Publicis New York, part of Publicis Worldwide in the U.S., and the Kaplan Thaler Group, part of the Paris-based Publicis Groupe, will merge to form Publicis Kaplan Thaler. The combined N.Y-based shop, with more than 650 employees, becomes the U.S. flagship agency within the Publicis Worldwide Network, which consists of over 200 offices in 82 countries. Publicis Kaplan Thaler will be led by Linda Kaplan Thaler as chairman and Robin Koval as CEO. Rob Feakins, president/chief creative officer for Publicis New York will continue in that role and led creative for the expanded entity. Publicis Kaplan Thaler is designing new offices and will be headquartered in one location starting in early 2013….Matt Ross, managing director of Ogilvy Los Angeles, is joining BBH LA as managing director, effective August 1. In addition, BBH LA strategy director Fran Hazeldine has been promoted to head of strategy at the L.A. office. Ross will partner closely with Hazeldine and BBH LA executive creative director Pelle Sjoenell to define positioning and market strategy for the agency, and to oversee the shop's client roster. The BBH LA leadership team reports to Greg Andersen and John Patroulis, CEO and CCO, respectively, of BBH U.S….Joe Baratelli, who last year became executive VP/executive creative director at RPA, has been promoted to exec VP/chief creative officer at the agency. He will continue to oversee all creative work for Honda, Farmers Insurance, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Tobacco Free CA and several others. He was named group creative director in 2010 and then EVP/exec creative director in '11. Baratelli has been with RPA since the agency was formed in 1986, originally joining as an art director working on Honda projects. He has helped create such iconic campaigns as the Gold EFFiE® Award-winning “Too Much Good Stuff” campaign for ampm convenience stores and Honda's “Power of Dreams” corporate campaign….Louis Clement has joined B-Reel as a creative director of the London office. Clement will work alongside Alex Jenkins to help deliver ground-breaking digital engagement for agencies. As co-founder of the digital agency Skive, Clement comes to B-Reel with 11 years of experience. During that time, he helped grow the company from a small specialist production house to a top-100, award-winning, full-service digital shop with clients including Nestle, Carlsberg, Vauxhall, and L'Oreal. Clement was also instru mental in creating globally recognized campaigns for agencies such as Ogilvy, AMV, Publicis, and TBWA….International visual effects company Pixomondo has added executive producer Roma O'Connor and VFX supervisor Joern Grosshans to its London office. O'Connor comes to Pixomondo from Cinesite Ltd where she most recently oversaw Disney's John Carter. O'Connor has also lent her expertise to a number of features including Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Slumdog Millionaire, Golden Compass, and Watchman. In addition to various freelance projects, she has held executive producer and head of production roles at The Mill, CIS London, Rainmaker UK and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Grosshans had been at Pixomondo's Stuttgart office where he was instrumental in helping develop talent and infrastructure while gaining experience as a VFX supervisor. He supervised work on the second season of HBO's award-winning television series Game of Thrones, VFX shots for Martin Scorsese's Hugo, for which Pixomondo artists won the Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects, as well as on Red Tails, Sucker Punch, Fast Five and Ghost Rider. Grosshans also supervised the first stereoscopic commercial for Panasonic 3D TV screens for theatrical distribution….Technicolor has hired Skip Kimball to join its team of theatrical colorists. Kimball will be working from Technicolor's Hollywood facilities, coming over from his position at Modern Videofilm. He is best known for his work on director James Cameron's Avatar. Kimball's feature film credits also include: Real Steel from Shawn Levy; Tropic Thunder from Ben Stiller; Gone Baby Gone from Ben Affleck; and I Robot from Alex Proyas….
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