OCTOBER 21, 1994
After an 18-month freelance directing gig, Pat Burnham is returning to the agency side as co-creative director at Campbell-Mithun-Esty, Minneapolis. Prior to his directorial stint, Burnham had been with Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis, for 12 years…. Visual effects/film transfer house Planet Blue, Hollywood, had launched Space Station. The new Hollywood division will offer compositing, graphics, and animation services….Bicoastal/ international Spots Films has signed director Paul Meijer for international commercial representation. He had previously worked as creative director at Young & Rubicam, Amsterdam, and was later transferred to the agency’s New York office….
OCTOBER 20, 1989
Visual effects company R/Greenberg Associates (R/GA), New York, has launched RGA Live, a division devoted to live-action production….Gary Streiner, one of the founding members of DDB Needham Worldwide/Chicago’s in-house production unit, Zone One, has left the agency to join Hal Riney & Partners/San Francisco as VP/executive producer….Dallas-based agency Tracy-Locke announced that Tom Monroe has been named chairman/ chief executive officer. Monroe, a 20-year industry veteran, joined the agency this past January….Editor Paula Martino has joined New York-based Crew Cuts after cutting with David Dee at Even Time, New York, for a little over seven years….
Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. Explore Generations, Old School vs. New School, In “Poppa’s House”
Boundaries between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom "Poppa's House" starring father-and-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They shatter.
"It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his kids and my sister and my brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all contribute," says the senior Wayans. "I don't think there are words to express how joyful I am."
Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a curmudgeonly radio DJ who's more than comfortable doing it his way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son, Damon, a budding filmmaker who's stuck in a job he hates.
"My character, Pop, is just an old school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways," says Wayans, who starred in "In Living Color" and "My Wife and Kids."
Pop yearns for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he got fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the younger generation's participation trophies.
"It's old school versus new school and them teaching each other lessons from both sides," says Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the Fox sitcom "New Girl."
"They (the characters) bring the best out in each other and they're resistant initially. But then throughout the episode they have revelations and these revelations help them become better people," he adds.
The two have worked together before — dad made an appearance on son's "Happy Endings" and "Happy Together," while son was a writer and guest star on dad's "My Wife and Kids." But this is the first time they have headlined a series together.
The half-hour comedy — premiering Monday and co-starring Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson — smartly leaves places in the script where father and son can let... Read More