The industry is mourning the loss of Chuck Sloan
The industry is mourning the loss of Chuck Sloan, a respected production house executive who teamed with director/cameraman Eric Saarinen to launch Plum Productions, a shop which had a successful 26-year run. Sloan, 71, died of an apparent heart attack suffered while he was vacationing in Virgin Gorda. He was a mentor to many in the commercialmaking community. In next week's issue, SHOOT will cover his career and share reflections from his colleagues and friends…..PromaxBDA, a global association for marketing, promotion and design professionals working in the entertainment industry, has named writer, producer, actor and author Spike Lee the recipient of the PromaxBDA Lifetime Achievement Award for creativity. He will be presented the award at the 2011 annual conference taking place June 28-30 in New York City. Los Angeles production company Pony Show Entertainment, through which Lee directed recent MSNBC branding campaigns and other commercial work, began their association with the director in 2007, featuring a rebranding Gatorade campaign starring 35 of the world's foremost athletes. Lee's recent spots produced by Pony Show for T-Mobile star Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade….Minneapolis-based Splice Here® has added editor Matt Silver and producer Steve Fait. Silver's career includes tenures at bicoastal Bug Edit and New York-based Go Robot! He has cut national campaigns for such clients as Dunkin' Donuts, Snickers, Carl's Jr., IBM, American Express, Chevy and Fidelity. Fait joins Splice from visual effects studio ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic)…..
SAG-AFTRA Calls For A Strike Against “League of Legends”
"League of Legends" is caught in the middle of a dispute between Hollywood's actors union and an audio company that provides voiceover services for the blockbuster online multiplayer game.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists called a strike against "League of Legends" on Tuesday, arguing that Formosa Interactive attempted to get around the ongoing video game strike by hiring non-union actors to work on an unrelated title.
Formosa tried to "cancel" the unnamed video game, which was covered by the strike, shortly after the start of the work stoppage, SAG-AFTRA said. The union said when Formosa learned it could not cancel the game, the company "secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'non-union' talent only." In response, the union's interactive negotiating committee voted unanimously to file an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board and to call a strike against "League of Legends" as part of that charge.
"League of Legends" is one of Formosa's most well-known projects. The company provides voiceover services for the game, according to SAG-AFTRA.
SAG-AFTRA has accused Formosa of interfering with protections that allow performers to form or join a union and prevent those performers from being discriminated against — a move the union called "egregious violations of core tenets of labor law."
Formosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "League of Legends" developer Riot Games said that the company "has nothing to do" with the union's complaint.
"We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, 'League of Legends' has only asked Formosa to engage with union... Read More