International VFX and design company Smoke & Mirrors has named Jeff Stevens to serve as creative director at its New York office. Additionally, the studio has secured its first-ever representation in the Midwest, signing Matt Bucher and his company, Obsidian Reps.
Stevens won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival in 2010 for a title sequence for that year’s OFFF Festival. He joined The Mill in 2009 as design director, charged with overseeing the development and integration of the new Design department with VFX and Digital. While there he worked on high-profile projects such as IBM’s “Data Anthem,” which brought data viz scans to life in a surrealistic narrative style. Other brands he has worked with include Ford, Coca-Cola, Verizon, L’Oreal and Pantene.
A graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Stevens has also worked at Charlex in NY, where he managed the design team, and at editorial and design boutique Splice Here in Minneapolis, where he was creative director.
This is the third major hire this year for Smoke & Mirrors which brought on new managing director Mary Knox in February and executive producer Daniel Cohen in April. Knox and Stevens replace Jo Morgan, longtime managing director of the company, and Sean Broughton, former CD and one of the co-founders, who left the company at the beginning of this year.
Gary Szabo, managing director of Smoke & Mirrors in London, said that the new hires position the company well on both sides of the Atlantic with operations connected through a fully integrated technical network. Smoke & Mirrors also has offices in Shanghai and Sao Paulo. In London, Smoke & Mirrors has recently launched a live-action production company, Rock Hound, which is soon to open in the U.S. A new website showcasing the international work is launching in early June.
Recent commercial clients in the States include agencies such as BBDO, mcgarrybowen, KBS+ and JWT, and brands such as BMW, Mountain Dew, Reebok, ESPN, Google, Jaguar, Land Rover, Verizon, Absolut, MTV and Coke. Smoke & Mirrors also recently completed CGI and VFX for the pilot of Hannibal, an NBC series directed by David Slade (Twilight, Breaking Bad) that aired in April.
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Delay TikTok Ban
President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.
The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk.
"President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act's deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case," said Trump's amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump's choice for solicitor general.
The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table.
He has been holding meetings with foreign leaders and business officials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida while he assembles his administration, including a meeting last week with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
Trump has reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger... Read More