LOS ANGELES -- Going into this awards season, costume designer Jacqueline Durran had four career Oscar nominations, winning in 2013 for Anna Karenina . Last week she added to that tally with two more Best Achievement in Costume Design noms on the strength of Beauty and the Beast (Disney) and Darkest Hour (Focus Features). While the two films are distinctly different from each other, carrying costuming propositions that are worlds apart, Darkest Hour and Beauty and the Beast still share a common bond,... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jordan Peele has been dreaming of his Oscar moment since he was 13, but now that it's happened, he can hardly believe it. The 38-year-old received Academy Award nominations last week for best picture, director and original screenplay for his directorial debut, "Get Out." The star of the horror/satire, Daniel Kaluuya, was also nominated for best actor. "Get Out" may be Peele's breakthrough, but the actor, writer, director and producer has been honing his skills for more than a dozen years. He... Read More, Comment

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- On the strength of his work on Dunkirk , Lee Smith, ACE, won the ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) while Tatiana S. Riegel, ACE, took the top honor for Best Dramatic Feature (Comedy) based on her cutting of I, Tonya . Also during Friday (1/26) night’s 68th Annual ACE Eddie Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, “Coco” (edited by Steve Bloom) won Best Edited Animated Feature Film and “Jane” (edited by Joe Beshenkovsky, ACE, Will Znidaric and Brett Morgen) won Best Edited... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Peyton Manning takes a family to Universal Parks & Resorts. Chris Pratt works out to get in shape to tout Michelob Ultra. Bill Hader takes a break on set to snack on some Pringles. This year's Super Bowl advertisers are minding their manners. They're trying hard to steer clear of everything from politics to the #MeToo movement with lightly humorous ads that don't offend. The goal is to capture the attention of the 111 million-plus viewers expected to tune in Sunday when the Philadelphia... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah -- After 10 days and 123 feature films, the 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s awards ceremony took place on Saturday (1/27) evening, with the top Grand Jury Prizes bestowed upon The Miseducation of Cameron Post (U.S. Dramatic), Kailash (U.S. Documentary), Of Fathers and Sons (World Cinema Documentary) and Butterflies (World Cinema Dramatic). Winning the Audience Awards were The Sentence (U.S. Documentary), Burden (U.S. Dramatic), This Is Home (World Cinema Documentary), The Guilty (World Cinema... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- The 2018 Sundance Film Festival had a lot of cultural forces working in its favor with #MeToo and a batch of the previous year's films celebrating Oscar nominations. But as the annual indie film showcase inches to a close, Sunday (1/28), with few big deals and even fewer potential breakouts, it seems the excitement has cooled and a marketplace is in flux. Last year, the festival hosted the premieres of best picture nominees "Get Out" and "Call Me By Your Name," and other awards favorites like... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- The 25th South by Southwest Film Festival will kick off with John Krasinski’s third directorial effort: the supernatural thriller “A Quiet Place.” The Austin, Texas, festival announced its slate Wednesday, starting with the opening selection of Krasinski’s film, his third film as director. The film, which Paramount Pictures will release in April, stars Krasinski and Emily Blunt, his wife, as a rural couple haunted by an evil attracted to sound. Millicent Simmonds, the breakout star of 2017’s “... Read More, Comment

LONDON -- The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has released the remaining names of the 2018 jury presidents. A total of 26 Presidents will guide specialist juries within the nine Awards Tracks. In addition to creative leaders drawn from across the spectrum of creative services, this year’s president line-up includes Fernando Machado, global chief marketing officer at Burger King and Mark D’Arcy, VP and chief creative officer at Facebook. For the first time in Festival history, Apple will... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Tamika Lamison, program director of the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP) has announced the six participants in a newly expanded CDDP program announced in October. Almost 400 applications were received for this cycle, with 25 finalists. The six selected for the program will participate in its inaugural three-month program consisting of workshops, mentorships, networking, a grant to create a spec commercial and an industry showcase. The selected participants in this highly... Read More, Comment

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Global creative agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) has named Mike Davidson and Matt Hunnicutt co-directors of production. The move was a promotion for both, who now oversee multidisciplinary production capabilities across the Portland office, including broadcast, interactive, experiential, and art production. The role was previously held by Patty Brebner, who recently moved into a newly created role, heading up the agency’s branded content and creators studio. “Everything we’re doing at W+K Portland... Read More, Comment

RICHMOND, Va. -- Karen Costello has been named chief creative officer of The Martin Agency, the first female CCO in the company’s 53-year history. Costello, who joined the agency as executive creative director in mid-2017, was charged with leading creative for all Mondelēz business, both global and domestic--a brand portfolio that includes OREO, RITZ, GOOD THiNS and Chips Ahoy!, and will remain on that business in addition to leading the agency’s overall creative efforts. She and Jerry Hoak, formerly of Droga5... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Global production company Stink Films has signed director Rhys Thomas for global representation. Previously handled by Skunk for spots and branded content, Thomas now joins a Stink directorial roster which includes Nicolas Winding Refn, Nacho Gayan, Eliot Rausch, and Chiara Grabmayr. Thomas is an Emmy Award-winning director/producer best known for his work on Documentary Now!, Saturday Night Live and most recently Comrade Detective . The latter, a six-part series which he directed and produced... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- RSA Films has signed filmmaker Matthew K. Firpo for commercial representation worldwide. He’s directed spots for Tinder, Snapchat, fashion films for Suitcase Magazine and a Super Bowl commercial for Chase Bank. Refuge , his award-winning documentary short about the Syrian refugee crisis, garnered rave reviews as a riveting human rights chronicle and premiered at last year’s SXSW Festival. After debuting at SXSW, Refuge continued on the festival circuit with a run that included IndieFest,... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Director Tom Barbor-Might, who’s based in the U.K., has signed with production house Imperial Woodpecker for his first career U.S. representation. A conceptual documentarian known for telling contemporary human stories for channels including the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and Discovery, Barbor-Might continues to be handled in the U.K. by Rogue Films for spots and branded content. Barbor-Might’s work has been recognized on the awards show circuit, including an IDA Documentary Award... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Director Henry Busby has signed with production house Rattling Stick for commercials and branded content in the U.S. and U.K. Busby comes over to Rattling Stick from production company Voyager Creative where his career was launched. His client list to date includes Everlast, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and NBC Sports Network. Growing up playing sports among a community of storytellers in Alabama, Busby has seen his work instinctively, thus far, focused more on athletes and telling their stories and... Read More, Comment

ATLANTA (AP) -- The mother of a stuntman who fell to his death on the set of "The Walking Dead" in Georgia has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the show's network and other parties, saying unreasonably low budgets led to inadequate safety precautions. John Bernecker, 33, died July 12 from injuries suffered in a fall on the set in Senoia, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Atlanta. The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Susan Bernecker in Gwinnett County State Court says AMC Networks Inc. "orchestrated and... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- The feature film winners at the 22nd Annual Art Directors Guild (ADG) Excellence In Production Design Awards were: Production designer Paul Denham Austerberry in the Period Film category for The Shape of Water ; Dennis Gassner for Best Fantasy Film on the strength of Blade Runner 2049 ; Francois Audouy for Logan which took the Contemporary Film prize; and Harley Jessup in the Animated Film category for Coco . Awards were presented on Saturday evening (1/27) during a gala ceremony in the Dolby... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- James Ivory didn't see "Call Me By Your Name" with an audience until the week before he was nominated for its screenplay. He caught it at a New York theater with a good audience, he says, that applauded at the end. It was his first tangible taste of the adulation for the film he wrote, about first love in Northern Italy, since it began its celebrated run at last year's Sundance Film Festival. "I've just been thinking: What is it about the film that people respond to so much?" Ivory says in a... Read More, Comment

LONDON -- Stephen Ledger-Lomas has joined BBH London as its new head of production. Ledger-Lomas’ role at BBH will see him lead the agency’s multi skilled production offering and continue to develop innovative new ways of collaborating with BBH’s production partners. Alongside the running of the department he will be focused on improving BBH’s ability to deliver against agile briefs and broadening the diversity of production talent the agency works with. Ledger-Lomas joins BBH from David James Associates... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Lisa Immordino Vreeland, director of critically acclaimed documentaries on Cecil Beaton, Peggy Guggenheim and Diana Vreeland, has joined the U.S. roster of Grand Large, a production boutique with bases of operation in NY and Paris. This marks the first commercialmaking representation for the fashion documentarian. Vreeland’s most recent film, Love, Cecil , debuted in November at the 2017 DOC NYC Festival. It showcases her signature approach to documentary narrative, relying on extensive... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- PICROW has signed directing duo Zeitgeist for spots and branded content. Zeitgeist consists of Danish director/writer Liv Prior Colliander, who helmed the film Dryland , and David Henry Gerson, winner of a 2016 Student Academy Award for All These Voices . The latter is a powerful film which chronicles a young Nazi soldier coming to terms with his actions after encountering a theater troupe both celebrating the end of WWII yet grieving what the world has endured. All These Voices manages to be... Read More, Comment

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- Production house Backyard has signed director Matthew James Thompson for U.S. commercial representation. He has helmed work for such brands as Nike, Google, Jeep, Squarespace, Oreo, Hilton Hotels, Virgin Mobile and Dunkin Donuts. His branded film for Field Notes was praised for its emotive prowess and was awarded at the IAC, Addys and Hatch competitions. Thompson’s short-film projects have screened at the Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival and Houston Worldfest... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Bicoastal production company Honor Society has signed director Ariel Danziger for U.S. commercial representation. Danziger is a cinematic storyteller whose spots span such brands as eBay, Bank of America, Nescafé, Maybelline, PayPal, Bacardi and Tresemme. His music video work has earned international praise, including two MTV VMA recognitions for his Muse “Uprising” and Passion Pit “The Reeling” music videos. The video he helmed for Mexican Rock Band Maná’s single “Lluvia al Corazon” was... Read More, Comment

CHICAGO -- STORY has signed director Kevin Smith for exclusive national representation. Smith, whose recent work includes campaigns for Home Depot, AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Carnation, is known for an intelligent, meticulously-crafted style of subtle, sometimes ironic humor. Smith joins STORY following a long association with Backyard Productions through which he directed spots for many leading brands. The majority of his work involves performance-driven comedy centering on familiar life... Read More, Comment

SAN FRANCISCO -- Director Joe Stevens has joined Kaboom productions for his first national representation in spots and branded content. As content director for experimental optics label Shwood Eyewear, Stevens brought the brand’s ethos to life, both in the fashion world and in support of original makers and brand ambassadors with stories of style and substance. This view from the inside has helped make Stevens an astute partner for brands looking to develop an original voice through filmed narratives. Recent... Read More, Comment

SEATTLE -- Director Matty Brown--who earlier this month won a Spirit Awards filmmaker grant--has joined UNHEARD/OF, a production company with bases of operation in Atlanta and Seattle. Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the L.A. Film Festival, bestowed the Seattle Story Award upon Brown. The award is for a filmmaker who exhibits innovation, diversity and uniqueness of vision while having a history of transforming perspectives through rich stories. The... Read More, Comment

The lead character of Sebastian Lelio's film "A Fantastic Woman " is named Marina. She is a nightclub singer and a waitress. She has a boyfriend, Orlando, who is much older than her, but that matters little. They are clearly smitten with one another and in that post-honeymoon phase of the relationship where things are still passionate, but also calm and comforting. They're planning a trip together. She's moving in. Life is moving along nicely it seems. Marina is also a transgender woman,... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" is the highest grossing film of the weekend, but according to studio estimates Sunday, many moviegoers also chose the first weekend after Oscar nominations to catch up with some awards contenders like "The Shape of Water" which had its highest grossing frame with $5.7 million. In first place, "The Death Cure" took in a higher than expected $23.5 million. It's the third and final installment in the "Maze Runner" series based on James Dashner's dystopian young adult... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Judging by the ratings, NBC will be happy to invite old friend Will Ferrell back to “Saturday Night Live” whenever he wants. The late-night comedy show reached 7.47 million viewers for this past weekend’s show with Ferrell as host, the Nielsen company said. It was the most-watched episode of “Saturday Night Live” this season. Chris Stapleton was the musical guest on the night before he won three Grammy Awards. The news wasn’t so good for the Grammys, which saw its audience slip to 19.8 million... Read More, Comment

Created by Publicis Singapore, this piece for P&G/Vicks Philippines introduces us to a young man named Hernando and his journey of transformation triggered when an abandoned baby enters his life. Inspired by the real-life story of an innocent child and his adoptive father, the four-minute online film shows how a hardened Hernando becomes through his care and caring for the child becomes a loving, responsible adult. He and the child end up caring for each other, changing for the better not... Read More, Comment

In a bid to shed light on the dangerous journeys refugees are forced to make on a daily basis, Amnesty International has launched this short film, “Through the eyes of a refugee,” from ad agency TBWA\NEBOKO, Amsterdam. The film documents a project in which five people from the Netherlands and Belgium were brought into a state of hypnosis, so they could gain deeper insight into the journey of a Syrian refugee. Under the guidance of a professional hypnotherapist, the participants experienced the... Read More, Comment

Created by agency David&Goliath, Kia’s :60 Super Bowl spot, titled “Feel Something Again,” stars legendary rocker Steven Tyler at an old abandoned racetrack. With the familiar notes of “Dream On” playing backwards, Tyler looks as though he’s about to race the Kia Stinger against another legend, two-time Formula One and Indianapolis 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi. After a moment of reflection, rather than driving the car forward, Tyler takes the car backwards around the track, in reverse... Read More, Comment

In this Super Bowl spot for Doritos conceived by Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) and directed by Nabil of production house Reset, a lip synch battle emerges between Peter Dinklage (Doritos Blaze) and Morgan Freeman (Mountain Dew Ice). Singing along to Missy Elliot and Busta Rhymes songs, Dinklage and Freeman engage in an epic, tongue-firmly-in-cheek duel. Read More, Comment

Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live fame and his colleagues are wowed by “flavor stacking” of Pringles. They discover that stacking a pizza-flavored Pringles on top of a BBQ chip makes for BBQ pizza, which can then be spiced up by a jalapeño Pringles and so on. It’s a tastebud-stimulating, mind-blowing “Wow” experience for all involved, created by Grey New York and directed by Rhys Thomas of Skunk. Titled “Wow,” this spot marks the first ever for Pringles on the Super Bowl. It will debut on air... Read More, Comment

A family discovers that manatees at the aquarium happen to share a peculiar fashion sense--they’re all wearing novelty t-shirts. While that may be surprising, saving money with GEICO insurance is hardly a surprise. Steve Miller of RadicalMedia directed “Manatee Shirts”--the latest iteration of GEICO’s “It’s Not Surprising” campaign--for The Martin Agency By the way, the manatees in this spot were all CGI created by The Mill NY. Read More, Comment