NEW YORK -- SHOOT ’s New Directors Showcase Event provided varied industry perspectives during two afternoon sessions, and substantive exposure that same evening for up-and-coming directors via a screening of their work and a Meet the Directors panel discussion, all held at the DGA Theatre in NYC on Thursday, May 24. The NDS Event After-party was hosted by event silver sponsor The Mill at their facility in Soho. Among the highlights was the annual In The Director’s Chair session, this time... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Just some three months ago, Dan Fogelman, creator and executive producer of This Is Us (NBC), received the Television Showman of the Year honor at the 55th Annual International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) Publicists Awards. In his acceptance remarks, Fogelman observed that in this “dark, weird time,” he finds it gratifying that This Is Us , a show which “wears its heart on its sleeve,” reflects that we all have much in common with one another and can all universally relate to loss, joy, the... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In October 2016, Shailene Woodley was not paying much attention to work emails. The devoted environmentalist had gone to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline and gotten arrested in the process. It's no wonder that the actress missed an email from a few old Hawaii friends with a project based on the incredible survival at sea story of a 23-year-old woman in 1983. It's not that she wasn't interested — she was just a little busy. It would take about a month for the script to get into Woodley's hands... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is acquiring another leading trade group, the Data & Marketing Association (formerly the Direct Marketing Association). The move was approved today by the board of directors of each organization, subject to formal approval of the voting members of the DMA. The integration is scheduled to be completed as of July 1, 2018, and will create what's billed as the single largest trade association in the U.S. devoted to serving all aspects of marketing... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) announced that three prominent veteran business-to-business marketing executives will be inducted into the ANA’s B2B Hall of Fame at a gala awards banquet next month. The formal induction will be made during the 2018 ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference, June 6–8 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown. The three honorees are: Linda Boff: As CMO and VP of learning and culture at General Electric, Linda Boff leads the company’s entire global marketing... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Todd Lefelt, former managing director of UX at Huge, has joined Deutsch as EVP and head of its user experience design department. Lefelt will work across the agency’s roster of clients, overseeing all user design out of the Los Angeles office. He will report directly to Pete Favat, Deutsch’s North American chief creative officer. Lefelt comes to Deutsch after spending 11 years at Huge, originally in its New York office and then helping to build its Los Angeles presence. He oversaw all West... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Director Vincent Peone and veteran producer Geno Imbriale have launched Hollywood-based production house ArtClass, which will active in commercials, shorts and branded content. Imbriale is EP of the new venture, bringing 15-plus years of production experience into the company fold. He has worked for shops including Tool, Caviar, Station Film and most recently, Big Block. Peone was formerly repped by Big Block. Working as a director, writer, producer, and cinematographer, Peone pioneered web... Read More, Comment

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Sara Bamossy and Marisstella Marinkovic have been named co-CEOs of Culver City-based Pitch, part of the indie agency network Project Worldwide. Bamossy and Marinkovic are being reunited at Pitch after previously partnering together for seven years at Saatchi & Saatchi as a team producing work recognized by Cannes Lions, Effies, and Jay Chiat Awards. Bamossy has been with Pitch since 2014 when she arrived as chief strategy officer. Marinkovic is joining the agency from INNOCEAN USA where she... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Director Werner Damen has joined Los Angeles-based Yard Dog for exclusive representation in the U.S. A native of the Netherlands, Damen is in high demand across Europe and Asia, but this is the first time that he has pursued advertising work in the U.S. Known for capturing beautiful imagery and for storytelling with a strong sense of authenticity, Damen has created ads for such international brands as Volkswagen, ING, Heineken, Nivea and Ikea. Damen, who studied psychology at the University of... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- A Common Thread has signed Australian director Cassie De Colling for exclusive representation in the U.S. De Colling has directed ads, branded content and virtual reality for clients including insurance giant AAMI, travel company The Great Escape, and the University of Melbourne. This is the first time she has had representation outside Australia. In describing her narrative style, De Colling said that she draws on real-life experience and gravitates toward stories with emotional depth. Among... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Producer Katie Doering has joined MAJORITY as executive producer. MAJORITY is a production company and studio featuring an all-women director roster which launched in January of this year. In this position, Doering will work closely with managing director Senain Kheshgi and executive producer Jonathon Ker to leverage MAJORITY directors with branded content and digital advertising opportunities. Previously, Doering was producer of Sundance Catalyst and led the Women at Sundance Fellowship at the... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Doug Stivers, who’s spent the last three years overseeing content as an executive producer at Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta, has joined production company Untitled Inc. in an EP capacity. The senior-level hire for Untitled comes as the marketing landscape is being redefined and the role of production companies evolves. Stivers said “agencies and brands are now working with production companies to develop and create original content, commercials, social and digital media campaigns and... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- With work on Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA-winning feature film “I, Tonya” (dir. Craig Gillespie) under her belt, VFX producer Juliet Tierney has signed on to lead Ntropic’s Los Angeles studio as its executive producer. Beyond her rich history of producing cutting-edge VFX for feature films, TV, and commercials, Tierney brings years of experience working with some of the world’s best production companies and agencies. Tierney joins Ntropic from Eight VFX, where as head of production, she... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Hecho en 72, the production company within MDC agency 72andSunny, has begun a new chapter, becoming Hecho Studios and taking on new leadership. The next generation content development and production house, which is part of the MDC Partners network of companies, launches under the aegis of Tom Dunlap and Gui Borchert. Dunlap, previously chief production officer at 72andSunny, has been named managing director of Hecho Studios. Dunlap will be responsible for driving all aspects of growth,... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC canceled its hit reboot of "Roseanne" on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes." ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said the comment "is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." Barr had apologized and deleted her Monday-night tweet, calling it a "bad joke," but the damage had already been done. The revival of the comedy was a... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Reel FX Animation Studios’ chairman and CEO Steve O’Brien said they are doubling down on original content with the rehiring of Jared Mass who returns in an elevated role to head up Reel FX’s Originals Unit. Based in the studio’s Hollywood location, Mass will oversee a growing slate of animated feature films as well as a range of episodic, streaming, and cross-platform projects. Reel FX partners with major studios on its original properties, including the recently announced Monster On The Hill... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Inspired by recent student activism, The One Club for Creativity and MullenLowe, a global advertising agency network, are founding Fight Gunfire With Fire (FGWF), a creative force designed to inspire student creativity in the effort to curb gun violence. The strongest work submitted by students will be brought to life in partnership with advertising agencies, production and editorial companies, non-profits and national leaders to create active campaigns. “Now is the time for us to support our... Read More, Comment

The 4-year-old character referred to in the title of the new film "A Kid Like Jake " does not actually get much screen time at all. He's around and always being talked about, as his gender-fluidity is becoming more apparent to those around him, but "A Kid Like Jake" is not really about Jake at all — it's about his parents. Based on a 2013 play by Daniel Pearle, who adapted his work for the screen, and directed by Silas Howard, a transgender filmmaker who has directed episodes of the show "... Read More, Comment

Woman vs. nature. It certainly has a ring to it, especially when woman wins. But there are too few such stories in our popular culture, and certainly on our movie screens. Enter "Adrift," based on the harrowing, real-life story of Tami Oldham, who sailed off on a romantic voyage from Tahiti to San Diego in 1983 with her fiance, Richard Sharp, and ran into a brutal hurricane. Oldham wrote of the ordeal — 41 days on the open seas in a damaged 44-foot sailboat — in her book, "Red Sky in Mourning... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Politicians seizing on immigrants as an election issue. Newspaper headlines calling for action. Talk of legislation to institute a ban. If viewers of "The Chinese Exclusion Act" documentary end up with a sense of deja vu between the film's subject, a law from 1882 that barred Chinese people from coming to the United States, and current events, that's pretty much the point, according to its filmmakers. "The 'A-Ha!' for anybody coming to it ... is oh, there's a history to how we have decided who... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- In the largest disturbance yet in Disney's otherwise lucrative reign over "Star Wars," the Han Solo spinoff "Solo: A Star Wars Story" opened well below expectations with a franchise-low $83.3 million in ticket sales over the three-day weekend in North American theaters. Disney estimated Sunday that "Solo" will gross $101 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, a figure below even the opening weekends of the much-derided "Star Wars" prequels. Last week, forecasts ran as high as $150... Read More, Comment

Late adoption in Brazil is still a rare gesture, which runs up against various myths and prejudices. Today, 92% of children who are waiting for adoption are over 7 years old. However, of the 37,000 parents who want to adopt, only 9% welcome children of that age or older, according to data from the National Justice Council. To raise awareness to this cause, Dermodex brand, a specialist in rashes, and the advertising agency BETC São Paulo, announce this Friday, on the Brazilian National Adoption... Read More, Comment

To promote improved child safety strategies and techniques for parents, Goodoil Films director Justin McMillan and Byron Studios have teamed up to release this film, titled Gone, to complement the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centre’s (NMPCC) efforts for International Missing Children’s Day 2018 (5/25). The project’s genesis was a bedtime conversation held between McMillan and his young son. When his son inquired after the fate of a missing child, McMillan... Read More, Comment

There’s a special emotional bond between people and animals. Think about that dog or cat you love(d) – they are always there for you. It’s really no different with horses. But, unlike dogs and cats, horses often move on to other homes due to costs or life circumstances, meaning that the kids who grow up with them often have to say goodbye at some point. In this short film titled April & Dixie --created by The Martin Agency for client Purina Mills--the bond between a girl and her horse is... Read More, Comment

Net#work BBDO in Johannesburg, South Africa, launched a short film about a man in a Mercedes-Benz who took a 30 story plunge off the side of Chapman’s Peak in Cape Town and lived to tell the tale. The short also hearkens back to the original commercial in 1990 which introduced audiences to this survivor, Christopher White. That spot from nearly 30 years ago yielded South Africa’s first Cannes Gold Lion in film. Lorens van Rensburg of 7Films directed and shot this new short which now places... Read More, Comment

Maroon 5’s Adam Levine croons while the camera circles around him in one continuous shot, a woman back-to-back with him, dancing and singing along to the “Girls Like You” song’s catchy lyrics, while the band’s Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, James Valentine, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton and Sam Farrar surround them playing. The hook? It’s a different woman joining in every time; diverse, influential, each and every one of them a powerhouse and inspiration. Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth... Read More, Comment

In this video short to promote the RGD’s (Association of Registered Graphic Designers) DesignThinkers conference, prominent designers are hooked up to a polygraph lie-detector machine, answering age-old design-related questions such as, “Is your wardrobe primarily black?” The lie detector test is part of the “Speak the Truth” campaign from Toronto ad agency Zulu Alpha Kilo. The work exposes the truths of design around us in a humorous, relevant and sometimes provocative manner. Zak Mroueh,... Read More, Comment

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