Director Dana Adam Shapiro has joined Little Minx@RSA Films for representation. Shapiro co-directed (with Henry Alex Rubin) and served as a producer on Murderball, a documentary about quadriplegic rugby players who go on to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens.
Murderball was an Oscar nominee for best documentary feature and received assorted honors, including the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Beyond filmmaking, Shapiro’s experience also includes having served as editor of Spin, a founder of Icon magazine, and as a novelist.
On the latter score, Shapiro’s The Every Boy (Houghton Mifflin) tells the story of a 15-year-old boy’s death and his father’s attempt to learn about his son through his diaries. Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s production company, and Paramount Pictures plan to make the book into a film. Shapiro is slated to write and direct the adaptation.
Rhea Scott, president of Little Minx, said that she was put in touch with Shapiro by RSA Films’ president Jules Daly. Scott was impressed with Shapiro’s work and personal demeanor. “He was straightforward, sharp, not full of himself at all, and just very smart,” said Scott of Shapiro.
Scott added that by being a documentary filmmaker, Shapiro brings an extra dimension to the Little Minx roster. The director conversely is looking forward to the extra dimension–in terms of depth of production support and access to varied talent–that Little Minx can provide him. He noted, “For Murderball, we shot more than 200 hours of digital footage over two-and-a-half years with a two man crew. So when Rhea started talking about DPs, ADs, ACs, PAs, gaffers, grips, storyboards, I felt like a kid walking into the chocolate factory.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More