Kelsey Hodgkin has been elevated to head of strategy at Deutsch LA.
Kim Getty, president of Deutsch’s Los Angeles office, said of Hodgkin, “She brings cultural intelligence to every project she touches and has been an instrumental part of our strategy department for years.”
Hodgkin joined Deutsch in 2014 as EVP, group strategy director, leading strategy work for marquee clients across the agency’s Los Angeles roster. Most recently, she’s spearheaded strategic work for Target’s Back to School and licensing efforts, Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement and Tile’s first advertising campaign which won two Bronze Lions at Cannes.
“What gets me most excited about this next chapter and about all the possibilities that lie ahead is the brilliant team,” says Hodgkin. “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead them with all their diverse and wonderful thinking.”
Hodgkin has more than 15 years of strategy experience. She has worked in three different countries and four different cities at global agencies including BBH, Ponce Buenos Aires, Modernista! and Mullen before arriving at Deutsch. Hodgkin has developed strategies for brands such as Diet Coke, Tesco, British Airways, Google, Amazon, Adidas, and Toms.
Born and raised in London, Hodgkin graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a master’s degree in history.
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