The New York-based holding company for a number of video and audio postproduction houses, Creative Content Artists (CCA), is ceasing operations. Nearly all the facilities under the CCA banner have closed. At press time, SHOOT confirmed that the only shop still open for business was Lower East Side, New York. The New York companies shut down by CCA include post/visual effects houses arc.light editorial, Liquid Labs, cyclotron and Crush Digital Media, in addition to music/audio post houses Superdupe Recording, East Side Mix and Barasch Music & Sound. As earlier reported, CCA shuttered Post Perfect in January. CCA, headed by chairman of the board David Carmen, a Washington D.C. lobbyist, came into being last summer as Burning Suits, LLC, after acquiring New York Media Group. The Burning Suits’ moniker was changed to CCA in the aftermath of Sept. 11……Kenneth S. Williams has been named COO of Liberty Livewire Corp., the publicly held Santa Monica-headquartered firm which provides technical and creative services to producers, owners and distributors of entertainment and advertising content. He formerly was president of Technicolor Digital Cinema, a Los Angeles-based joint venture between Technicolor and Qualcomm…..Ohio Edit, New York, has entered into an agreement to handle spot representation for Weta Digital, Wellington, New Zealand, the special effects house owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor (winner of two 2002 Academy Awards for Special Effects and Make-Up) and Jamie Selkirk. This deal marks Weta’s first foray into the U.S. commercial market….. Editor Bob Mori joins CO-OP Editorial, Santa Monica, effective Aug. 19. His last staff roost was Cosmo Street, Santa Monica. Prior to that, he was at Superior Assembly Editing Company, Santa Monica….Culver City-based music/sound design house barton: holt has added composer Linda Martinez to its roster. Her composing credits include assorted TV shows, including the upcoming Taken, produced by Steven Spielberg for the Sci Fi Channel. Martinez recently toured with Destiny’s Child as keyboardist, writer and arranger….Composer Dan Marocco has joined Duotone Audio Group, New York….The Mine, Hollywood, has signed director Jeff Byrd for commercial and music video representation….Dana Townsend has joined graphic design/visual effects/CGI boutique SOL designfx, as executive producer of its Venice, Calif. office. The company also maintains a Chicago shop. Her former staff positions include serving as executive producer at digital studio Radium, San Francisco, and earlier as executive producer at Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, Calif….BBDO is closing its Houston office next month….New York agencies Christy MacDougall Mitchell and Communications Plus have merged to form Christy MacDougall Mitchell Bodden….Nathan Hurlburt has joined Match Frame, Austin, Texas, as Flame/Smoke operator. He had been serving as Smoke editor at New York-based Liquid Light….Avid editor/designer Damion Clayton has come aboard Splash Design, New York….Dragonslayer, Sydney, Australia, has signed director Charlie Watson for exclusive representation in the Asian market….Director Nicholas Reynolds, who won a Gold Lion at this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival for Ikea’s "Dog," has signed with The Third Eye, a production company in Redfern, Australia. Reynolds had been directing ads via The Shooting Gallery, Singapore….
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More