Philadelphia-based indie creative agency Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners has appointed Ryan Scott as its first West Coast VP, group creative director. Scott will report directly to agency partners Steve Red (president and CCO) and Steve O’Connell (executive creative director). Scott will be responsible for leading the creative department for the West Coast office and working with clients such as Planet Fitness, Under Armour, Wellen Surf and Coty Brands. Scott joins the agency from Deutsch LA, where he was associate creative director before being promoted to creative director, working on Volkswagen, Snapple, Dr Pepper and Dr Pepper TEN. During this time, Scott contributed to multiple award-winning efforts including Volkswagen’s “Rocketman,” and “Feeling Carefree.” Prior to Deutsch, Scott was sr. copywriter at WONGDOODY LA, working with Full Tilt Poker, Health Net, and Autodesk. Before that, Scott was copywriter at DDB, Los Angeles, working on brands including Epson, Wells Fargo and Activision. He began his career at TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles after attending the The Portfolio Center in Atlanta…Director Dean Karr has signed with Mirror Films for commercials and related media. He comes to his new roost along with long-time producer/partner Arthur Gorson. Karr’s spot credits span such clients as Trident Gum (Saatchi & Saatchi), LG Phones (Alcone), Busch Gardens/Sea World Entertainment (Momentum), Palms Hotels (S+K Group), Mazda (Foote, Cone & Belding), Woolrich (Siquis, Ltd.), Mortal Kombat (DDB Needham), and eight annual campaigns for Universal Studios and Coca Cola’s “Halloween Horror Nights” (David & Goliath Agency). Karr’s music video endeavors include such artist as Marilyn Manson, Evanescence, Lisa Marie Presley, The Dave Matthews Band, X-Japan, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Velvet Revolver, Damian Marley, Ozzy Osbourne, Cypress Hill,Tommy Lee, Everlast, Dr. Dre, Queens of the Stone Age, Godsmack, and Iron Maiden….Carbon VFX has brought Marlo Baird Kinsey on board as executive producer in Los Angeles. She will oversee all aspects of production in Carbon’s L.A. office, including bidding for visual effects, CG, motion graphics, color correction and finishing. Previous to Carbon she worked as a freelance producer, independently spearheading projects for a number of visual effects studios, production companies, TV networks and editorial collectives….
Review: Rachel Morrison Makes Feature Directorial Debut With “The Fire Inside”
"The Fire Inside," about boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, is not your standard inspirational sports drama, even if it feels like it for the first half of the movie.
There's the hopeless dream, the difficult home life, the blighted community, the devoted coach, the training montages, the setbacks and, against all odds, the win. We've seen this kind of story before, you might think, and you'd be right. But then the movie pulls the rug out from under you: The victory is not the end. "The Fire Inside," directed by Rachel Morrison and written by Barry Jenkins, is as much about what happens after the win. It's not always pretty or inspirational, but it is truthful, and important.
Sports dramas can be just as cliche as fairy tales, with the gold medal and beautiful wedding presented as a happy ending. We buy into it time and time again for obvious reasons, but the idea of a happy ending at all, or even an ending, is almost exclusively for the audience. We walk away content that someone has found true love or achieved that impossible goal after all that work. For the subject, however, it's a different proposition; Life, and all its mundanities, disappointments and hardships, continues after all. And in the world of sports, that high moment often comes so young that it might be easy to look at the rest of the journey as a disappointing comedown.
Claressa Shields, played by Ryan Destiny in the film, was only 17 when she went to the 2012 London Olympics. Everything was stacked against her, including the statistics: No American woman had ever won an Olympic gold medal in the sport before. Her opponents had years on her. She was still navigating high school in Flint, Michigan, and things on the home front were volatile and lacking. Food was sometimes scarce... Read More