Special London has hired the multi-award-winning creative team Gregory Fazal and Thomas Worthington as sr. creatives. The duo will work across Special clients including Employment Hero and Uber. They report to David Day, chief creative officer and partner.
Fazal and Worthington join from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam where they brought the Aurora Borealis to the skies of Manchester for Nike in a campaign that garnered over 8 million views in a week, and became one of Nike Footballโs most viewed films of the year.
During their time at W+K, they also created the โEvery Decision Countsโ work for Google, one of the tech giantโs first ever sustainability campaigns.
Fazal and Worthington started their careers as the first team in the world to win a Yellow, White and Black Pencil for a single piece of work at D&AD New Blood for their Nationwide campaign โHow it should be.โ This landed them a job at Grey London working under Vicki Maguire and Nils Leonard, before they went on to work at BBC Creative, Havas and W+K Amsterdam.
The duoโs creative credits also include brands such as BBC, Volkswagen, Comic Relief and Durex.
Along with creating international award-winning work in advertising, Fazal and Worthington have also directed short films, authored a childrenโs book, a football magazine, comic book and an Apple Top 100 podcast, called Walking on Jupiter, a true story about surviving suicide, narrated by actor Stephen Graham.
CCO Day said, โAs Special London continues to grow, itโs important we find talent that are the embodiment of our values and ambitions; Greg and Thomas deliver and surpass on both counts.โ
In a joint statement, Fazal and Worthington shared what drew them to Special London: โOur mothers never called us special as children so this was our main motivation for joining. Secondary to this was the free Jammy Dodgers. And thirdly it was a chance to help build an agency with some truly, wonderfully, talentedly people.โ
Review: Director-Writer Megan Park’s “My Old Ass”
They say tripping on psychedelic mushrooms triggers hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia and nervousness. In the case of Elliott, an 18-year-old restless Canadian, they prompt a visitor.
"Dude, I'm you," says the guest, as she nonchalantly burns a 'smores on a campfire next to a very high and stunned Elliott. "Well, I'm a 39-year-old you. What's up?"
What's up, indeed: Director-writer Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for "My Old Ass" and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing.
After the older Elliott proves who she is โ they share a particular scar, childhood memories and a smaller left boob โ the time-travel advice begins: Be nice to your brothers and mom, and stay away from a guy named Chad.
"Can we hug?" asks the older Elliott. They do. "This is so weird," says the younger Elliott, who then makes things even weirder when she asks for a kiss โ to know what it's like kissing yourself. The older Elliott soon puts her number into the younger's phone under the name "My Old Ass." Then they keep in touch, long after the effects of the 'shrooms have gone.
Part of the movie's problem that can't be ignored is that the two Elliotts look nothing alike. Maisy Stella plays the coltish young version and a wry Aubrey Plaza the older. Both turn in fine performances but the visuals are slowly grating.
The arrival of the older Elliott coincides with her younger self counting down the days until she can flee from her small town of 300 in the Muskoka Lakes region to college in Toronto, where "my life is about to start." She's sick of life on a cranberry farm.
Park's scenes and dialogue are unrushed and honest as Elliott takes her older self's advice and tries to repair... Read More