Anthony Armenise on Amazon's Homecoming and the Artful Genius of FX's Nip/Tuck

FX has long set the bar for advertising creativity among cable networks.

Its campaigns for American Horror Story, which premiered in 2011, are the envy of the business. But the legacy of provocative excellence goes back much further—to 2003 and the premiere of Nip/Tuck. 

Ryan Murphy’s plastic surgery drama was pioneering in its use of special-shoot spots and other original content that was as artful as the programming itself—sometimes more so. 

Anthony Armenise, head of television and streaming at creative agency Buddha Jones, cited the Nip/Tuck work as being influential for him when we sat down with him for a chat at Clio Entertainment judging. 

“I remember that being very transformative and inspiring,” said Armenise, who was the chair of Clio Entertainment’s Television/Streaming Video/Promo jury this year. “They really turned that into an experience, into a story-driven shoot that was just elevated almost beyond the show sometimes. How much money they put into it, and the production value, and the quality, all while still being true to the brand and the show, was kind of remarkable.” 

Armenise also spoke about a recent trailer that Buddha Jones did that he’s proud of—for Homecoming, a psychological thriller starring Julia Roberts coming to Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 2—as well as trends he’s seeing in the A/V space lately. 

See the full Homecoming trailer below.