Director Georgi Banks-Davies has joined Skunk for representation in the U.S. and U.K. She becomes the first U.K.-based addition to the roster since the company’s recent opening of its London Soho office. Banks-Davies was previously handled in the U.K. by production company Friend and in the U.S. by Joinery. Quad reps her in France.
Banks-Davies made her first industry mark with the BBC creative department, turning out promos. Her deep passion for directing short form showed, and shortly after she was approached by CNN international and asked to join the creative team as lead director. This role saw Banks-Davies traveling the world, creating commercials and captivating advertorial short films for global brands. She also got to meet and tell the stories of some remarkable people including Nobel Prize-winning Muhammed Yunus, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, architect Daniel Liebskind, politician Rudy Giuliani and filmmaker Martin Scorsese (a career highlight in that he’s a personal hero of Banks-Davies).
Banks-Davies also has to her directorial credit campaigns for such brands as Coca Cola, Nike, O2, AT&T, Swiss Air and Tourism Ireland for which she has won awards at Creative Circle, Epica, Clios and the One Show. Her evocative short film Penny Collectors won at the Barcelona Film Festival and Theo, her compelling three-minute filmic documentary, was nominated at the Promax UK awards. Theo was supported by CNN and aired on that network, as well as at film festivals globally.
Banks-Davies described Skunk as her “dream company,” well positioned to propel and nurture her career in advertising and film, building new enduring collaborative relationships in the process.
Kate Taylor, Skunk’s London managing director, said of Banks-Davies, “She is completely dedicated to her craft with a reel that displays an evolution of work that just keeps improving, especially with the latest addition of her exceptional LTH ‘Energy’ film. She clearly has the makings of a truly great filmmaker and is nuts about photography, which pleases me no end. I can’t wait to work with her.”
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