Bang TV, a London-based production house, has landed a stateside partner, executive producer Tom Korsan. With branches in New York and Santa Monica, Bang TV has a U.S. foothold fortified by Korsan’s coming aboard which marks a reunion with long-time friend and associate Jeremy McWilliams who is at the helm of the overall Bang TV as founder/managing director. The two previously worked together when Korsan was managing partner of Great Guns USA and McWilliams was EP at Great Guns’ UK headquarters.
During Korsan’s 11-year Great Guns tenure, the U.S. office won multiple Cannes Lions, D&AD, AICP Show and ADDY honors for commercial and viral work.
McWilliams said of Korsan, “I wouldn’t have dreamed of setting up in the States without him….He 100 percent understands us and the way we work.”
Korsan said he was drawn to the opportunity to not only collaborate again with McWilliams, but also to support a Bang TV roster of directors in the U.S. anchored by Laszlo Kadar, Brian Williams, Cokau, and Jeremy Haccoun.
Bang is represented on the East Coast by Rich Schafler of Schafler Artists Management, and Kristina Kovecevic & Joanna Miller of KK Reps in Chicago and Detroit.
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