Giant Artists, a longtime photography and visual talent management shop under the aegis of founder/agency director Jen Jenkins, has launched a live-action division. With offices in Los Angeles and New York and with client and brand collaborations worldwide, the new venture opens with a roster of four creatives: hybrid directors/photographers: Marcus Smith (Nike, featuring Sabrina Ionescu; Dick’s Sporting Goods; New Era) and Jonpaul Douglass (Google Pixel, Chili’s, Psycho Bunny); original content creator and creative director Rudy Willingham (Whole Foods Market, United Airlines, Apple); and original content creator, motion designer, VFX artist, and creative director Peter Quinn (Dollar Shave Club, Snoop Dogg, Meta)…..
Container Love–a Berlin-based creative studio centered on queer and diverse storytelling, working across film, art direction and photography–has joined the roster of directors and creatives at Blink for U.K. representation. Since its incepton 10 years ago, Container Love has cultivated a global network of artists and creative partners. At the forefront of Container Love are director Ben Galster and creative director/photographer Christian Ruess….
Hornet Animation has added L.A.-based director duo Jay and Jin (Jay Asavabenya and Jin Jindawitchu) to its roster, expanding the studio’s presence on the West Coast. Drawing from their extensive architectural expertise and a collaborative journey of nearly 15 years, Jay and Jin’s creative bond dates back to shared roots growing up together in Thailand, helping them weave nostalgia and distant memories into enthralling human-centric stories supported by lush, highly detailed environments. Jay’s innate understanding of CG tools to craft hyperreal environments blends with Jin’s ability to curate immersive installations that artfully engage all of the senses. To create their immersive worlds, the director duo skillfully blends software such as Blender, Unreal Engine, Rhino and TouchDesignER. They are also known for pushing the limits of stylization using new technologies and deftly weaving AI and into their production workflows. Their commitment to cultural-based art direction, weaving hyper-specific aesthetics, and creating shared moments define their artistic philosophy. Jay and Jin have a new film premiering on Nowness that combines innovative live action and motion capture integration with cinematic styling….
Production house Banjoman has signed director Emily McDonald for exclusive representation in Ireland. The Glasgow-born, London based director is known for her documentary and commercial work which earned her the Gold Young Director’s award at Cannes. Her credits span assorted global brands including Vogue, Nike, Dazed and Nowness for commercial and documentary projects. McDonald’s portfolio of work includes powerful brand documentaries such as Looking Back with Pride for British Vogue. The short film, which spotlights older members of the LGBTQ+ community, received multiple awards, including Best Micro Doc at Discover Film Festival and Best Documentary Short Film at the British Short Film Awards, leading to a future collaboration with British Vogue, Jimmy Choo and Sink the Pink. McDonald’s work has screened at such festivals as the London Film Festival and at Flare Film Festival, where she was selected as one of six emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers. She continues to be repped in the U.S. commercialmaking/branded content market by production company Hey Wonderful….
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More