In a move that signifies a commitment to its core postproduction business, boutique content company The Underground has brought on executive producer Nick Strange Thye.
Thye’s appointment comes on the heels of veteran production executive Hugh Broder being named as The Underground’s managing director/executive producer at the beginning of the year.
Thye was a sr. producer at The Mill, overseeing a range of projects, including spots for the NFL for Super Bowl 50, Cadillac for The Oscars and Samsung for the Olympics, as well as ads for adidas, the US Marine Corps and PlayStation 4, collaborating with such agencies as Johannes Leonardo, BBDO, Droga5, Rokkan and BBH. Thye, who’s from Denmark, previously worked in Europe as an international executive producer for several companies, including Chimney Group.
At The Underground, he’ll work closely with Broder as well as creative director/lead Flame artist Nic Seresin. Recent projects at the studio include extensive postproduction on a new Hyundai campaign for Innocean as well as a soon-to-be-released short film for Aston Martin.
“I believe in the flexibility of boutique companies,” said Thye. “They represent the future for this industry. The business is changing to be more project-based, and The Underground has the ability to build the right team for each project. Because of my European background, I have a lot of experience doing this, and I’m eager to put that expertise to work here.”
The Underground is part of the P2P Group, which also includes P2P Retouching, a leading presence in the beauty industry for the past two decades. The expansion of the umbrella group is a concerted effort led by company owner Ben Bettenhausen.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More