Blinkink, a London-based production studio, continues its push into North America by signing a pair of directors–NYC native Zach Tavel and Canadian Cole Kush–for global representation. This marks the first commercial representation for both filmmakers who fit into Blinkink’s rapidly expanding mixed-media roster.
Kush is a well-established director, 3D artist and one-half of the creative studio “Grin Machine” alongside Dan Streit. Kush has honed an idiosyncratic style over the years through directing projects for the likes of A$AP Rocky, Mac Demarco, Nike, Adult Swim, SNL, Vice, and many others.
Kush’s solo work welcomes the uncanny and the absurd, often revealing the bizarre in the mundane by blending emblems of pop culture with nightmarish 3D visualisations of our world and the freakish humanoids within it. He’s got a variety of creative influences and a background in clinical biology that have contributed to the distinctive flavor of his work. He’s also in development with Blink Games and Blink Industries, Blinkink’s long-form division.
“Cole’s been a collaborator with us for years,” said Blinkink executive producer Josef Byrne. “He’s worked with our long-form division, the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared crew, and is developing a game with our new Blink Games team. It’s only natural that we get him even more intertwined with us. His music videos are some of the most bizarre things we’ve seen, and he brings that tone seamlessly into his commercial work, Nike Jordan being a great example. Very excited to push Cole’s work even further and into new worlds and techniques.”
Zach Tavel
U.S.-based Tavel brings a modern touch to the old-school craft. Drawing influence from bizarre fringes of life and the accidental surrealism of B-movies and old regional TV commercials, he relishes in satire and subverting the expectations of genre through films that toe the line between hilarity and insanity.
Tavel often works with practical effects, handmade sets and non-traditional casting methods. From his quick-witted writing to persistent experimentation with visual style, humor is at the core of everything he makes, with a particularly demonstrable talent for performance-based comedy.
Byrne said, “What Zach has created off his own back is incredible–most of the projects on his reel he’s written and directed himself. His performance comedy is some of the finest we’ve seen. His visual style and ability to make weird stuff is exactly what we love in live-action. We can’t wait to bring some Blinkink to his work.”
