Executive producer Yunilda Esquivel and head of business development Laura Coones have joined The Institute, the commercial production house founded in 2001 by Scott Gardenhour and Michael Bay. Esquivel previously served as a global strategy consultant for several technology and advertising companies expanding into new and emerging markets. Among her responsibilities at The Institute will be to help expand the providing of global and integrated solutions for advertainment. Coones will head business development for all U.S. markets. She formerly was director of sales, sponsorships and business integration for PromaxBDA and its M16 game marketing division….Shilo has brought Robert Berman board as head of production East. He will continue to serve as president and exec producer for WeaselWorks, a production house he launched in 2009. Earlier in his career, Berman was exec producer at Schofield Films and prior to that Sandbank Films Co…..Brad Tucker has joined Shilo as creative director and director. He comes over from Stardust Studios where he began in 2003 as an art director and served as a creative director since ’07….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More