Stept Studios has expanded its partnership with rep firm Simpatico. Since 2020, Simpatico has represented Stept on the East Coast. Now that territorial reach is extended to the West Coast as well. In tandem, Stept is pushing east with the opening of a New York office. The Simpatico team includes founder Jolie Miller and partner Dunja Jovicic. Stept continues to maintain bases of operation in Los Angeles, Toronto and Jackson Hole, Wyoming…..
Kelly Sarno of Agency Arts has taken on music video representation for production house Believe. Sarno has produced content (with combined online views over 1.5 billion) for such artists as David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, My Chemical Romance, Sia, Jack White, Michael Buble, Christina Aguilera, Seal, The Cure, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica and many more, including Believe director Floria Sigismondi’s earliest music videos…
Vancouver, B.C.-based independent creative studio The Embassy, known for its visual effects work, has secured representation on the East Coast of the U.S. by partnering with management company and creative consultancy Apostle featuring the expertise of managing director Carl Forsberg and talent rep Justin Lasoff….
L.A.-based creative agency Saylor has hired digital marketer Rebecca Smythe as its account supervisor. Smythe’s experience spans across traditional studios, streamers and agencies. At Saylor she will lend her client-side experience and approach to digital marketing campaigns for the agency’s roster of studios including Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix, overseeing client accounts alongside founder Will Trowbridge. Smythe started her marketing career at Fox Searchlight Pictures, learning from its prolific marketing team and working on campaigns for pictures including Birdman and The Shape of Water. She swiftly rose through the ranks to become the studio’s digital marketing supervisor, overseeing Searchlight’s brand pages and liaising directly with fan audiences to craft Searchlight’s brand personality. From Fox she shifted to Netflix, where she met Saylor founder Trowbridge during her time on the awards marketing team. Afterward, she moved to Starz, where she was a pivotal part of digital marketing campaigns for some of the highest performing series on the network including three Power franchise spinoffs, P-Valley and BMF….
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