Director Joshua Neale has joined Smuggler for worldwide representation. Smuggler marks his first stateside production house roost. Neale had been handled in the U.K. by Independent in London.
Neale directed his first broadcast documentary in 2006 wiht the chilling The Boy Who Killed His Best Friend for the BBC Four series My Crazy Life. He followed that with his musical documentary Karaoke Soul in ’07, which mixed intimate observational documentary with musical performances from the central characters. The Guardian commented, “Neale has come up with a genre all of his own–a docu-music video,” and the film resulted in the director being nominated for the ’07 BAFTA Breakthrough Award.
Neale stepped into the advertising arena in ’08 with a documentary launching the Jazz for Honda via Wieden+Kennedy, London. Next came the Nokia 97 Portraits Series featuring individuals from around the world who use technology in interesting ways. These portraits showcased Neale’s talent for capturing a diverse range of characters and his commend of authentic documentary as an approach to branded content.
Among Neale’s recent credits are two :30s for Lurpak’s “Joy of Creation” campaign. One of the semi-improvised commercials, “Pie,” led to a BTAA Award earlier this year. Neale also recently wrapped five sets of IDs for Waitrose through MCBD featuring the genuine reactinos of children trying exotic foods for the first time.
Neale is set to soon edit his U.S.-based feature documentary A Sorry Story for BBC Four, and is currently in pre-pro for the Wall’s Projects with Saatchi & Saatchi.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More