Anh-Thu Le and Guia Iacomin have been promoted to co-directors of content production at TBWAChiatDay. With more than 40 combined years at the agency, both seasoned producers embody Chiat’s pirate philosophy and have continued to create ambitious, bold work on behalf of some of the world’s leading brands.
In their new roles, Le and Iacomin will co-lead the production department working across disciplines to carry out the agency’s vision of Media Arts, an integrated approach to advertising that combines brand strategy, connections planning, data intelligence and experience design to bring disruptive ideas to market.
“Anh-Thu and Guia embody what it means to be a TBWAChiatDay pirate, consistently producing bold, disruptive work,” said chief creative officer Renato Fernandez. “We are fortunate to retain such incredible talent and our leadership team is confident they’ll continue to evolve the production department into a strategic full-service content studio that meets the needs of today’s changing media landscape."
This year Le celebrated her 25th year at TBWAChiatDay LA. She first entered the agency as a recipient of the Jay Chiat Minority Advertising Training Program (MAT) which gave her a first glimpse into the big, brave ideas the agency prided itself on.
“The culture that lives within the walls of TBWAChiatDay runs 50 years deep and it’s the culture that makes this agency not just a place of work, but part of an iconic institution that champions creativity, innovation, and disruption for its clients” said Le. “My years at TBWAChiatDay are a testament to the passion I have for the craft and for this agency. I’m stepping into this new role with renewed ambition and excitement to creatively bring bold, effective content solutions to life.”
Similarly, Iacomin steps into her second decade with the agency, having worked on legacy brands Gatorade, Nissan, Visa Olympics and many more. “There is a heritage and a culture of creativity at TBWAChiatDay that sets a high bar in the industry,” said Iacomin. “In this new role, I am excited about the opportunity to evolve our content production offering to deliver disruptive work that continues the same ChiatDay legacy Jay Chiat, Guy Day and Lee Clow instilled in us on my first day at the agency.”
Over the course of their tenure at ChiatDay Los Angeles, both Anh-Thu Le and Guia Iacomin worked with advertising legends Clow and Chiat and touched nearly every account the agency has had over the years. From Apple to Airbnb, Visa Olympics, Disney, Netflix, Principal Financial, PlayStation, Nissan and many more, they’ve played a critical role in building the production department, nurturing talent and retaining some of the longest standing clients including Gatorade and The Recording Academy. Together they hold more than 40 top industry awards including an Emmy, Grand Clios, D&ADs, One Shows, Webbys and Gold Cannes Lions.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More