CULVER CITY, Calif. -- When Jeff Baron opened Stink Films’ U.S. office as its managing director at the start of 2015, his goals included attaining a higher stateside profile for the international shop as well as diversifying its reputation in visual narrative storytelling to also encompass comedy. He’s done just that over the years with varied director signings as well as extending the reach of the company’s established roster in the U.K. and elsewhere to the U.S. market. Putting a major punctuation mark on that... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The organization that bestows the Academy Awards says it is suspending plans to award a new Oscar for popular films at the 2019 ceremony amid widespread backlash to the idea. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it will further study plans for the category. It wrote in a statement that it recognized that implementing a new award three quarters of the way into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released. The film academy announced the new category for "... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The idea to hand out a popular film Oscar has been shelved for now following widespread backlash, but film academy president John Bailey says that the new category was well-intentioned in its efforts to reflect a changing industry and misunderstood by its critics. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday that it will further study plans for the category, citing the fact that implementing a new award three quarters of the way into the year would create challenges for films... Read More, Comment

TORONTO -- Matthew Heineman’s A Private War will make its world premiere at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 14, at Roy Thomson Hall, joining the Festival’s Gala Presentations lineup. The film marks the feature narrative debut of critically acclaimed director Matthew Heineman ( Cartel Land, City of Ghosts ) whose previous work in documentary filmmaking has earned him an Academy Award nomination, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two DGA wins for Outstanding Directorial... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Toronto International Film Festival is an overwhelming omnibus of moviegoing that every year, through an onslaught of Oscar contenders and cinematic feasts, reflects the world around us. But more than usual, this year's festival radiates with urgent topicality, both on screen and off. Take Steve McQueen's "Widows," which will make its world premiere at Toronto. McQueen's follow-up to his Oscar-winning "12 Years a Slave" has the trappings of a genre movie: It's about a group of recently... Read More, Comment

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. & NEW YORK -- 21st Century Fox (21CF) has invested a combined $100 million in social broadcasting platform Caffeine and a newly formed venture called Caffeine Studios that is jointly owned by FOX Sports and Caffeine. The new studio will leverage FOX Sports’ expertise in live events and programming to create exclusive esports, video game, sports, and live entertainment content for Caffeine’s next-generation platform. In addition, Lachlan Murdoch, 21CF’s executive chairman, will join Caffeine’s board. 21CF’s... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Chapman and Maclain Way--the director siblings behind the Netflix docuseries Wild Wild Country , which is nominated for five primetime Emmy Awards--have joined forces with Mark and Jay Duplass’ creative shop DBP Donut to helm commercial and branded entertainment work. The Way Brothers teamed as directors/producers on Wild Wild Country , collaborating with exec producers Mark and Jay Duplass. The acclaimed Wild Wild Country tells the story of the Rajneeshee community and its conflict with the... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Matt Ian has been named chief creative officer for mcgarrybowen’s flagship New York office. He will assume his new role in mid-September and lead creative for mcgarrybowen’s NY clients including Subway, United Airlines, Verizon, Crayola, Chevron and Northrop Grumman. Ian had been with Droga5 since 2015. As executive creative director there, he worked with brands like The Nature’s Bounty Company, Quilted Northern, and Sprint, and landed many new business wins including Pizza Hut and IHOP (which... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Six months after Frances McDormand introduced the world to the concept of an inclusion rider in her Oscars speech, Warner Bros. and its sister companies are announcing a company-wide commitment to diversity and inclusion, becoming the first major entertainment company to do so. WarnerMedia says Wednesday that it is pledging to use its "best efforts" to make sure that diverse actors and crews are considered for film and television projects at all stages of the production process going forward... Read More, Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A computer programmer accused of working at the behest of the North Korean government was charged Thursday in connection with several high-profile cyberattacks, including the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack and the WannaCry ransomware virus that affected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Park Jin Hyok, who is believed to be in North Korea, conspired with others to conduct a series of attacks that also stole $81 million from a bank in Bangladesh, according to the Justice Department'... Read More, Comment

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An endorsement deal between Nike and Colin Kaepernick prompted a flood of debate Tuesday as sports fans reacted to the apparel giant backing an athlete known mainly for starting a wave of protests among NFL players of police brutality, racial inequality and other social issues. The deal unveiled by Nike and the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was a trending topic on Twitter and other social networks, with some fans urging a boycott of the company's clothes and sneakers — even burning and... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- MAJORITY--a production company launched earlier this year by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Senain Kheshgi and veteran ad industry EP Jonathon Ker--has unveiled its directorial roster for commercials and branded content. The lineup features women directors from the indie film worlds of documentary and fiction narrative, including Kheshgi ( The Diplomat ), Anjali Nayar ( Silas ), Laura Gabbert ( City of Gold ), Ilinca Calugareanu ( Chuck Norris vs Communism ), Elizabeth Wood... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Framestore Pictures has signed director Laurent Ledru for U.S. representation. Ledru, who will be based out of Framestore’s L.A. office, began his career as a video game artist in Paris. He then moved stateside and started working on feature films and commercials, eventually finding a home at Method Studios and later joining Psyop in 2008. As a partner at Psyop, Ledru was part of the team to establish the company in L.A. Ledru developed a visual storytelling reputation for seamlessly blending... Read More, Comment

VENICE, Calif. -- Production company Rodeo Show has signed director, photographer and cinematographer Tasha Van Zandt for her first U.S. commercial representation. Bringing a global perspective to her work across commercials, feature films, series and photography, she has traveled on assignment to over 75 countries and every continent. Dedicated to telling stories that foster empathy and build cultural bridges that impact greater global understanding, she has crafted cross-media projects for such clients as... Read More, Comment

VENICE, Italy (AP) -- Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris said when he interviewed Steve Bannon for his latest film, "American Dharma," Morris likened him to Satan, and was surprised when President Donald Trump's former chief strategist "embraced the idea." Speaking at a press conference Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival, Morris said, "My wife had mentioned to me that, you know, 'Bannon is a little bit like Lucifer in 'Paradise Lost,' and I mentioned this to him. I said, 'You know, that Lucifer character — aka... Read More, Comment

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Twenty years after Larry Page and Sergey Brin set out to organize all of the internet's information, the search engine they named Google has morphed into a dominating force in smartphones, online video, email, maps and much more. That resounding success now has regulators and lawmakers around the world questioning whether the company has become too powerful as its ubiquitous services vacuum up sensitive information about billions of people hooked on its products. Google's search engine remains... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Animation studio Golden Wolf, headquartered in London, has launched its first stateside location in New York City. The expansion continues an eventful year for the shop, which in May aligned with animation/VFX/live-action studio Psyop, a minority investor in the company. Golden Wolf now occupies adjacent studio space in SoHo to Psyop and its sister company Blacklist, which formerly repped Golden Wolf stateside and was instrumental to the relationship. Among the year’s highlights from Golden... Read More, Comment

Randal Ford, who earned inclusion into SHOOT ’s 2016 New Directors Showcase and is on the commercialmaking/branded content roster of charlieuniformtango, is also an acclaimed photographer, which in turn has translated into his engaging portraits of wildlife yielding a just released book, "The Animal Kingdom: A Collection of Portraits," published by Rizzoli New York. “Whether it’s beauty, power or humor, I want to give animals the opportunity to tell their story and connect with you...These... Read More, Comment

The insane revenge movie "Peppermint " starts to make a lot more sense when you realize that it was directed by the man who brought us "Taken" (Pierre Morel) and written by one at least partially responsible for "London Has Fallen" (Chad St. John). It's a movie in which the central character, Riley North (Jennifer Garner), is called a "female vigilante" by a local news anchor, and a "soccer mom" by Los Angeles police. She uses a maxi pad as a makeshift bandage to sop up the blood from a gushing... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Burt Reynolds, the handsome film and television star known for his acclaimed performances in "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights" and for an active off-screen life which included relationships with Loni Anderson, Sally Field and Dinah Shore, has died at age 82. His death was confirmed Thursday by his agent Todd Eisner, who did not immediately have further details. Reynolds inspired a wide range of responses over his long, erratic career: critical acclaim and critical scorn, commercial success and... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Crazy Rich Asians" isn't slowing down at the box office even in its third weekend in theaters, and is helping to send a strong summer moviegoing season off on a high note. Studios on Sunday say the romantic comedy has topped the domestic charts again. Warner Bros. estimates that the film added an additional $22.2 million through Sunday, down only 10 percent from last weekend. To date, the film has grossed nearly $111 million from North American theaters, passing the lifetime domestic total of... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- TV viewers are idling away the final weeks of summer the way they started it: with reality programs. Half of last week’s 20 most-watched programs were unscripted contests, according to Nielsen Co. figures released Wednesday. The field was topped by NBC’s two episodes of “America’s Got Talent” and the Notre Dame-Michigan football game, helping make the network the most-watched for the ninth consecutive week. Notre Dame’s prime-time 24-17 victory drew the team’s biggest audience on NBC in 13... Read More, Comment

The Woolmark Company has launched a global consumer awareness campaign to educate a new generation of consumers on the performance benefits of Australian Merino wool, focusing on breathable wool performance and athleisure wear. Centerpiece of the campaign--from TBWA\Sydney--is this film that tells the story of a synthetic world that has forgotten how to live naturally. Instead of embracing natural fabrics, its people wear artificial, unbreathable clothing made from the coats of a strange new... Read More, Comment

Food is so heavily embedded into the culture of a country, that local people rarely notice how wonderful--and sometimes weird--their own food is. That is, until someone from a different place arrives… This insight sets the scene for J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam’s new TV commercial for Dutch supermarket PLUS. The film follows the story of Ismail, a Syrian boy from a refugee family. At his new school he befriends Lucas, who introduces him to Dutch food in all its glory. True Dutch delicacies are... Read More, Comment

BBDO NY’s new corporate brand campaign for FedEx captures the emotional side of package delivery. Four films directed by Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks bring to life the possibilities that FedEx delivers, from the comfort of home to family memories and much much more. And while FedEx has always been focused on connecting people and possibilities, this new work showcases stories of FedEx going beyond the box to do just that. Included in this package of ads is “Opportunity” in which we see a... Read More, Comment

Following the Parkland massacre last February, President Trump suggested that schools should arm educators--the people we have trusted to teach and care for our children every day. To combat this notion and a general aversion to gun control on the part of many elected officials, award-winning writer/producer Joel Surnow ( 24 ) has teamed with psychologist Dr. Frank Sergi, director Brendan Gibbons, production company Station Film and composer Sean Callery to create a satirical gun safety short... Read More, Comment

This PlayStation campaign from BBH New York includes three films featuring familiar video game scenes that take unexpected turns when the characters become distracted by the details of their environments, demonstrating the incredibly detailed gameplay on PS4 Pro with dynamic 4K. This “Missed Details” campaign accentuates how the PS4 Pro delivers a core “feature” that gamers care about through PlayStation’s irreverent and fun brand. This ScreenWork selection, “Armor,” features two medieval... Read More, Comment

L.A.-based creative agency HAYMAKER has launched “First Beach,” a campaign for beach footwear and apparel company Reef that includes a docu-short featuring non-profit organization Urban Surf 4 Kids that takes viewers behind-the-scenes and features the raw emotions of 10 children living within the foster care system as they experience the beach for the first time. “Many of us take the beach for granted,” said Matt Johnson, founder and chief strategy officer at HAYMAKER. “We forget how powerful... Read More, Comment

---