LOS ANGELES -- Director Scott Weintrob’s filmmaking ride back and forth between short and longer-form destinations continues as Fastest Car is slated to debut Friday (4/6) on Netflix. Weintrob serves as an executive producer on the show and has helmed three of its eight episodes, including the first installment and the season finale. His company Large Eyes teamed with Conde Nast Entertainment to produce Fastest Car , in which drivers of top-end exotic supercars put their street and speed cred on the line... Read More, Comment

LONDON -- The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominations for the annual Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards, which reward the very best television Programs broadcast in the UK in 2017. The ceremony will be held at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, May 13, and hosted by Sue Perkins. Black Mirror, Line of Duty, The Crown and Three Girls and are each nominated in three categories. Black Mirror has two first-time nominees recognized for their performances: a Leading... Read More, Comment

BURBANK, Calif. -- Having made her mark as one of the industry’s top studio executives for more than two decades, Sue Kroll is now hanging her own production shingle, Kroll & Co. Entertainment, based on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. Under her new banner, Kroll is already involved in the production and development of a wide range of feature film projects, teaming her with some of the noted filmmakers and actors with whom she has collaborated over the course of her career. Kroll will also look to develop... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- "Howards End," the upcoming four-part miniseries adapted from E.M. Forster's 1910 novel, isn't Kenneth Lonergan's first foray into television. That would be the animated Nickelodeon kids show "Doug." Before Lonergan was one of the most acclaimed playwrights and filmmakers of his generation, he was like most young writers: hunting for work and for money. He and his friend Andy Yerkes wrote a pair of 1993 episodes for "Doug." How it happened, the 55-year-old playwright can't recall. "Or why they... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual Webby Awards. Among those recognized this year in the Advertising, Media & PR categories are Fearless Girl (McCann New York), 11 Herbs & Spices (Wieden+Kennedy), Did You Mean (MailChimp), I’m With the Banned (Spotify), Test Kitchen by Taco Bell (Deutsch), IKEA Human Catalogue(BBH), The Most German Supermarket (Jung von Matt AG), and Downtown Records – Live Looper (BBDO New York)... Read More, Comment

LONDON (AP) -- Shares in WPP, the advertising agency giant, have fallen after an announcement that the board is investigating an allegation of personal misconduct against its chief executive, Martin Sorrell. In early-afternoon Wednesday trading in London, WPP's share price was down 2.2 percent at 1,094 pence. The Wall Street Journal reported the allegations involve possible misuse of assets and improper behavior. No details were offered but WPP says "the allegations do not involve amounts which are material... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Filmmaker and artist Arthur Jafa has come aboard the directorial roster of Stink for global representation in spots, branded content and music videos. As reflected in assorted publications, exhibitions and a place on Art Reviews’ top 100 Power list, Jafa is acknowledged as a leading influential artisan in society, particularly for his contributions to black culture. Jafa is perhaps best known for, Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death (2016), a seven-minute video set to Kanye West’s “... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Director Maged Nassar, a Cannes Gold Lion winner, has landed his first career representation in the U.S. and U.K., joining Moxie Pictures. Having started his career as a top agency creative at JWT Cairo, FP7 Dubai, and DDB Berlin, Nassar recently transitioned to directing full-time, helming spots for global brands such as Coke, Vodafone, Orange, and Du Telecom Dubai. He directed this work via Good People Films, a Cairo-based company in which he’s partnered. Good People continues to handle him... Read More, Comment

SAN FRANCISCO -- Creative directors Nichole Geddes and Brad Meyers have joined 215 McCann in San Francisco Geddes comes over to 215 McCann from Heat, where she was a creative director on various projects for EA Sports, Hotwire, Ubisoft, Bank of the West, Dolby and The San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Most notably she worked on the five-minute spot “Madden the Movie,” which was recognized at Cannes, Effies, National Addys, Clios and Shorty Awards. Prior to her seven years at Heat, she worked at Wexley School for... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Director Casey Storm has signed with production company Arts & Sciences for U.S. representation. Storm has been directing commercials for just over four years, though having grown up an L.A. native with a vaudevillian comic for a grandpa and a sitcom director for a father, he’s essentially been in the creative and film industry his entire life. His passions have always included acting and directing, but he initially found success as a costume designer. A spur-of-the-moment trip to Reno with... Read More, Comment

DALLAS -- Production company Lucky 21 has added Augustine Frizzell to its directorial roster. Frizzell’s debut feature film Never Goin’ Back world premiered at Sundance 2018, recently screened at SXSW, and was acquired by A24. With Lucky 21, Frizzell will apply her signature directing talent, where character and performance shine, to spots and branded content. This marks her first career commercial signing with a production company. Written and directed by Frizzell, Never Goin’ Back --which was nominated... Read More, Comment

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas -- The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) announced an ambitious lineup of filmmaker and film industry panels for this year’s edition of the popular film festival which runs May 1-6. The filmmaker and film industry panels will feature attending actors, producers and directors, along with some of the leaders and brightest minds from forward-thinking companies and organizations, discussing issues and ideas focused on diversity, inclusion practices, and innovative and authentic perspectives that... Read More, Comment

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas -- The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) unveiled the lineup of official feature film selections for the festival’s fourth edition, May 1-6, 2018. The inclusive lineup includes an impressive slate of films--more than half from underrepresented creators--including 42 competition films, 13 episodic content presentations, notable showcase screenings of top festival films, critical favorites, anniversary screenings of classics, a presentation of family focused and animated greats on their Sony/CongAgra... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Los York, a multi-disciplined creative company, has launched bicoastal Los York Films with a roster of eight directors. The lineup of filmmakers consists of Los York co-founders Dex Deboree and Seth Epstein, as well as Sebastien Zanella, Bo Platt, Jean-Paul Frenay, Jeff Johnson, Lindsey Byrnes, and Shane Griffin. ​ Byrnes is a director and photographer renowned for her portraits, commercial photography, music videos and short-form storytelling.. Throughout her career, Byrnes has ranged from... Read More, Comment

BROOKLYN, NY -- Directors Caitlyn Greene, Andrew Litten and Marcus Tortorici have joined Brooklyn-based production company Voyager for commercials and branded content in the U.S. This marks the first spot representation for all three filmmakers. Greene is a director and editor based in New York City, who earned a Primetime Emmy in 2015 and an ACE Eddie in 2016 for her work editing HBO’s Peabody Award-winning miniseries The Jinx. She went on to write and direct “August”, a short narrative film which premiered... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kay Cannon, a performer, screenwriter, producer and three-time Emmy nominee, had never directed anything before "Blockers," an R-rated teen sex comedy that Universal Pictures is releasing wide Friday. She'd written and produced for "30 Rock" and "New Girl," written the scripts for the enormously successful "Pitch Perfect" films and created the Netflix series "Girlboss." But directing was not yet on her resume, and it came as a surprise when executives at Good Universe and Point Grey, the... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Eileen Grubba was working alongside other actors on a TV commercial when she realized the director's eye was caught by her uneven gait. He started positioning her out of shots — and then it got worse. Shooting a scene on a bus, the director ordered Grubba to get up and move from her seat in the middle to one in the rear that was fully out of the frame. "'So now we're going to make the disabled people sit at the back of the bus? That's awesome,'" Grubba, who uses a leg brace because of childhood... Read More, Comment

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) -- A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family members she "hated" the company opened fire at the company's headquarters in California, wounding three people before killing herself, police said. Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims when she pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds in a courtyard at YouTube's headquarters south of San Francisco on Tuesday, police said. But a law enforcement official with knowledge of... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook's No. 2 executive says the company should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancy improperly accessed user data nearly three years ago. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told NBC's "Today" show that at the time, Facebook received legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the improperly obtained information. "What we didn't do is the next step of an audit and we're trying to that now," she said. The audit of Cambridge Analytica is on hold,... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook's new privacy policy aims to explain the data it gathers on users more clearly — but doesn't actually change what it collects and shares. The company unveiled the revisions Wednesday as it faces one of its worst privacy scandals in history. Although Facebook says the changes aren't prompted by recent events or tighter privacy rules coming from the EU, it's an opportune time. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also set to testify before Congress next week for the first time. As Facebook evolved... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jason Clarke plunged into frigid waters, repeatedly, for his role as the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in "Chappaquiddick." The Australian actor said his research about the accident that thwarted Kennedy's presidential chances included jumping into Poucha Pond, the same waters the Massachusetts Democrat's car crashed into in July 1969, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. Clarke said the indie film, which is in limited release on Friday, doesn't try to sensationalize the accident, which Kennedy failed to report... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Cast members of "The Miracle Season" say the film's female-empowerment message couldn't have come at a better time. The movie follows the true story of Iowa City's West High volleyball team, which reached the state championships after the death of teammate Caroline "Line" Found. Erin Moriarty, one of the stars of the film, says the theme of women working together to achieve a goal is particularly important in the era of #MeToo, with women in Hollywood and elsewhere organizing to eradicate... Read More, Comment

Let's start with a popcorn warning. If you're bringing your usual tub of multiplex popcorn into "A Quiet Place," just be aware that you'll be hearing every single crunch. That's because much of John Krasinski's ingeniously creepy new film, in which he stars alongside his real-life better half, Emily Blunt, takes place in virtual silence. This is a movie about a world where noise gets you killed. In fact, if you ate popcorn IN the movie, you'd quickly be dead. Unless you were standing by a... Read More, Comment

Ambiguous and damning at once, John Curran's "Chappaquiddick" plunges us back into the summer of 1969: the season of Woodstock, the moon landing, the Manson murders and the lowest ebb of the Kennedy mythology. It was six years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy and a year since Bobby was gunned down. But the Kennedy machine churned on. Jack Kennedy's ambition to reach the moon was being realized by Neil Armstrong. Edward M. ("Teddy") Kennedy, already seven years a senator having filled... Read More, Comment

The teen sex comedy, a dude-fest if there ever was one, gets a very overdue and very funny update in Kay Cannon's "Blockers," a gleeful, gross-out farce about the absurdities of gender bias. Like "Porky's" and "American Pie" before it, Cannon's film begins with a sex pact. Three high-school friends are determined to lose their virginity on prom night before going off to college. The twist is that they aren't an assortment of randy, pimpled guys. They're a trio of curious, self-confident girls,... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Even as trade tensions are mounting between the United States and China, the importance of Chinese moviegoers to Hollywood has never been more apparent. Global moviegoing reached a record high of $40.6 billion in 2017 despite a downturn in audiences at U.S. and Canada theaters, the Motion Picture Association of America said Wednesday in its annual report. That was despite the lowest attendance at domestic theaters in 22 years. Instead, the growth was largely propelled by China, which accounted... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Steven Spielberg has found his way back to the top of the box office with the action-adventure "Ready Player One," while Tyler Perry has scored again with "Acrimony." Studio estimates on Sunday say Spielberg's virtual reality-focused film earned a solid $53.2 million in its first four days in theaters from 4,234 locations since opening Wednesday night, with $41.2 million of that coming from the three-day weekend. Not adjusted for inflation, it's Spielberg's best opening in a decade following "... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- “Roseanne” wasn’t just a hit on opening night. The revived ABC comedy had legs. The Nielsen company said Tuesday that viewership for the show’s premiere shot up to 25 million people when delayed viewing for the three days after last Tuesday’s first showing is added. The increase of 6.6 million people sets a record for the biggest lift ever for a show in the three days after a premiere, Nielsen said. A lot of programs would be happy to get 6.6 million viewers, period. “Roseanne” was helped by... Read More, Comment

To heighten awareness for those struggling with the care of autistic family members, director Dean Freeman--who’s with L.A.-based CoMPANY Films--chronicles Andrea Antonello, an extraordinary young Italian who has authored four books and become an influencer in a world where one out of every 68 born today is diagnosed having the developmental disability. Andrea is a stirring and genuine short film of an author and painter who happens to be autistic. Freeman directed the film to heighten... Read More, Comment

For French grocery store chain Intermarché, Paris ad agency romance created this film which tells the charming tale of a boy who goes about doling out cookies, boasting to his buddies that they’re homemade treats baked by his mom. But in fact they are from Chabrior, Intermarché’s own line of cookies. Upon closer scrutiny, though, perhaps the lad is telling the truth. Either way, Intermarché makes its own brand products--that's why the cookies taste so good. Titled “Maman, la Plus Belle du Monde... Read More, Comment

Drew Barrymore steps out of her comfort zone and gets comfortable singing and dancing in the global debut of Crocs: The Musical . The whimsical piece was directed by Dan Opsal of Hungry Man for R/GA in Austin, Singapore and Shanghai. Read More, Comment

“The Dream Still Lives,” a project concepted by Stevie Wonder and directed by Candice Vernon, has launched 50 years from the exact moment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s tragic death. In the film, entertainers, politicians, and athletes--including Wonder, former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, Katy Perry, Meryl Streep, Chadwick Boseman, Senator Kamala Harris, Trevor Noah, Dave Chappelle, and Bruce Springsteen--address personal hopes for the future as inspired by MLK’s Dream... Read More, Comment

Combining animation and live action--directed by J.J. Sedelmaier and Station Film’s Brendan Gibbons, respectively--this fun commercial starts as a jaunty ballad playing while a giant heroic character confidently marches through a forest with colorful tree-tops passing at his feet. The cartoon looks vintage and hearkens back to animation done in the 1950s--clean lines, bright colors and mid-century stylized design. His name is “Big Jim” and he’s there to help homeowners deal with disaster. Big... Read More, Comment

Part of a multi-platform campaign for AARP conceived by Grey New York, two commercials--including this one titled “Disrupt Aging”--feature J. Ivy, a renowned performing spoken word artist, poet and author, whose compelling oratory mirrors contemporary society. In this particular spot, Ivy leads a call to challenge ageist attitudes and stereotypes and join AARP in creating a society in which no one is limited by age. The ad ends with the rallying cry, “Let’s Take on Today. And Every Day. With... Read More, Comment

This spot opens on a picturesque scene of a father and daughter in the middle of a forest, bird watching. Or so we think. As the story unfolds, we realize that it’s not birds they’re spying through binoculars, but breakfast - and specifically pancakes. We watch as they enthusiastically discover IHOP’s blueberry pancakes and original buttermilk pancakes. The daughter then scans the forest and is shocked to find a new and exotic-looking breakfast item as she exclaims, “Holy pancakes! Look at that... Read More, Comment

OneMain Financial, a $4 billion personal lending company that’s been in business for more than 100 years, has launched its first ever brand campaign, conceived by a creative ensemble at FCB, New York.] Part of the “Lending Done Human” campaign are spots which include this ad titled “Laura Dunn” who’s super because she’s so human as a loan specialist.. With more than 10,000 team leaders at over 1,600 locations throughout 44 states, OneMain team leaders help customers resolve their financial... Read More, Comment