The directing duo The Brothers Strause (Greg and Colin), who helm commercials via Santa Monica-based Tight, will make their feature directorial debut with Alien Vs. Predator 2. The Strause’s visual effects shop hydraulx will handle effects for the film which goes into production in October….Bicoastal music/sound design house Face The Music has entered into entered into a relationship with spot and feature film sound designer Kim B. Christensen for exclusive representation spanning advertising and broadcast projects. Christensen’s credits include sound design for FedEx’s “Stick,” which won a primetime commercial Emmy this year (along with Hallmark’s “Required Reading”)….JWT president Michael Maedel plans to relocate from London to Singapore, underscoring an agency initiative to capitalize on opportunities developing in the Asian market. He is slated to make the move in mid-October. Toby Hoare, executive chairman of JWT UK and a member of its worldwide executive committee, will assume increased responsibility for JWT in Europe on January 1….Creative director Chris McKenna and executive producer Monica Freriks have launched Wee Beastie, a New York-based hybrid agency/production company that makes creative advertising for TV networks….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More