Director Todd Kapostasy has signed with bicoastal Cultivate.Media–the commercial and content production company overseen by managing director/executive producer Mark Thomas and EP Stuart Wilson–for exclusive U.S. spot representation.
Kapostasy’s projects range from commercials and branded content to feature documentaries and episodic docuseries. His work spans clients like Amazon, Bose, ESPN and Nike, and includes such sports figures and entertainers as Erin Andrews, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Robert De Niro and Jamie Foxx.
“While I think it would be somewhat expectant for me to say that Todd is a terrific storyteller (which he is), there’s just a lot more nuance to it,” said Thomas. “Be it a wink that turns into a smile, or a heart tug that turns into tears, he brings a sensibility to the work that is both clever and captivating.”
A nine-time Sports Emmy winner (most recently as both director and an editor of 2024 Outstanding Long Feature, Unredeemable), Kapostasy began his career on the East Coast at ESPN’s Feature Unit. After moving to Los Angeles, he began directing both feature length documentaries and commercials, earning a reputation for fusing the polish and creativity of commercial production with his true-life storytelling.
He also freelance directed for ESPN Films and in 2019, Kapostasy helmed the definitive documentary on NBA legend Dennis Rodman (a 30 for 30 project), adding to his list of celebrity talent, which by now included LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Anthony Mackie, and Liev Schreiber. He also directed the four-part series Meddling for Peacock on the 2002 Olympic judging scandal.
Kapostasy began catching the eye of the commercialmaking world. Over the past five years, he has directed work for Nike, Bose, Zip Recruiter, NOBULL, PNC Bank, and Amazon. “As someone with a network sports background, I’ve always admired the huge brand campaigns,” he said, “and I’ve really enjoyed working within the agency-client-director dynamic.”
Cultivate.Media marks the first spot production affiliation for Kapostasy who shared, “Expressing ideas in their entirety through shorter-form storytelling is always a fun challenge and privilege. I’m really excited to join forces with Mark and Stu on this phase of my career.”
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