LOGAN, a bicoastal content-creation studio, has appointed Paul Abatemarco as executive producer in Los Angeles, adding two decades of production expertise and close work with the world’s largest brands.
Prior to LOGAN, Abatemarco oversaw sales and operations for Brand New School’s West Coast studio, helping guide the company to record growth during that time. Abatemarco also helped lead MPC launch MPC Creative in the United States and has served as executive producer at Stardust. Most recently, Abatemarco was managing director at Los York.
Abatemarco’s experience includes campaigns with brands such as Nike, Google, Target, Adidas, Honda, Ford and Toyota. The commercial and advertising veteran also served on the management side at studios such as Digital Domain and Radium, and was director of operations at postproduction operation R!OT.
LOGAN, along with its roster of directors at Logan & Sons, has worked on recent brand campaigns for Apple, Nike, BMW, Clinique and Cisco, among others. The company’s latest entertainment marketing campaigns include Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet and the Clio award-winning work for 20th Century Fox’s blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse.
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More