Director Daniel Levi has signed with bicoastal Smuggler for U.S. representation. Levi, who was featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival, is repped in the U.K. by Independent, London, and in South Africa by Gatehouse Films, Johannesburg….Director Gordon Clark, formerly with Tate & Partners, Santa Monica, has come aboard bicoastal Tool of North America….Director Jeremiah Chechik has entered into an exclusive spot helming relationship with Hollywood-based production/creative services company Level 7….Music/sound design house Ear to Ear and its sister audio post shop AudioBanks, both in Santa Monica, have formed a collaborative alliance with digital media company AIX Media Group, Los Angeles….After spending the past six years in the San Francisco agency market, Matt Mowatt has rejoined GSD&M, Austin, Texas, as creative director on the PGATour, Dial and Charles Schwab accounts….Janie Balcomb has joined producer Mark O’Sullivan as joint managing director of Believe UK. Balcomb, whose track record includes serving in spot production sales for U.K. shops Spectre and Outsider, now teams with O’Sullivan to run the London arm of bicoastal U.S. boutique Believe Media. Balcomb and O’Sullivan report to Believe Media’s stateside co-founders, president Luke Thornton and VP Liz Silver….
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More