WoodShop has added director Claire Thomas to its roster. As a food photographer, millennial influencer, author, blogger and commercial director, Thomas is a custom fit for her new roost which founders Sam Swisher and Trevor Shepard have strategically built to offer a Swiss Army-type solution to tabletop work, garnering repeat relationships with agencies and brands including BBDO for Snickers, Deutsch for Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, Erwin Penland on Denny’s, Goodby Silverstein & Partners for Sonic and Wieden+Kennedy for KFC.
Recognized as one of SHOOT’s up-and-coming directors in 2011, Thomas is known for her fresh, unfussy style and collaborative approach to food, lifestyle, and product. Her blog, The Kitchy Kitchen, an experimental playground for Thomas, has also proven successful. This past fall she released her first cookbook, "The Kitchy Kitchen: New Classics for Living Deliciously," published by Simon and Schuster. Thomas’ client list includes Chobani, Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, General Mills, Lean Cuisine, Kikkoman, Pepperidge Farms and Tropicana, and she has previously worked with brands such as McDonald’s, Kraft, Kellogg’s, Anthropologie, and Amazon.
Thomas was formerly with her own production house Currant. Prior to that she was on the roster of Green Dot Films.
“I’m interested in bringing a new approach and perspective to how we as a culture see and interact with food in our lives,” said Thomas. “There’s a growing trend over the past decade where audiences no longer compartmentalize their interests, but instead are engaged with all of the elements of life that interest them, whether it be food, fashion, music or art. It’s telling the story that connects emotion to all these elements that I’m interested in, and for me that connective story is through food.”
Swisher cited Thomas’ “ability as influencer to shoot lifestyle, tabletop and print all on the same day makes her a no-brainer for brands looking for an integrated solution.”
WoodShop offers top-shelf boutique production solutions from start to finish in product 2D/3D animation, design, live-action, and Flame finish/VFX.
Review: Director-Writer Megan Park’s “My Old Ass”
They say tripping on psychedelic mushrooms triggers hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia and nervousness. In the case of Elliott, an 18-year-old restless Canadian, they prompt a visitor.
"Dude, I'm you," says the guest, as she nonchalantly burns a 'smores on a campfire next to a very high and stunned Elliott. "Well, I'm a 39-year-old you. What's up?"
What's up, indeed: Director-writer Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for "My Old Ass" and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing.
After the older Elliott proves who she is — they share a particular scar, childhood memories and a smaller left boob — the time-travel advice begins: Be nice to your brothers and mom, and stay away from a guy named Chad.
"Can we hug?" asks the older Elliott. They do. "This is so weird," says the younger Elliott, who then makes things even weirder when she asks for a kiss — to know what it's like kissing yourself. The older Elliott soon puts her number into the younger's phone under the name "My Old Ass." Then they keep in touch, long after the effects of the 'shrooms have gone.
Part of the movie's problem that can't be ignored is that the two Elliotts look nothing alike. Maisy Stella plays the coltish young version and a wry Aubrey Plaza the older. Both turn in fine performances but the visuals are slowly grating.
The arrival of the older Elliott coincides with her younger self counting down the days until she can flee from her small town of 300 in the Muskoka Lakes region to college in Toronto, where "my life is about to start." She's sick of life on a cranberry farm.
Park's scenes and dialogue are unrushed and honest as Elliott takes her older self's advice and tries to repair... Read More