Writer/director/producer/editor Sean Baker recalled that his latest film was born out of necessity. When the pandemic lockdown first hit, a planned feature for Baker fell by the wayside. So he “pivoted to something more feasible to make with a skeleton crew.” From that pivot Red Rocket (A24) was launched, adding to a lauded Baker filmography that includes The Florida Project (2017) which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival--earning a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for Willem Dafoe;... Read More 

New kids on the block and already established residents figure in the ongoing Guild awards conversation this season. Among the new kids is the breakout Korean thriller Squid Game (Netflix), which is poised for what could be a history-making stretch. Until late last year a non-English project had never been nominated in a major television category at the Golden Globes or SAG Awards. This continues to hold true for the primetime Emmys. While the Golden Globes have diminished in stature, it’s... Read More 

There are a couple of parallels between the two DPs in this latest installment of SHOOT ’s Cinematographers & Cameras Series. For one, both lensers are in the current awards season conversation for their efforts on lauded films. And secondly, those artistic efforts were both for directors with whom the cinematographers enjoy long-time collaborative relationships. Here are insights from Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC on Cyrano (MGM, United Artists Releasing), and Haris Zambarloukos, BSC, GSC on... Read More 

It’s that time of year--for a new beginning, for New Year’s resolutions, which often aren’t kept, and predictions, which often aren’t accurate. Nonetheless SHOOT called upon a brave cross-section of advertising agency executives, chief creative officers, creative directors, heads of production and exec producers to offer their hopes, goals, projections and plans for 2022. We also asked respondents to reflect on lessons learned from 2021 and how they might be applied to this year. While... Read More 

Composer Carter Burwell is a two-time Oscar nominee for Best Original Score--in 2016 for director Todd Haynes’ Carol and two years later for Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri . Burwell has a collaborative track record with both McDonagh and Haynes. For the latter’s Mildred Pierce miniseries, Burwell won an Emmy for Original Dramatic Score and was nominated for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Also among the composer’s longstanding collaborative... Read More 

Two directorial duos--one sporting individual Sundance track records, the other with a joint pedigree at the festival--return this month with their latest documentaries. Then we have two solo artisans on the narrative side, bringing their feature directorial debuts to Sundance. While all these filmmakers harbored the hope that Sundance would return to being largely an in-person event this time around, the surge in COVID-19 infections globally caused event organizers to make the festival--which... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Oscar race may be missing in-person glitz this year, but it doesn't lack for star power. Will Smith, Lady Gaga and Ben Affleck landed individual nominations for the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Wednesday, while the casts of "Belfast" and "CODA" were among those nominated for the guild's top award, best ensemble. The nominees were announced Wednesday by actors Vanessa Hudgens and Rosario Dawson on Instagram Live. While the nominations were conducted virtually due to the surge in COVID-... Read More 

LONDON -- BAFTA has revealed the longlists for the British Academy Film Awards in 2022. This long listing round was introduced in 2021 for the British Academy Film Awards resulting in three rounds of voting. Round One voting, which took place from December 10, 2021 to January 4, 2022, produced the longlists in all categories announced today (1/12). Every category in this round was voted on by a craft chapter, opt-in chapter or jury, with the exception of Best Film which was voted for by all film voting... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- In its 56th annual voting meeting held today (1/8), the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) has chosen Drive My Car as the best picture of 2021, one of four prizes won by Ryusuke Hamaguchi-directed feature from Japan. Drive My Car also earned NSFC distinction for best director (Hamaguchi), screenplay (Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe, short story by Haruki Murakami) and actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima). Flee was named best nonfiction film. Best cinematography went to Andrew Droz Palermo for The Green... Read More 

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK -- Nominations for the Writers Guild Awards were unveiled today (1/13) across television, new media, news and promotional categories. Among the TV nominees were Hacks, Loki, Ted Lasso, Succession and Yellowjackets . The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, news (broadcast and digital), radio/audio, and promotional categories. The 2022 Writers Guild Awards (74th Annual) will be held on Sunday, March 20, 2022. Here’s a rundown of TV, new media, news and... Read More 

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Production company Superprime has added Chloé Zhao to its roster of filmmakers for commercial representation in the U.S. Zhao is a Chinese writer, director, editor, producer, and two-time Oscar® winner--Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland . In September, Zhao appeared on Time ’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, on the heels of repeatedly making history as the first woman of color to win many of filmdom’s top awards. Zhao made history last year as the second... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Natasha Lyonne--director/writer/actor/producer/co-creator of Russian Doll , the Netflix series which earned 13 Emmy nominations in 2019, winning three (for Cinematography, Production Design, Contemporary Costumes)--has joined the filmmaker collective at The Directors Bureau, marking her first global representation as a director for branded content, advertising and music video projects. Lyonne herself garnered three Emmy nominations for Russian Doll --Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress and... Read More 

LONDON -- BBH has appointed Alex Grieve as its new global and U.K. chief creative officer. Grieve previously spent 14 years at BBH from 1996-2010 and is now returning to lead the agency’s creative outputs on a global scale. He will also take up the role of CCO of BBH London, the agency’s founding office, will co-chair the BBH Global Board with Annette King, CEO of Publicis Groupe UK, and lead the BBH Creative Council with creatives from across the BBH offices. He takes up his new role at the beginning of... Read More 

LONDON -- Nadja Lossgott and Nicholas Hulley have been promoted to chief creative officers at AMV BBDO, succeeding Alex Grieve who’s leaving the agency to become global and UK CCO of BBH, effective the beginning of April (see separate story ). Over the last 18 months as ECDs, Nick and Nadja have helped propel AMV BBDO to win global agency of the year at Cannes Lions, D&AD and The One Show. Nick and Nadja joined AMV BBDO in 2010 as copywriter and art director, later promoted to creative directors in... Read More 

NEW YORK -- Gary Vaynerchuk, chairman of media and communications holding company VaynerX, has launched Eva Nosidam Productions. The moniker, which spells Madison Ave. backwards, signifies the intent of the new studio--to be the antithesis of Madison Ave. by creating ads that don’t feel like ads but rather content that moves and engages people. Maya Brewster-Dorian will lead the company as chief production officer, reporting to Vaynerchuk. Eva Nosidam Productions takes the place of VaynerProductions in the... Read More 

NEW YORK -- Technicolor Creative Studios has announced the incorporation of award-winning VFX studio MPC Advertising into sister brand The Mill to create one global studio network. The new consolidated studio under The Mill moniker will be led by Josh Mandel, previously CEO of The Mill, who will be taking on the new role of president of Advertising at Technicolor Creative Studios. The Mill’s existing studios in London, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Bangalore will combine with MPC Advertising’s... Read More 

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- A new lawsuit accused an ammunition supplier Wednesday of creating dangerous conditions on a movie set where a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin killed a cinematographer, by including live ammunition in a box that was supposed to include only dummy rounds. The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico state district court by Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer who oversaw firearms, ammunition and related training on the set of "Rust" along with two colleagues. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died on Oct. 21... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Isla Fisher's character in the new genre-bending series "Wolf Like Me" is a romantic catch. Kind of. She speaks four languages, makes cheese and pottery and is good at close-up magic. On the other hand, she can be distant and absolutely beastly. Oh, that reminds us: She has a pretty big personal secret. "I'm a complicated person," she tells her onscreen potential romantic partner, played by Josh Gad, in the first episode. "I have a really complicated life." His character understands perfectly:... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) has unveiled nominations for the 9th Annual MUAHS Guild Awards honoring outstanding achievements in make-up and hair styling artistry in motion pictures, television, commercials, and live theater. Winners will be honored at the MUAHS gala, returning to a live-in-person ceremony at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, February 19, 2022. The announcement was made by MUAHS President Julie Socash. NOMINEES FOR OUTSTANDING MAKE-... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Director Paul B. Cummings has joined the roster of Tuff Contender, the production company under the aegis of executive producers DJay Brawner and Max Rose. Cummings has directed commercials for Doritos, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hotels.com, K-Mart, McDonald’s and Taco Bell, and collaborated with agencies including Alma DDB, Dentsu, Deutsch, and Hill Holiday. Cummings was previously represented in the ad arena by Noble (formerly DUCK Studios). “What drew me into Paul was a short film he created,” noted... Read More 

NEW YORK -- Adam Hessel has been appointed chief creative officer of Ogilvy Health. In this role he will oversee all creative output for Ogilvy Health in North America and serve on Ogilvy Health’s executive leadership team. He will also join Ogilvy’s Worldwide Creative Council. Hessel has nearly three decades of experience in advertising and marketing. In recent years, he has directed his focus toward producing stellar, award-winning work in the pharma, health and wellness arenas and has been an integral... Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES -- Giant Spoon has hired VICE Media Group veteran Monica Herman in the newly created role of VP, group creative director of experiential, to help rebuild Giant Spoon’s experiential department as in-person experiences are cautiously being contemplated after being pushed aside throughout the pandemic. Herman will report to executive creative director Ian Grody who leads all campaign, content, and experiences creative across the agency’s New York and Los Angeles offices. As part of the experiential... Read More 

The Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood’s so-called biggest party that regularly drew 18 million television viewers, was reduced to a live-blog Sunday night for its 79th edition. The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association proceeded with its film awards Sunday night without a telecast, nominees, a red carpet, a host, press or even a livestream. Instead, members of the HFPA and some recipients of the group’s philanthropic grants gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for a 90-minute private event... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with husband Alan Bergman on "The Way We Were," "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" and hundreds of other songs, died at her Los Angeles home Saturday. She was 93. She died of respiratory failure not related to COVID-19, according to a representative, Jason Lee. Her husband was at her bedside when she died. The Bergmans, who married in 1958, were among the most enduring, successful and productive songwriting partnerships, specializing in... Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bob Saget, the actor-comedian known for his role as beloved single dad Danny Tanner on the sitcom "Full House" and as the wisecracking host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," died while on a stand-up tour. He was 65. Deputies in Orange County, Florida, were called Sunday about an "unresponsive man" in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando and found Saget dead, according to a sheriff's statement on Twitter. Detectives found "no signs of foul play or drug use in this case." Saget was in... Read More 

"If you've ever owned a slave, please raise your hand," Jeffery Robinson asks a live audience at the beginning of "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America," a searing documentary based on a lecture he's spent a decade perfecting. Obviously, nobody in the auditorium raises a hand. This is 2018 New York City! But the few seconds that follow the question are probably the only chance these audience members have to put some distance between themselves and the country's sorry record of racial... Read More 

The glamorous spies of "The 355" were no competition for the movie theater's reigning webslinger. Spider-Man's box office dominance continued in its fourth weekend in theaters, adding another $33 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. With $668.8 million in North American ticket sales to date, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is now the sixth highest grossing release of all time domestically. Globally, with $1.5 billion and counting, it ranks in eighth place. The only major new film this... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Judge Steve Harvey? At least for its first week, having the comic serve as a reality show arbiter seems like an inspired idea. His show's premiere was the most-watched non-football program on ABC last week, its audience of 5.2 million people nearly two million more than a season-opening episode of the much better known "The Bachelor," the Nielsen company said. Just before the debut, the Daily Beast's Kyndall Cunningham predicted "Judge Steve Harvey" would leave viewers laughing and in awe of... Read More 

Part of a motor insurance campaign for client AXA, this film tells the story of a girl who’s extremely curious and blazingly full of life. One day, she’s left in the care of her grandfather, a hard-nosed and slightly grumpy old man who has retreated to solitude and the confines of his own home. She discovers his passion for birdwatching, which quickly becomes hers too. They grow closer, underscoring the AXA campaign message, “Stay focused on what matters.” Sean Meehan directed and shot via... Read More 

The winter sports market in China is one of the fastest growing in the world--over $126 billion by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics--with a target of over $160 billion by 2025. Ahead of the Winter Olympics, Tmall partnered with Fred & Farid Shanghai for the launch of the Tmall Winter Festival 2022 (the annual major shopping event dedicated to winter sports brands). The creative agency has developed a communication platform (including strategy, creative and in-house production) aimed to... Read More 

Jennifer Aniston reveals for the first time her sleep story spanning many years of challenges and how she has learned to make sleep a priority to have both better nights and days in this insomnia education campaign for Idorsia U.S. out of Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Idorsia makes a medicine and has a treatment program to address insomnia. Taika Waititi directed this spot in the “Seize the Night & Day” campaign via production company Hungry Man, in which two versions of Aniston appear. Read More 

The magic of snow and a winter wonderland is beloved by all--but some children have only ever seen snow on TV or in movies. So, tennis superstar Serena Williams and Lincoln brought the snow to them, orchestrating a snowy surprise for kids at the Boys and Girls Clubs (BAGC) of Palm Beach County in sunny southern Florida. The surprise was captured in this film--directed by Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah of Greenpoint Pictures for agency Hudson Rouge--with smiles and laughter as the children go sledding,... Read More 

ONE Brands has launched a campaign to drive awareness and trial of ONE protein bars as a delicious, nutritious flavorful alternative to the protein bar norm of chalky consistency and taste. The campaign from creative agency Fortnight Collective deploys comedy in a couple of spots, including this one introducing us to two stereotypical gym rats pumping iron as they bromance one another with only the word “Bro.” When it’s time for a protein break, they chomp down on their protein bars and are... Read More 

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