By Emily Vines
NEW YORK—The recent merger of Cingular and AT&T Wireless has prompted a new advertising initiative out of BBDO New York. The theme, "Raising the Bar," is featured in the :60 "Road Trip" that director/DP Lance Acord helmed out of Park Pictures, New York.
Troy Hall was the principal actor in this spot. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or e-mailed.
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CLIENT
Cingular.
PRODUCTION CO.
Park Pictures, New York.
Lance Acord, director/DP; Jackie Bisbee, executive producer; Justin Pollock, producer. Shot on location in Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and in the desert between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
AGENCY
BBDO New York.
David Lubars, chief creative officer; Charlie Miesmer, senior executive creative director; Susan Credle, creative director; Steve Rutter, creative director; Lauren Connolly, associate creative director/copywriter; Tim Bayne, associate creative director/art director; Bob Emerson, senior VP/executive producer; Loren Parkins, executive music producer.
BBDO South, Atlanta.
John Spalding, senior copywriter; Rick Bryson, senior art director.
EDITORIAL
PS 260, New York.
JJ Lask, editor.
POST
Company 3, Santa Monica.
Stefan Sonnenfeld, colorist; Missy Papageorge, producer.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Digital Domain, Venice, Calif.
Fred Raimondi, visual effects supervisor; Stephanie Gilgar, producer; Susan M. Long, coordinator.
AUDIO POST
Sound Lounge, New York.
Philip Loeb, mixer.
Independent Cinemas In L.A. Are Finding Their Audience
On a hot summer evening, Miles Villalon lined up outside the New Beverly Cinema, hours before showtime.
The 36-year-old already had tickets to the Watergate-themed double feature of 1976's "All the President's Men" and 1999's "Dick." But Villalon braved Los Angeles' infamous rush-hour traffic to snag front-row seats at Quentin Tarantino's historic theater.
This level of dedication is routine for the Starbucks barista and aspiring filmmaker, who typically sees up to six movies a week in theaters, and almost exclusively in independently owned theaters in and around Los Angeles.
"I always say it feels like church," he said. "When I go to AMC, I just sit there. And I can't really experience that communal thing that we have here, where we're all just worshipping at the altar of celluloid."
Streaming — and a pandemic — have radically transformed cinema consumption, but Villalon is part of a growing number of mostly younger people contributing to a renaissance of LA's independent theater scene. The city's enduring, if diminished, role as a mecca of the film industry still shapes its residents and their entertainment preferences, often with renewed appreciation after the pandemic.
A revival in the City of Angels
Part of what makes the city unique is its abundance of historic theaters, salvaged amid looming closures or resurrected in recent years by those with ties to the film industry. Experts see a pattern of success for a certain kind of theater experience in Los Angeles.
Kate Markham, the managing director at Art House Convergence, a coalition of independent cinema exhibitors, said a key factor is the people who run these theaters.
"They know their audiences or their potential audiences, and... Read More