Commercial production company Superlounge has secured Deirdre Rymer and Rachel Paget of indie rep firm Blush to handle the West Coast. Additionally Ann Asprodites is on board to rep Superlounge in the Southeastern U.S….Marketing executive Jennifer Smith has been named senior VP and chief marketing officer at Avid, based in the company’s Burlington, MA headquarters. Reporting directly to Avid president and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr., Smith will be responsible for driving all aspects of Avid’s worldwide market presence and growth, including its strategic positioning, go-to-market strategies, and all marketing disciplines within the organization. Her role will be vital in fulfilling the Avid Everywhere vision to help media organizations and content creators connect with their audiences more powerfully and efficiently than ever before through innovative technologies such as the industry-changing Avid MediaCentral Platform. Smith will also oversee Avid’s strategic collaboration with customers via the Avid Customer Association. Smith brings 15 years of senior management experience in technology marketing at major software companies both in the U.S. and internationally. She joins Avid from Progress Software, where she held increasingly senior leadership roles on the marketing team before becoming the company’s chief marketing officer and senior VP, and where she led a very successful re-branding initiative. Before her seven years at Progress, Smith held marketing leadership positions in several different companies in Europe, including Peoplesoft and Microsoft….
Michael Gracey Delves Into The Evolution of “Better Man”
Michael Gracey’s feature directorial debut--The Greatest Showman, released in 2017--garnered assorted honors, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, followed shortly thereafter by an Oscar nod for Best Original Song (“This is Me”). During the making of that film, Gracey got a chance to connect with a real-life showman, British pop superstar Robbie Williams, who lent some musical support and morale boosting to its star, Hugh Jackman.
Gracey and Williams developed a rapport with one another on The Greatest Showman and kept in touch. They swapped life experiences and Gracey, who clearly knows a worthwhile story when he hears it, became intrigued by Williams--and how entertaining his tales were. Gracey found it remarkable that despite drug and alcohol abuse, Williams vividly remembered so many details of his life.
Given that Williams had a recording studio at his home, Gracey implored him to commit those memories to audio. With that, a routine was born. Whenever Gracey visited Los Angeles, he’d come to Williams’ home where they’d kibitz in the studio and Williams would talk into the microphone, recollecting different aspects and stages of his life. While the original intent was just to get Williams to share and preserve his story, Gracey began chronologically rearranging these audio clips collected over a year and a half, patching together an a spoken mosaic of William’s life. It was during that process that Gracey realized he had the framework for an engaging narrative film.
That narrative took a seemingly bizarre turn as Gracey sought a departure from the traditional musical biopic. What struck Gracey was Williams referring to himself repeatedly as “a performing... Read More