Hogarth, the WPP global creative content production company, has hired Lani Carstens as global client managing director. She will report into Monica Taylor, global chief client officer. With 28 years’ international experience in media, advertising and content marketing, Carstens will oversee key client portfolios, including Unilever, TJX and Deliveroo. She will be responsible for driving growth and harnessing Hogarth’s broad offering to help solve client’s business challenges. Prior to joining Hogarth, Carstens was the global head of Content Symphony, Dentsu’s internal content production solution. Prior to that she was group managing director at John Brown, leading the South African business and serving on the John Brown global board. Her career has seen her lead several high-performance teams across multiple disciplines for blue chip client partners in retail, fast-moving consumer goods, fashion, beauty, automotive, health and finance–including Discovery Vitality, BMW, MINI, Toyota, Nestlé, Amex, Generali and IHG….
Production company MADRE has signed with Simpatico for West Coast representation. The women-owned Simpatico was founded by Jolie Miller and is co-run by partner Dunja Jovicic. The bilingual MADRE was founded collectively by Jonathon Ker, Alejandro Saevich, and Jorge Aguilera with the aim to change the way Spanish and English narratives are portrayed in the current world of film and advertising…..
Content production company Hometeam has secured Los Angeles-based talent agency Rogue Rep to handle commercial and branded content representation on the West Coast. Rogue Rep founder Dave Campbell draws from his extensive expertise at Wieden+Kennedy, Saatchi & Saatchi New York, FCB West, Goldberg Moser O’Neill and Microsoft….
Postproduction studio Ethos, headed by founder and EP James Drew, has connected with Red Rep for representation on the West Coast. Led by Holly Ross, Jeremy Hodges and Vanessa McLean, Red Rep handles a diverse group of live-action and postproduction companies including ProdCo, Reset, Caviar, Gifted Youth, Imposter, JOJX, Agile films, Little Minx, Jamm, and Mathematic…..
Bicoastal music composition and postproduction studio New Math expands on the West Coast with the addition of EP and business development executive Scott Cymbala who arrives in tandem with a new West Coast rep, Lauren Schuchman of indie firm Diplomat. Cymbala’s career kicked off when Tom Hajdu and Andy Milburn of tomandandy tapped him to start a record label and music licensing company. He later worked as the general manager for Elias Arts and as a founding partner of MassiveMusic North America. Schuchman founded Diplomat in 2016. Diplomat’s roster includes Sweetshop, Interrogate, Chromista, Minted, Emerald Pictures, Society, Nomad Edit, Fin, and now New Math….
Review: Director James Watkins’ “Speak No Evil”
Quick. Has there ever been a horror film set in a country home with a decent cell signal?
Nope, and there's no signal at Paddy and Ciara's house, either, deep in the English countryside. Soon, that land line will be cut, too, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Paddy and Ciara are that fun-but-somewhat-odd British couple whom Louise and Ben, early in "Speak No Evil," meet on their idyllic Tuscan family holiday. Americans based in London, Louise and Ben are at loose ends, with both job and relationship issues. And so, when the new acquaintances write to invite them for a country weekend, they decide to go.
After all, how bad could it be?
Don't answer that. There are many such moments in the first two-thirds of "Speak No Evil," a Hollywood remake of the 2022 Danish film, here starring a deeply menacing James McAvoy. Moments where Louise and Ben, out of mere politeness and social convention, act against their instincts, which tell them something is wrong – very wrong.
Director James Watkins and especially his excellent troupe of actors, adult and children alike, do a nice job of building the tension, slowly but surely. Until all bloody hell breaks loose, of course. And then, in its third act, "Speak No Evil" becomes an entertaining but routine horror flick, with predictable results.
But for a while, it's a way more intelligent film. And the jumpy moments work — I'll confess to literally springing out of my seat when someone uneventfully turned on a power drill.
We begin in stunning Tuscany, where Louise (Mackenzie Davis, in the film's most accessible and empathetic performance) and Ben (Scoot McNairy, all nerves and insecurity) are vacationing with 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). At the pool, they... Read More