Bicoastal Rocket Film has added director Nick Piper to its roster. A multitalented, visually-driven storyteller with a notable background as a visual effects artist and supervisor, Piper has spent over two decades honing his craft at production companies such as Backyard, B-Reel and VFX studio Chemical Effects. Now as part of Rocket Film, he’s looking to work on commercials, shorts, documentary and other long-form fare. His body of work ranges from digital effects on the Cannes Gold Lion-winning, Ad Meter-topping “Innertube” Super Bowl spot for Pepsi to more recent directing efforts for brands including Google, GM, Hyundai, Nissan, Home Depot and Procter & Gamble….
Rebecca Sykes has been named global CEO of video content creation network MOFILM. Promoted from her role as managing director of Europe for MOFILM, Sykes will now lead the growth and development of the tech-driven, diverse community of filmmakers, reporting directly to David Jones, founder and CEO of You & Mr Jones, the majority owner of MOFILM. Based in London, she will join Trak Ellis-Hill, recently promoted to UK executive creative director, and Elizabeth Hunter, CFO, in building on the company’s track record for connecting leading marketers with innovative creators to tell meaningful brand stories at scale. Over the past several years, Sykes has risen through the ranks at MOFILM serving as account director, group account director, and most recently as managing director before stepping into her current role. Among her extensive projects for the company, she led Chevrolet’s Super Bowl campaign, providing the automotive brand with the 2012 game’s highest performer on the Super Bowl Ad Meter, and helmed an Oscar program for the brand as well, which offered mentoring to filmmakers around the world from Titanic and Avatar producer Jon Landau. Sykes also developed and launched the Academy of African Filmmakers in partnership with Guinness, building a community of 3,000 filmmakers across Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Through MOFILM’s efforts, the network created pan-African television commercials and digital content for Guinness, drawing from real insights, local talent and stories within Africa. After its initial launch, Unilever signed on to sponsor the Academy for the next two years. The innovative campaign received five Loerie Awards nominations. In addition, Sykes oversaw Cupidity, MOFILM’s anthology of quirky, honest love stories for teens. The project included the creation of a series of short films for Unilever’s ice cream brand Cornetto, which generated more than half a billion views by the end of the third season and eventually secured the brand’s first-ever Cannes Lion. In lockstep with MOFILM’s mission to help brands connect with diverse audiences, the first initiative launching under Sykes’ leadership is “Many Voices,” a year-long program that asks the MOFILM community to make films centered around big issues, bringing diverse insights and perspectives to the table to drive positive change. Prior to MOFILM, Sykes worked on the brand side at GM in Europe, holding key roles between 2007 and 2011, leading European social media strategy, as well as handling direct marketing, online advertising and media innovation for the company’s various automotive lines….
Michael Goi, ASC, ISC, has been named the 2018 Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), one of the world’s premier institutions for entertainment and performing arts education. Goi has earned Emmy® nominations for his work on American Horror Story, Glee and My Name Is Earl and ASC Award nominations for The New Normal pilot, American Horror Story, and the television movies The Fixer and Judas. He has more than 70 credits to his name, including the television series Salem and The Mentalist and the feature film The Town That Dreaded Sundown. He has directed the feature films Megan Is Missing and Mary, starring Gary Oldman, as well as multiple episodes of American Horror Story and other shows. Goi is a past president of the American Society of Cinematographers. This is the 18th year of the residency program, which is sponsored by the Eastman Kodak Company. Goi joins a distinguished group of cinematographers who have received this honor including John Bailey, ASC (American Gigolo, In the Line of Fire); Rodrigo Prieto, ASC (Brokeback Mountain, Argo, Silence); Dean Cundey, ASC (Back to the Future, Jurassic Park); Roger Deakins, BSC, ASC (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall); Guillermo Navarro ASC, AMC (From Dusk to Dawn, Pan’s Labyrinth) and Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC (Hercules, Tower Heist, Public Enemies). The Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence Program was established in 2000 by Kodak and UCLA TFT professor William McDonald to bring together the worlds of professional and academic cinematography, exposing theater, film and television students to critically acclaimed industry veterans who have attained the highest levels of achievement within the filmmaking industry. Students study with these experts for an entire academic term through a series of workshops and screenings. The residency began this week with Goi screening and discussing clips from his extensive body of work. The hands-on student workshops will continue for the remainder of the 2018 academic year….
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