Lisa Houck has joined the executive team as managing director at Uppercut, an editorial, finishing, and VFX studio with headquarters in New York, and a soon-to-be-opened office in Atlanta.
With 20 years of experience in artist representation, business development, production, and postproduction, Houck is most recently known for her talent agency, Salon Reps, which she launched in 2010. She has produced editorial, animation, and visual effects for integrated campaigns with global brands and agencies. Houck also led the commercial division of the award-winning Method Studios, overseeing the diversification of the company’s capabilities with the growth of its live-action arm, Method Labs.
During such uncertain and tenuous times within the industry, Uppercut has nevertheless leveraged its capabilities to serve the market more effectively, with projects for top brands. Recent Uppercut work includes Volvo with Grey NY, Nike for R/GA, and NFL out of 72andSunny. Through its partnership with sister company Racket Club, a boutique music studio, Uppercut benefits from direct access to leading composers, and the ability to create a streamlined and fully integrated post experience through delivery. Uppercut continues to generate new business based on these strong, multi-faceted offerings and its service-oriented approach.
“Adding Lisa to our team as managing director signals the next chapter for Uppercut,” said company founder and editor Micah Scarpelli. “We look forward to building upon our proven resilience and substantial growth that we’ve realized during 2020, and navigate this time of expansion with Lisa’s gifts for organization, inspiration, development, and implementation at the helm. She brings energy, attention to detail, and artistic passion to all that she does.”
Review: Director Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece”
A movie documentary that uses only Lego pieces might seem an unconventional choice. When that documentary is about renowned musician-producer Pharrell Williams, it's actually sort of on-brand.
"Piece by Piece" is a bright, clever song-filled biopic that pretends it's a behind-the-scenes documentary using small plastic bricks, angles and curves to celebrate an artist known for his quirky soul. It is deep and surreal and often adorable. Is it high concept or low? Like Williams, it's a bit of both.
Director Morgan Neville — who has gotten more and more experimental exploring other celebrity lives like Fred Rogers in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?,""Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" and "Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces" — this time uses real interviews but masks them under little Lego figurines with animated faces. Call this one a documentary in a million pieces.
The filmmakers try to explain their device — "What if nothing is real? What if life is like a Lego set?" Williams says at the beginning — but it's very tenuous. Just submit and enjoy the ride of a poor kid from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who rose to dominate music and become a creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Williams, by his own admission, is a little detached, a little odd. Music triggers colors in his brain — he has synesthesia, beautifully portrayed here — and it's his forward-looking musical brain that will make him a star, first as part of the producing team The Neptunes and then as an in-demand solo producer and songwriter.
There are highs and lows and then highs again. A verse Williams wrote for "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect when he was making a living selling beats would lead to superstars demanding to work with him and partner... Read More