Director Rob Lieberman–who won the inaugural Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for commercials based on his work in 1979, and then went on to take the top DGA honor again as Best Commercial Director of 1995–has come aboard the roster of DNA, Hollywood, for spots. The move reunites Lieberman, a four-time DGA Award nominee, with DNA executive producer Patricia Judice. The two first collaborated years ago at the venerable Harmony Pictures where Lieberman was a founding partner.
Lieberman was formerly repped for commercials by production house Form, which closed when partners Jesse Dylan and Craig Rodgers went their separate ways. (Director Dylan has since launched Wondros while exec producer Rodgers joined GARTNER, SHOOTonline, 7/28). Among Lieberman’s latest ad endeavors is a Form-produced Oreo spot shot in Shanghai and featuring recently retired NBA star Yao Ming.
With a filmography spanning ads, TV and features, Lieberman has to his credit more than 1,000 commercials for clients such as AT&T, Budweiser, Burger King, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Merrill Lynch, Hallmark and Sprint. Over the years, Lieberman’s spots have garnered assorted kudos, including Gold and Silver Lions at Cannes, multiple ANDYs and Addys, and 29 Clio Awards. He also helmed Hallmark’s “Working Mom” for Leo Burnett, Chicago, which earned a primetime commercial Emmy nomination.
On the feature film front, Lieberman has directed D3: The Mighty Ducks, Fire in the Sky, All I Want For Christmas, The Tortured, and The Stranger. He made his feature directorial debut with Table For Five starring Jon Voight who at the time was fresh off of winning the Best Actor Oscar for Coming Home. Lieberman’s newest feature, Breakaway, will be a Special Presentation at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. A cross-cultural story marked by humor, Breakaway centers on a young Sikh-Canadian man who aspires to hockey stardom but first has to overcome several daunting challenges to realize his dream.
Lieberman began directing TV in the early 1980s and has to his credit work for such series as Dexter, Brothers & Sisters, Eureka, Shark, Haven, Lost Girl, The X-files, thirtysomething, Gabriel’s Fire (which he guided as exec producer to garnering three Emmys), Harts of the West, The Young Riders, and Strong Medicine. Lieberman’s longer form TV endeavors include the telefilm Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy, the CBS miniseries Titanic, the TNT movie Second String and a pair of SyFy miniseries–Earthsea and The Final Days of Planet Earth. He directed the pilot and served as exec producer of USA Network’s The Dead Zone, helming many of its episodes during that series’ seven-year run. Of the 19 pilots Lieberman has directed, 16 have sold through to series, an atypically high success rate.
Here’s the trailer for his feature film Breakaway:
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More