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    INVADER garners Sundance premiere, DGA nomination

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments3017 Views
    Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood co-directed "Happy Happy Joy Joy--The Ren & Stimpy Story," which was selected for the Documentary Premieres lineup at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
    LOS ANGELES --

    Though it’s been barely a year since veteran executive producer Ron Cicero launched INVADER, the company has seen its directors make a couple of high profile industry marks–a documentary set to make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and a DGA Award nomination in the Variety/Talk/News/Sports–Specials category.

    On the former score, the feature documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy–The Ren & Stimpy Story was selected for Sundance’s Documentary Premieres lineup. Written and co-directed by Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, the film explores the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series Ren & Stimpy and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi, through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show. (Cicero and Easterwood direct commercials via INVADER as a duo under the LGI Collective moniker.)

    As for the DGA Award nomination, that honor was bestowed upon INVADER comedy and celebrity director Andy Fisher for Live In Front of A Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons.  The series was also nominated for multiple Emmys–including directing, taking home a statue for Outstanding Variety series. 

    While directing commercials may seem like an unusual transition from live TV, Fisher’s career took off after directing many of Jimmy Kimmel’s most well-known late night filmed segments, including Bryan Cranston’s Super Sweet Sixty and Josh Groban’s The Best Tweets of Kanye West. This led to spot work for YouTube, Boost Mobile, The Emmy’s and more. “It really comes down to finding the funny and gaining trust from your actors regardless of the platform,” said Fisher, “And once you find a way to deliver a show live, with 10 million people watching, the time pressures of a commercial set seem easy by comparison.” 

    Live In Front of A Studio Audience marks Fisher’s second career DGA Award nomination, the first coming for an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014.

    On the commercial front, INVADER wrapped a busy 2019 with a three-spot VFX-driven campaign for the National Association of Realtors through Havas Chicago. The three-month project broke this week. Shot both on location and the Disney backlot, the extensive post was handled by MPC’s Los Angeles studio.

    INVADER is represented commercially by Daria Zeliger on the East Coast, Juliusson+ Ratcliffe in the Midwest and has in-house representation on the West Coast. Submarine is handling film representation. 

    Tags:Andy FisherINVADERKimo EasterwoodLGI CollectiveRon Cicero



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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