NEW YORK -- Last month, Susan Hoffman, co-chief creative officer at Wieden+Kennedy, was inducted into the One Club for Creativity’s Creative Hall of Fame. Her fellow inductees were Rebeca Mendez, an artist designer and professor at UCLA, Design Media Arts, where she is director of the Counterforce Lab; David Lubars, CCO of BBDO Worldwide and chairman of BBDO North America; and Tom Burrell, founder and chairman emeritus of what is now Burrell Communications. Additionally, Diane Cook-Tench--founding director... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Free The Bid, the brainchild of filmmaker Alma Har’el, has grown during its first year, helping to give women directors a voice in advertising. The non-profit initiative advocates on behalf of women directors for equal opportunities by asking agencies to include a woman director on every triple-bid project, production companies to sign more woman directors, and marketers to seek one woman’s bid on each of their commercial productions. Free The Bid is making a dramatic and unparalleled change in... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- It was dawn on the set of "Blade Runner 2049" and Harrison Ford and director Denis Villeneuve were swimming back to the shore together after an all-night shoot in a million-gallon water tank. It was cold in the water. It was cold outside. And it was just one night out of a dozen that they'd be spending their sleeping hours soaking wet to try to execute a set piece that even Ridley Scott thought too ambitious. "What we are doing now is insane," Ford told Villeneuve. "It's insane." He might as... Read More, Comment

TORONTO (AP) -- Sean Baker's "The Florida Project" takes place in a blindingly purple low-budget motel named the Magic Castle, just down Route 192 from Disney's Magic Kingdom. For the children of single parents who live there, the Kissimmee, Florida, motel is a playground — even if they're living in poverty. "The Florida Project," which opens in theaters Friday, is an ebullient, candy-colored movie wrapped around the very real issue of hidden homelessness. Families nationwide are living below the poverty line... Read More, Comment

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- For 25 years filmmaker Gina Kim wanted to make a movie about the true story of a South Korean sex worker killed by an American soldier, but struggled with how to do so without feeling she was exploiting the victim. Then virtual reality arrived. Through a partnership of storytelling and technology, Kim finally brought the 1992 murder to life in "Bloodless," a 12-minute piece that won the award for best VR story at this year's Venice Film Festival. The director said virtual reality is providing... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- As part of further steps in strengthening its position, McCann Worldgroup announced that Devika Bulchandani has been named president of McCann New York. Bulchandani, who recently served as managing director of McCann New York, has held various leadership roles in the New York office, including as managing director of global strategy. She has also served as president of McCann XBC. She will report to Chris Macdonald. Macdonald will now lead all Worldgroup North American advertising agencies and... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Swedish director Philippe Tempelman has signed with production company Epoch Films for his first career representation in the U.S. A talented graphic designer, Tempelman began the first iteration of his commercial career on the agency side as an art director. It is not until he went back to study at one of Scandinavia’s leading creative schools, Beckmans College of Design, that he fell in love with film as a medium, rather than just a form of entertainment. With a multifaceted background in... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Bettering society through the power of creativity and branding emerged as a prevalent theme at the recently concluded Advertising Week (9/25-29) in NYC. Underscoring this event orientation was the 2017 D&AD Impact Awards, a joint venture between Advertising Week and D&AD. The aim of the 2nd annual D&AD Impact competition is to identify and celebrate transformative creative ideas that have had real impact and, ultimately, contribute towards a better and more sustainable future in... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- The Production Music Association (PMA) announced and honored recipients of its third annual Mark Awards this week (10/4), kicking off the three-day Production Music Conference in Hollywood. The Mark Awards honor excellence in the production music community. Named in honor of the late Andy Mark, who was a library owner and founding member of the PMA, the Mark Awards competition recognizes the very best in production music. Here’s a category-by-category breakdown of the 2017 Mark Award winners:... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Deutsch has hired Doris Chung, SVP, creative director, to spearhead the agency’s creative work for Mott’s and Canada Dry. Chung reports directly to Pete Favat, chief creative officer of North America. “Doris is truly a jack of all trades,” said Favat. “She has created powerful work for world-renowned brands from American Express to Harley-Davidson. Her global experience and passion for nontraditional mediums fits well with our creative vision, and I know she’ll have an impressive impact on our... Read More, Comment

MINNEAPOLIS -- Allison Hayes has joined Carmichael Lynch as its newest creative director. Hayes comes over from Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco, where she was the creative lead on clients including 23&Me, Audi, Massage Envy, 76 and Phillips 66. She’s also spent time at 72andSunny, where she worked on Samsung and Sonos, and Arnold Worldwide in Boston. Over her career, Hayes has helped create such notable work as Audi’s timely Super Bowl commercial, “Daughter,” which aired in the wake of the... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Global production company BRF (B-Reel Films) has added Henry Mason--whose body of work spans commercials, TV dramas, film and theatre--to its directorial roster in the U.S. Mason’s credits include campaigns for such brands as Honda, T-Mobile, Bombay Sapphire, McLaren, Nike and Coca-Cola. He just shot his first commercial campaign with BRF out of agency GSD&M in Austin, Texas. Pelle Nilsson, founder and CEO of BRF, said, “Henry is just finishing his first feature film and we believe long... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Executive producer Micki Poklar has launched Empress Studios, a production company that exclusively represents female directors. The new venture opens with a roster consisting of directors Alissa Torvinen, Charlotte Rabate, Montana Mann and Tabitha Denholm. “I feel passionately about being able to champion female directors, to get them more opportunities and the recognition that they are just as talented and capable as their male counterparts,” said Poklar. “When I’ve talked to people at... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- In recognition of their special contributions to the art of cinematography, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has named four honorees who will be feted at the 32nd ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Russell Carpenter, ASC will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Russell Boyd, ASC, ACS will earn the org’s International Award; Alan Caso, ASC will be bestowed the Career Achievement in Television Award; and Stephen Lighthill, ASC will take home the Presidents Award. The... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- A record 92 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 90th Academy Awards®. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. The 2017 submissions are: Afghanistan, “A Letter to the President,” Roya Sadat, director; Albania, “Daybreak,” Gentian Koçi, director; Algeria, “Road to Istanbul,” Rachid Bouchareb, director; Argentina, “Zama,” Lucrecia Martel, director; Armenia, “Yeva,” Anahit... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Harvey Weinstein, the larger-than-life Hollywood executive and Oscar-winner, is taking a leave of absence from his own company after an explosive expose revealing decades of sexual harassment against women, from employees to actress Ashley Judd, was published in The New York Times Thursday. The article includes first person accounts of Weinstein's alleged conduct, including from Judd, who recounts an incident from two decades ago in which she said she was asked to meet Weinstein in his hotel... Read More, Comment

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A gunman perched on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas casino unleashed a shower of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below, killing at least 50 people as tens of thousands of concertgoers screamed and ran for their lives, officials said Monday. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. More than 400 victims were taken to the hospital, authorities said. SWAT officers using explosives stormed the gunman's hotel room and found he had killed himself, authorities said. There... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After too many years away from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David pronounces himself satisfied with the new season, which he said is just like previous ones, and glad he did it. That's pretty good — no, very good — on several fronts. First, it means the blunt-trauma insults that David delivered for eight seasons on the HBO comedy are undiminished, as is the show's willingness to milk any subject for laughs, from sex to ethnicity to illness. Second, he's inclined to keep the revival going, and... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Tim Roth can't stay out of trouble. Since his first screen appearance in 1982's "Made in Britain" as a skinhead with a swastika tattoo on his forehead, or in 1994's "Pulp Fiction" as a petty crook holding up a coffee shop with his girlfriend, Roth has made an art of playing villains, whack jobs and wastrels — or, at least, someone having a very bad day. Now Roth fans can delight in two new roles that add to his canon of discord. In Amazon Prime's 10-episode mystery thriller "Tin Star," Roth... Read More, Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facebook says ads that ran on the company's social media platform and have been linked to a Russian internet agency were seen by an estimated 10 million people before and after the 2016 election. The company turned 3,000 ads over to three congressional committees Monday as part of their investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 election. In a new company blog post, Facebook's Elliot Schrage said the ads appeared to focus on divisive social and political messages, including LGBT issues,... Read More, Comment

Not too far from the gates of the Walt Disney World Resort, where families are promised "enchanted escapes" and "fun" and "magic" and where day tickets start at a cool $99 a person, is a discount motel off a busy street called The Magic Castle. It's painted in garish shades of lavender and amethyst right down to the street curbs. The ice machine is broken. The washer and dryer often are too. It costs $38 a night. And it is home for a young mother, Halley, and her 6-year-old daughter, Moonee, in... Read More, Comment

"The Mountain Between Us" is about two strangers who survive a plane crash only to end up in the unforgiving snowy Utah mountains, with no cell reception and precious little food. So they do what comes naturally. They try to eat each other. No, no, no. Are you crazy? They fall in love — kinda, sorta, maybe. Actually, perhaps they should have tried something else because this romance novel-meets-survival story doesn't really succeed at either, despite fine performances by Kate Winslet and Idris... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After dipping to No. 2 last weekend, "It" has regained control of the North American box office in its fourth weekend in theaters. The movie beat out the new Tom Cruise film "American Made" and "Kingsman: The Golden Circle." But it was a close race that could shift when studios report actual weekend totals on Monday. According to studio estimates on Sunday, the Stephen King adaptation and box office juggernaut added $17.3 million to take the top spot. The film now boasts $291.2 million in... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- The National Football League is continuing a steady decline in audience, with its fourth week of games having the smallest audience on a weekend when some conservatives called for a boycott because some of its players used the national anthem to protest against police treatment of minorities. The Nielsen company said Tuesday the weekend’s nationally televised games averaged 13.8 million viewers, down from 14.8 million the week before. Opening week registered 16.3 million viewers and the second... Read More, Comment

This dreamlike pre-launch film conceived by DDB Paris marks the pending return of Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed Origins. The game’s rebirth features a whole new fight system and a fascinating world, more open and unpredictable than ever before. The new chapter in this game takes us back to the roots of the brotherhood in Egypt, in the first century B.C. The country is threatened by civil war and the expansion of Roman Empire. The end of a 3000-year-old civilization is at stake. Those troubled... Read More, Comment

Agency creative Ari Merkin teamed with director Jared Knecht of m ss ng p eces and songwriter Richie Supa on this music video for Face the Music, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for addicts and uses the power of music to help people recognize and conquer addiction. The clip is sponsored by Recovery Unplugged, a treatment center with various detox, residential and inpatient facilities in Austin, Fort Lauderdale and DC. Driven by the song, this video shows different addicts... Read More, Comment

What does the perfect work of art look like? Is it a painting, or a sculpture? Is it more blue than purple, by Rodin or Picasso? Does it have a cat in it, or feature a woman wearing an ornate piece of jewelery? In this film directed by Fred Rowson via production company Colonel Blimp for Agency 101, London, a panel of eight people is convened to explore dozens of artworks until just one--the perfect one--is left standing. It’s a ludicrous task of course. A waste of time. All done simply to... Read More, Comment

New York-based creative studio Roof Studio teamed with ad agency RPA, Santa Monica, Calif., and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation to uncover smiles in a time of worry and distress in the original animation short What is an MRI? , as a means to educate pediatric cancer patients on an MRI procedure in an entertaining way. The short is part of a 20-film series that features a fictional group of characters coined the Imaginary Friend Society, created by RPA, that helps educate kids on cancer... Read More, Comment

In this installment of GEICO’s “Great Answer” campaign from The Martin Agency--in which people use the insurance company’s well-known savings message as the answer to anything--we find animated characters He-Man and Skeletor in full nostalgic glory. In this :30, a cornered Skeletor drops the GEICO message of insurance savings, giving him enough time to escape in classic evil animation style. J.J. Sedelmaier of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions directed and produced the “He-Man vs. Skeletor” spot in... Read More, Comment

Audi Norway has commissioned renowned Swedish artist Anne-Li Karlsson to interpret the German automobile manufacturer’s vision for urban mobility in the future. Based on a creative concept from Norwegian advertising agency POL, "Electric Story" shows how electric ink can bring energy to a city made entirely of paper. The piece is part of a campaign that dovetails nicely with the introduction of the fully electric Audi e-tron. Karlsson takes the audience on a journey through the streets of the... Read More, Comment