Noted snowboarding and skateboarding filmmaker Rob “Whitey” McConnaughy has signed with Hollywood-headquartered Believe Media for exclusive spot and music video representation in the U.S. and London. Believe also maintains offices in New York and London.
Among McConnaughy’s credits are a series of gritty and authentic skateboarding commercials he conceived, directed and edited for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. He’s also contributed to the MTV series Jackass, and its feature film spin-offs, as a creative consultant and cinematographer.
Originally from Washington, D.C., and now a Portland resident, McConnaughy started filming his skateboarding buddies as he pursued the sport himself, which led him to form his own production company, Kingpin Productions. Under that banner, he has directed assorted snowboard films. Early in his snowboarding career, he became the photo editor of Blunt, a snowboarding magazine owned by Big Brother Skateboarding Magazine. Here he also began shooting skateboarding and various forms of hi-jinx for the Big Brother videos which he collaborated on with Big Brother art director Jeff Tremaine (who is now repped as a spot director by Saville Productions, Beverly Hills; Tremaine recently gained inclusion into SHOOT’s 2006 New Directors Showcase). These videos served as a template of sorts for Jackass.
In addition to the aforementioned Nike package, McConnaughy has directed an EA Games commercial with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Believe partner/executive producer Luke Thornton envisions McConnaughy as being able “to present agency creatives with a distinctly different take on brands and how to articulate them for young audiences.”
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