By Robert Goldrich
Welcome to SHOOT’s spring edition Directors Series featuring helmers whose range spans Oscar-nominated documentaries, and DGA Award wins in commercials and TV comedy series. One of those Oscar-nominated documentarians, Morgan Spurlock, takes a behind-the-scenes, tongue-in-cheek yet insightful look at product placement and brand integration in his latest documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. The other alluded to documentary filmmaker, Lucy Walker, who earned her Oscar nom this year for Waste Land, has secured her first major spotmaking representation via Supply & Demand.
Also registering with his documentary acumen is Joshua Neale whose Despicable Dick and Righteous Richard is making its world premiere at next month’s Tribeca Film Festival. The film is one of 12 selected for Tribeca’s World Documentary Feature Competition.
The earlier referred to DGA winners are Stacy Wall who back in January earned the Guild honor in Commercials, and Michael Spiller whose TV sitcom directing distinction came on the strength of an episode of Modern Family.
Our mix of profiles also includes Tim Godsall, a nominee for the DGA Commercials honor won by Wall.
The other three DGA Commercial nominees this year–Frank Budgen, Craig Gillespie and Tom Kuntz–are not in this spring Directors installment because all had been profiled relatively recently in prior special editions.
Similarly Tom Hooper, Best Director Oscar winner for The King’s Speech, was profiled in SHOOT’s Fall 2010 Directors Series. He is, however, covered in this issue’s news section feature on the importance of collaborators and collaboration to Academy Award-winning and -nominated work.
Meanwhile our lineup of up-and-coming directors includes: a pair of editors whose spec work as a directorial duo shows considerable promise; a veteran editor who has extended his creative reach into directing, making his documentary debut at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival; an accomplished ad agency entrepreneur/creative director who’s made a successful transition to directing with two series of humorous web shorts for real-world clients; a choreographer turned stylist and recently turned director who has scored high marks for her spec fare; and a director whose spoof of a noted music video became an Internet sensation, leading to her being tabbed as a viral video expert speaker at the TEDxObserver Festival in London.
And then in our Cinematographers & Cameras Series, we meet three DPs who are no strangers to the industry awards season. One earned the Oscar and ASC Award for his lensing of Inception; another won the Film Independent Spirit Award for shooting Black Swan; and the third has been nominated four times in the past five years for ASC Award honors in TV series.
So read on and enjoy. As always, we welcome your feedback.
Nikki Baker Becomes CEO At Fallon
Fallon has appointed Nikki Baker as its new CEO. Baker, who joined the creative agency in 2018 and has served as co-chief creative officer with Leslie Shaffer since 2021, succeeds Rocky Novak, who has been in the role since 2019.
Baker’s promotion to CEO comes at a time of significant momentum for the agency, including six consecutive years of growth and award-winning work.
Baker’s recent career highlights include creatively leading the Walmart partnership with the Publicis Groupe team and spearheading innovative campaigns such as the award-winning “RomCommerce” 23-episodic series and the internet-breaking Mean Girls campaign, among hundreds of other campaigns together with the brand over the past few years. Together with Shaffer, Baker has also been instrumental in elevating Fallon’s creative output for longstanding clients like Arby’s, Mattress Firm, and Front Door/American Home Shield.
“I’ve always been an admirer of Fallon, even before I joined. The chance to lead the agency is an absolute honor. Fallon is a place like no other with amazing talent and a legacy of building big, innovative, creative ideas,” said Baker. “Rocky has represented the best of Fallon. He’s been a great leader, and I couldn’t be more excited to take the reins and lead the agency through to the next chapter. With creativity at our core, we’re going to be as ambitious as ever, push boundaries, and continue embracing emerging platforms to deliver work that truly resonates in culture.”
Prior to joining Fallon six years ago, Baker held positions as creative director and art director at agencies including DDB and GSD&M, working with major brands such as McDonald’s, Southwest Airlines, and Wrigley. Her work has been recognized by... Read More