producing industry-defining work is aligned with the DNA of Squeak E. Clean Studios and I’m excited to continue to push the limits of what we can do together.”
Added Gross, ”I’ve worked with Squeak E. Clean Studios as a client for nearly a dozen years and I’ve always been such a huge fan of them as a company and the work that they produce. Their focus on best-in-class creative music solutions has always excited me as a producer that is passionate about being immersed in the creative process. I’m excited to explore holistic, multifaceted–and altogether new–ways to work with brands that push the boundaries of how brands connect to consumers with audio.”
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