LOS ANGELES It has been a remarkable–and ongoing–Academy Awards run for Diane Warren who last week scored her latest nomination for Best Original Song as composer and lyricist on “The Journey” for The Six Triple Eight (Netflix). This marks the eighth consecutive year that Warren has been a Best Original Song nominee. She now has a career Read More 

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) Pop stars, first responders, rock stars and those who’ve lost everything in the devastating LA-area wildfires came together for FireAid, a massive benefit concert Thursday that combined spectacular performances with moving storytelling from survivors and reminders of the destruction. In a night full of surprises, a reunion of Nirvana — fronted by St. Vincent, Kim Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Get ready for an onslaught of ads full of celebrities, cute animals and snack brands during breaks in the action at Super Bowl 59 on Feb. 9, when the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Anheuser-Busch, Meta, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Taco Bell, Uber Eats and others will vie Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Rose Byrne plays a mother in the midst of a breakdown in the experiential psychological thriller “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” Anticipation was high for the A24 film, which will be released sometime this year. Its premiere Friday at the Sundance Film Festival was easily the hottest ticket in town, with even ticketholders Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) A lavish, MGM-style musical is not typical Sundance Film Festival fare. But Sunday night Bill Condon brought such a creation—well, part of one—to Park City, Utah, with his adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” starring Jennifer Lopez. Audiences broke out in spontaneous applause during the screening for Lopez’s song and dance numbers. She plays Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) The Sundance Film Festival welcomed back three Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers to help kick off the annual independent film showcase in Park City, Utah. On Thursday night at The Ray Theater, “20 Days in Mariupol” filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, who won the Oscar last year, debuted his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a harrowing Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah The nonprofit Sundance Institute awarded the prizes for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program at the Short Film Awards Ceremony & Party on Tuesday evening (1/28), presented by Vimeo. Filmmakers from across all 57 shorts selected for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival gathered at The Park in Park City for a private event Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Incarcerated men in the Alabama prison system risked their safety to feed shocking footage of their horrifying living conditions to a pair of documentary filmmakers. The result is “The Alabama Solution,” which premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman became interested in Alabama prisons Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) The day Mstyslav Chernov won the BAFTA for his documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” was the day he learned two soldiers he knew had been killed in combat. They were primary subjects of his new film “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a harrowing portrait of modern warfare that puts audiences on the frontlines of the 2023 Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) After a half-century of public silence, a freelance photographer from Vietnam has asserted he took one of the most renowned and impactful photos of the 20th century — the image of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack in South Vietnam that has long been credited to a staff photographer from The Associated Press. Nguyen Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting. Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read “Keep Sundance in Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) A New York judge set a March 2026 trial date on Monday and moved an initial conference from mid-February to next week as the public feud between Blake Lively and her “It Ends With Us” costar and director Justin Baldoni continued to grow and accelerate. And in a new and separate front in the series Read More 

TROY, Michigan Eric Saarinen–an acclaimed director and cinematographer who made an indelible mark on the worlds of film and advertising–passed away last month (12/21) at Heart to Heart Hospice in Troy, Michigan, where he was surrounded by family and friends. He died due to complications from cancer at the age of 82. On the commercialmaking front, Saarinen Read More 

LOS ANGELES Biscuit Filmworks has brought Jackie Bao aboard its global directing roster, marking her first commercial representation. Bao’s most recent commercial work for Tommy’s, the leading U.K. pregnancy and baby charity, is a poignant campaign that raises awareness of the lasting emotional impact of losing a baby. Created with Special London, the spot uses the shadows Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES Imperial Woodpecker has added director AG Rojas to its roster for U.S. representation. A filmmaker whose work spans commercials, music videos and film installations, Rojas–back in 2017 when he was at Park Pictures, his roost prior to Imperial Woodpecker–earned a DGA Award nomination on the strength of two spot entries: S7 Airlines’ “The Best Planet” Read More 

CULVER CITY, Calif. PRETTYBIRD, the production company helmed by Kerstin Emhoff, Ali Brown, and Paul Hunter, has signed the French filmmaking duo Adrien Lagier and Roman Bellity for their first representation in the U.S. and U.K. In their colorfully expressionist work, most recently seen in the “We Will Show You” campaign for France’s Ligue 1 national football league, Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES Julien Christian Lutz, aka Director X, has rejoined production company m ss ng p eces for U.S. commercial representation. He is best known for his graphic and visually distinctive work across music videos, commercials, television, and film. Director X has helmed more than 150 videos for artists such as Drake, Rihanna, Rosalia, Kendrick Lamar, and Read More 

LOS ANGELES Independent production company Caviar has signed director and visual storyteller Dawit N.M. for U.S. commercial and music video representation. Born in Ethiopia and raised in the U.S, Dawit brings a global perspective reflected in his work across film and photography, spanning a broad spectrum of stories, styles, and spaces. Dawit has brought his photography skills Read More 

LOS ANGELES Superprime Films has signed director Diego Contreras for U.S. representation. A former art director at BBDO New York, Anomaly, and CP+B, Contreras shifted to full-time filmmaking in 2015, building a wide-ranging body of work across narrative shorts, music videos, and commercials for brands including Apple, Facebook, Ford, Reebok, and PlayStation. Prior to joining Superprime, he Read More 

TORONTO & LOS ANGELES Production company Fela has added Audrey Ellis Fox to its directorial roster for North American representation. Ellis Fox’s work with global brands includes Nike, On, Gatorade, Amazon, Adidas, Coach, Puma, Foot Locker, New Balance, Motorola, and Vogue/Conde Nast. She has directed world-class talent like Salma Hayek, Zooey Deschanel, Heidi Klum, Hailey Bieber, Khalid, Jessica Alba, Read More 

WASHINGTON (AP) Artists can copyright works they made with the help of artificial intelligence, according to a new report by the U.S. Copyright Office that could further clear the way for the use of AI tools in Hollywood, the music industry and other creative fields. The nation’s copyright office, which sits in the Library of Congress and Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) As an executive producer and star of the new Hulu series “Paradise,” Sterling K. Brown put the hours of TV he watches to good use and cast actors he admires. “I got a chance to hire people that I am a fan of,” said Brown in a recent interview. “I remember meeting Julianne Nicholson at Read More 

CHICAGO Energy BBDO has added Lara Herzer to its team as executive creative director. She will coach and develop the next generation of creative talent at the Chicago shop while taking the creative lead for clients including Bayer (Bayer Aspirin, Claritin, One a Day, Alka-Seltzer, Afrin, MiraLAX). Herzer joins the team from Dentsu, where she spent Read More 

LONDON M&C Saatchi Group has appointed Stevie Archer as regional chief creative officer, North America. Archer has served as CCO of M&C Saatchi SSK since December 2023 and has led groundbreaking work in the region for clients like JPMorganChase, Shipt, Visit Iceland, and Smartsheet. In the newly created role, Archer will oversee creative integration of all Read More 

VENICE & THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Film company and certified B Corporation Farm League has added directing duo Mindcastle–consisting of Casey Warren and Danielle Krieger–to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Mindcastle has spent a decade building a body of work that takes viewers from energetic anthemic sports campaigns to emotional narrative stories to big worlds layered Read More 

LOS ANGELES Production company London Alley has signed Italian director and visual artist Pietro Biz Biasia for U.S. representation. This marks his first representation in the American market. Born and raised in Milan, Biz Biasia cut his teeth as a self-taught, one-man show in directing, editing and producing music videos for rappers, collaborating with global artists like Read More 

ATLANTA Jared Kozel, formerly chief creative officer at VML, has launched Super Nice, an independent agency based in Atlanta. He serves as co-founder and chief creative officer of Super Nice, teaming up with co-founder and chief content officer Barry Sonders, as well as sr. partner and head of strategy MJ Speakman. Kozel has turned out a Read More 

LONDON Covert has signed CG storytelling duo 104 NICKELS for exclusive U.S. representation. Consisting of Anthony Nitkowski and Nicholas King, the directorial team has created campaigns and viral social content for brands such as Oakley, Max, and Under Armour while working with star talents such as Jake Paul, Patrick Mahomes, Dennis Rodman, Angela Sarafyan, David Guetta, Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Harvey Weinstein begged a judge Wednesday to hold his #MeToo retrial as soon as possible, telling him “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on” with cancer, heart issues and harsh conditions at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. The disgraced movie mogul objected after Judge Curtis Farber said the retrial would Read More 

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