LOS ANGELES -- Outlander executive producers/writers Matthew B. Roberts and Toni Graphia are grateful for the inherent nature of the Starz series, noting that it serves to keep season after season creatively invigorating. “With cookie-cutter shows where things are basically the same season after season, there’s a fatigue level. It’s hard to keep your passion and excitement up for the work. No matter how much you love a show, if there are no new challenges, you can fall into an auto pilot mode,” said Graphia... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Bradford Young, ASC, recently discussed his lensing of Solo: A Star Wars Story , noting that the film--initially directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller before they were replaced by Ron Howard--was inspired at first in part by Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller . Young related that Lord and Miller’s key point of reference for the Star Wars film was that 1971 Western, which was shot by the legendary Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, who passed away in 2016. As reflected in a critically acclaimed... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Jules Daly, president of RSA Films since 2001, has struck up an independent producing deal with sister company Scott Free Productions under her own banner, Big Red Films. With Daly’s move, long-time commercials producer David Mitchell has been named managing director of RSA. “We are very grateful to Jules for the 28 years of dedication and guidance she has given RSA,” said Ridley Scott, RSA’s co-founder. “The formidable skill set she brought to RSA will serve her well as she starts this next... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Julie Scelzo has been named global executive creative director at mcgarrybowen—a new role to lead creative across the American Express business worldwide. mcgarrybowen won the business last year to create “Powerful Backing”—the company’s first global platform in its 168-year history. The agency recently launched the advertising campaign, “Don’t Live Life Without It” and “Don’t Do Business Without It,” with a focus on people who balance working with living life. Scelzo will relocate to NY to... Read More, Comment

PARIS (AP) -- American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has been found dead in his hotel room in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions around the world. He was 61. CNN confirmed the death, saying in a statement he was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert, and calling it a suicide. CNN said Bourdain was in Strasbourg filming an upcoming segment in his series "Parts Unknown," which over the years won four primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Informational... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- The Visual Effects Society (VES) has adopted a new Code of Conduct for members, which formalizes the Society’s commitment to ensuring that all members are treated with respect, dignity and inclusion. The VES Board of Directors unanimously ratified the Code at its May 2018 Board meeting. The policy underscores the Society’s categorical opposition to all forms of discrimination, harassment, workplace harassment and sexual harassment and delineates the values, standards and expectations of... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Aaron Kovan has joined VaynerMedia as its first-ever chief production officer. He will oversee production at the indie agency as well as its in-house studio, VaynerProductions. Currently Kovan has projects for Budweiser, Stella Artois and GE in the VaynerMedia content pipeline. Kovan previously served as EVP, head of integrated production for m:united/McCann Worldgroup and helped build up McCann’s in-house production department, Craft Studios, as its head of production. Kovan said VaynerMedia... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Director Cynthia Wade--whose work spans short and long-form documentaries, commercials and branded content--has signed with bicoastal production house Honor Society for spotmaking representation in the U.S. Wade has twice been nominated for the Best Short Subject Documentary Oscar, winning it in 2008 for HBO’s Freeheld , which tells the story of Laurel Hester who’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. The dying policewoman wants to leave her pension benefits to her life partner, Stacie Andree, only... Read More, Comment

CANNES, France -- Edited by Cannes Lions 2017 Entertainment Jury president PJ Pereira, and featuring a collection of essays contributed by jurors who drew on their wealth of experience and expertise from the marketing and entertainment worlds, "The Art of Branded Entertainment" will be available worldwide as a special digital pre-release and in paperback on select bookshelves in the UK on June 14, 2018. It will be available at retailers worldwide on October 4, 2018. This is the first book ever written by a... Read More, Comment

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- NPACT, the entertainment trade association dedicated to serving the producers of non-fiction entertainment content, held its first annual NPACT Impact Awards on Monday night (6/4) at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, with A&E scoring a pair of honors--Network of the Year and Network Development Executive of the Year. The latter went to A&E’s Elaine Frontain Bryant. Meanwhile, for the top Network award, A&E topped a field which also included Bravo, History, Investigation... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- The entertainment industry celebrated the very best in motion picture marketing at the 19th Annual Golden Trailer Awards on Thursday (5/31) at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown, Los Angeles. More than 1,000 studio marketing executives, movie fans, celebrities and trailer editors were on hand as Create won the top honor for its work on the Black Panther trailer titled “Crown,” which was lauded with the “Best of Show” award. Netflix, Fox (with Fox Searchlight and FX), and Warner Bros (with... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Writer-director Drew Pearce hadn't even sent out the script for his futuristic, hospital-for-criminals thriller "Hotel Artemis" when Jodie Foster called asking to be part of it. Foster said she's done that quite a few times: It's a strategy for finding the best roles. The 55-year-old actress said she tries to read everything written for a certain age range, male or female. That's how she became the first person to join "Hotel Artemis," in which she play a 70-something nurse and proprietor of a... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- The Mill has announced that the Campfire team has joined Mill+ in New York. For over 12 years, Campfire has developed Emmy, Cannes Lion and Clio-winning immersive experiences to launch new products and entertainment franchises. While Campfire’s founders originally gained notoriety for producing The Blair Witch Project , the team has gone on to create successful programs for HBO’s Westworld, Game of Thrones and True Blood , Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle , National Geographic’s He Named Me... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Recess Films has launched in L.A. and New York, headed by managing director John Duffin, an industry vet who served as an exec at Epoch Films for 17 years. Duffin’s partners in Recess are Jonathan Notaro and Devin Brook--founder and managing partner, respectively, of Brand New School (BNS). Recess will operate independently from BNS, with its own roster of directors. Recess’ directorial lineup includes Ahmed Klink, Alastair McKevitt, Alexandra Gavillet, Fernando Cardenas, Marcus Ubungen, and... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Creative editorial shop Uppercut has partnered with bicoastal visual effects studio ZERO. The partnership allows the shops to offer comprehensive postproduction services across editorial, animation, CG, VFX and finishing and will encompass three markets, spanning offices in New York City, Los Angeles and Boston. This alliance places the joint studios in a position to continually evolve with the changing needs of clients, focusing on creativity and innovation. The bicoastal studios will be led... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Writer and director Brett Haley knew he wanted a "That Thing You Do" moment in his new music-loving film, "Hearts Beat Loud," where Nick Offerman's character hears the song he wrote with his daughter in public for the first time. In 2018 it wouldn't be on the radio, he thought, but it might make it onto a Spotify playlist that a local bakery would play in the background. And bingo: A perfect, charming moment that is ardently rooted in reality, just how Haley and his actors like it. "I'm not... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The first thing writer-director Ari Aster felt after "Hereditary's" midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival was relief that people didn't hate it. Then headlines started popping up in the early hours of the morning declaring that the film had restored faith in the genre, that it was the most traumatically terrifying horror movie in ages, and that star Toni Collette should even get an Oscar nomination. The relief quickly turned to gratitude. While film festival exaggeration is often real... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Facebook is pushing back against a media report saying that it provided extensive information about its users and their friends to third parties like phone makers. The New York Times reported Sunday that Facebook struck data-sharing deals with at least 60 device makers, including Apple and Amazon, raising more concerns about what users give up when they use Facebook. Facebook says it disagrees with reporting by the paper regarding software it rolled out 10 years ago that helped get Facebook on... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook said a software bug led some users to post publicly by default regardless of their previous settings. The bug affected as many as 14 million users over several days in May. The problem, which Facebook said it has fixed, is the latest privacy scandal for the world's largest social media company. It said the bug automatically suggested that users make new posts public, even if they had previously restricted posts to "friends only" or another private setting. If users did not notice the... Read More, Comment

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple will offer more ways for people to limit the time they spend on iPhones while introducing features designed to make its products even more indispensable. The paradox emerged Monday as Apple executives previewed new versions of free software due out this fall. The forthcoming controls are aimed at addressing criticism that devices are becoming increasingly addictive and distracting, especially for children. Experts worry that all the flashy colors and beeps give users short-term, feel-good... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to rape and criminal sex act charges on Tuesday before a judge in New York, and his lawyer vowed afterward to try to beat the case even before it goes to trial. Weinstein limped from an SUV and was escorted past a big crowd of journalists before spending a few minutes answering a series of yes and no questions from the judge asking if he understood his rights. A pair of court officers stood directly behind him throughout the brief hearing. The former movie... Read More, Comment

So accustomed are we to the downfall and disgrace of men that a marvelous sense of its absence propels the rich and glowing documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Fifty years after he made his public television debut, Fred Rogers remains aloft: a pure and gentle soul never befallen by scandal, a still-shining beacon of kindness without the near-requisite dark shadow. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" — as snug as a worn sweater — is hagiography. But it's deserved hagiography. And thank the lord it's... Read More, Comment

Here's the good news: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom " is more fun than "Jurassic World." It's not exactly a high bar, but still a welcome surprise. In the hands of a new director, J.A. Bayona, with Chris Pratt's high-wattage charisma on full blast and a fair amount of self-aware humor intact, there are certainly worse ways to spend a couple hours in the air-conditioned multiplex this summer. Mind you, this movie is pretty ridiculous and the script (from Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly) is... Read More, Comment

Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven" remake is hard movie to live up to. Its starry charm was backed by a breezy and deceptively dense script full of memorable characters, dizzyingly complex logistics and lively filmmaking that Soderbergh himself couldn't even recreate in the two sequels. But it is undeniable that even the near-perfect "Eleven" was missing something pretty major: Women. You know, besides Julia Roberts, that blackjack dealer and the one exotic dancer. So why not, 17 years later... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Solo: A Star Wars Story" is losing momentum quickly at the box office, even with a relatively quiet weekend free of any new blockbuster competition. After an underwhelming launch, the space saga fell 65 percent in weekend two with $29.3 million from North American theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. "Solo" has now earned $148.9 million domestically, which is still shy of "Rogue One's" December 2016 opening weekend of $155.1 million and over $135 million short of where "Rogue One... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- There was a hint of viewer fatigue for the latest chapter of the NBA’s Cleveland-Golden State rivalry. Viewership was down from the comparable 2017 matchups but not by much, according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday. The two teams, competing in basketball’s finals for the fourth consecutive year, saw the first two Finals games on ABC score as last week’s most-watched programs. Last Thursday’s game one was watched by 17.4 million versus 18.7 million in 2017, while Sunday’s game two drew 18.5... Read More, Comment

Noam Murro of Biscuit directed this film for specialty athletic retailer Eastbay out of TBWA\Chiat\Day which commemorates National Running Day (June 6), designated to encourage everyone to get moving. It doesn’t matter how fast you run or how far you go--what’s important is that you take part, have fun being active, and inspire others to join you. Titled Be the Hunted , this striking and fast-paced CGI film follows a wily hare running fast and frantically through the streets of downtown Los... Read More, Comment

Domestic accidents that require first aid to save a life sometimes seem far away. People think that death can only happen in serious and big accidents and that only doctors or specialists have the power to do something about it. Correcting this misnomer is this PSA for Red Cross Argentina from agency Dhelet Y&R Every year Red Cross puts this subject on their social agenda to create awareness about the importance of knowing first aid by showing relatable and everyday situations that show how... Read More, Comment

Arla Foods is launching Lurpak Softest, a new soft blend butter that’s spreadable straight from the fridge, with a multi-channel advertising campaign created by Wieden+Kennedy London. Centerpiece of the campaign is this stylish spot directed by Kim Gehrig of production house Somesuch, with visual effects by Time Based Arts. The action plays like a continuous smooth spread, demonstrating that food can be mastered even in a rushed moment. Carlos Alija and Laura Sampedro, creative Directors at W+K... Read More, Comment

Social smokers, ages 21 to 35, typically don’t view themselves as “smokers”--and thus underestimate the harm of lighting up socially. To raise awareness of this not-so-little lie folks tell themselves, agency Duncan Channon created this campaign for client the California Department of Health’s CA Tobacco Control Program (CTCP), Among the campaign elements is “Date,” a digital video spot which uses social tension to generate an “oh shit” realization for a young person who realizes he is indeed a... Read More, Comment

Mandalay Sports Media (MSM) produced this series of promotional spots for FIFA around World Cup 2018. The campaign just debuted and will air throughout the duration of the competition. The mix of 15 spots--in 60, 30 and 15 second iterations--all feature the tagline “Legends Made Here,” which was conceived by MSM. The company won a global bake-off among agencies and production companies to get the campaign, which will air on FIFA’s rights-holding broadcasters around the world, including Fox, FS1... Read More, Comment

Small Steps Ltd., an organization leading the fight against the Far Right in Britain has been selected as part of Facebook’s Create Against Hate campaign this year; an initiative with the media industry and young creatives to counter hate speech and extremism online. Small Steps was founded in 2015 and delivers training and mentoring across the UK on the threat of the Far Right. The trainers are former Far-Right activists themselves, previously belonging to groups including the English Defence... Read More, Comment

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