New York/San Francisco-based content creation/production studio BODEGA has expanded its national business development team, bringing on board Janice Wagdy for Midwest live action sales representation and Corey Rosen as sr. creative account executive in San Francisco. Liz Laine will continue to rep BODEGA in the Midwest, specific to its animation division offerings. Rosen will lead direct to client business development on the West Coast, leveraging his diverse background in the creative space, spanning work as a VFX supervisor, director, writer and marketing and business development director. Rosen will work out of BODEGA’s recently expanded San Francisco office. Bob Cagliero, BODEGA EP/business development, said that the additions of Wagdy and Rosen complement the company’s diverse client base and brand trajectory with specific, targeted sales and client service….
Production company DECON has brought on former Tool of North America head of development Mike Lobikis as head of strategy and development. Alongside executive producer Misha Louy, Lobikis will spearhead the production company’s business development and brand partnerships across traditional media, digital and experiential projects. Lobikis has over a decade of experience representing award-winning creative talent at industry shops that have earned major industry accolades including Emmys, Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clios, Webbys, AICP Awards, One Show and many more. Lobikis will lead the growth of DECON’s Los Angeles office, expanding its directorial roster, and client partnerships globally. He will work to fuse the diverse creative talents of DECON’s directorial roster with sister media and content company Mass Appeal’s entertainment and cultural caché to bring in-house creative and media expertise to brand clients….
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More