Integrated production company Tool of North America has announced a strategic expansion of its digital leadership team and reorganization of the division. Under Dustin Callif, managing partner, digital, and Oliver Fuselier, managing partner, live action, the company has made several senior level promotions from within, as well as a new hire, to strengthen and support its growing digital, integrated, experiential and VR offerings.
Tool has promoted Chris Neff from executive producer, digital, to director of digital & integrated/EP; Adam Baskin from sr. digital producer to EP, digital; and Sarah DiLeo from integrated producer to EP, integrated. Tool has also hired Jennifer Baker as EP, experiential.
Neff, who executive produced recent Tool projects spanning VR, experiential and digital for brands like Infiniti, IBM and Domino’s, has been elevated to take a more senior leadership role across digital, experiential and VR. Baskin, who produced “A World of Belonging,” a data visualization project for Airbnb, will executive produce digital projects ranging from websites to mobile apps and continue playing a key role in Tool’s relationship with Airbnb and Twitter. DiLeo will lead the live action approach to integrated projects, having recently led the “Come Seek Live” project, a groundbreaking real-time storytelling campaign for Royal Caribbean using Periscope to live-stream island adventures on social platforms and live billboards throughout New York City. Baker will oversee the day to day business and long-term growth of Tool’s experiential department. Baker brings over 20 years of experiential experience, having served as lead producer and Executive Producer on projects with clients like Swarovski, Nestle, Acer, Nintendo, AT&T and Pepsi. Tool’s VR department will be led by Julia Sourikoff, who was recently hired as Head of VR & 360 from the Future of Storytelling, where she worked with brands like American Express, GE, Google, Microsoft and Time Warner.
“The demand for more interesting and entertaining storytelling in advertising has never been higher, and we’re constantly innovating our business and offerings to deliver culturally-relevant content,” said Callif. “As our digital and integrated, experiential and VR offerings continue to expand, we’ve made a strategic decision to appoint leaders of each division to work together to help accelerate our growth.”
“We’re dedicated to finding the right combination of creativity, talent and the use of emerging technology with the singular mission to tell great stories that resonate with people,” said Fuselier. “With this team in place alongside our world class roster of live action and interactive directors and artists, we’ve found the ideal structure that will allow us take on the most challenging and innovative new projects.”
The expansion comes on the heels of Fuselier’s promotion to managing partner, live action from managing director, live action, and follows several recent high profile VR projects from Tool and its best-in-class roster of directors and digital artists. In August 2015, Tool produced Infiniti’s “Driver’s Seat” campaign from CP+B, two distinct virtual reality experiences. In December 2015, to kick off Tool’s new digital studio in France, interactive director Aramique launched a VR exhibition in Paris’s Palais de Tokyo called “The Eight Phases of Enlightenment.” In March 2016, Tool’s John X. Carey directed the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s VR campaign from Wieden+Kennedy Portland, “Together We Are Stronger,” aimed at bringing people together to overcome the challenges of MS. And most recently, in April 2016, Tool’s Marc Forster directed “Eyes on Gigi,” BMW’s interactive global campaign with 360 video from KBS / Serviceplan to launch the new BMW M2 Coupé; it was just named the most viewed 360 video on Youtube.
Tool was recently awarded the Palme D’Or, the highest production honor of the 2016 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Review: Director Ric Roman Waugh’s “Shelter,” Starring Jason Statham
Jason Statham lives in a Scottish lighthouse when we meet him in "Shelter" and that's a pretty good analogy for Statham's usual movie role these days: Tall, cold, alone, tough, quiet and only intermittently illuminating.
Statham may appear to be just a grim-faced lighthouse keeper, but he's really a hero laying low, like he was when he was cosplaying a construction laborer in "Working Man " and a honey collector in "The Beekeeper." Statham is Hollywood's go-to guy for sidelined-waiting-to-pounce-again action stars. Gruff, with a heart of gold and a strong moral compass, he's our lighthouse: Protecting us from danger and guiding us to safety while being very, very distant and very beard-forward.
This time, you'll notice that the lighthouse isn't actually working, so Statham is just a dude off the grid. He has a lovely dog, so we know he's cool. He draws and plays chess, so we know he's smart and arty, too. But there's no internet, no Netflix. Just a lot of staring at the horizon in a big coat.
Slow start, then action
When a young woman who has been delivering his lighthouse with supplies — maybe more whiskey than Cheerios — suddenly needs his help, he's thrust back into the modern world. And it gets worse: A whole lot of folk want him dead. The hunt is on.
Turns out, Statham's character is a lethal former MI6 operative and he's part of a covert, extra-judicial conspiracy that goes straight up to the British prime minister. Has he been hiding out for a decade on a Scottish rock because he did something bad? Or good? (Remember, he has a sweet dog.)
Bodhi Rae Breathnach, looking not unlike a young Saoirse Ronan, plays the young girl and she's marvelous, a talent to watch. Bill Nighy plays a venal spycraft... Read More