Workhorse Media, an L.A.-based production company headed by executive producer and principal Pola Brown–has added directors Darren Ashton and Michael Sugrue to its roster for exclusive US representation.
Ashton is an Australian who was not previously been represented in the US. In Australia he directs through Exit Films. Sugrue, a still photographer who moved into motion work several years ago, joins Workhorse Media from Republic Content. Ashton and Sugrue are now part of a Workhorse Media directorial roster that includes Peter Gilbert, Maro Chermayeff, Paolo Gandola, Hugo Maza, Roberto Bado, Jones & Kelly and Paul Kamuf.
Ashton is best known in Australia for his comedy work for brands such as NRMA Insurance, Vodafone and others, as well as for his 2007 comic feature film, Razzle Dazzle, a send-up of overbearing stage mothers and dance competitions.
No stranger to the US, Ashton sports a showreel that includes a comedy spot for Woolworth’s branded beef that features a friendly Aussie handing out barbecued samples of the product to typically quirky real people on the streets of New York City, including two grateful cops who were not averse to grabbing a quick bite while in their squad car.
Ashton said many Aussies are used to bopping back and forth between their home and the States, “so it’s really not a big deal for us. And when Pola contacted me about it, I was impressed; she’s a go-getter who knows what she’s doing. As I’m fully committed to working in the US, it just felt like the right time.”
Meanwhile, Sugrue’s work includes a stylistically diverse range of web videos and TV spots for such brands as Purina, Microsoft, ESPN, Novartis, and Visa, among others. A photojournalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he worked in New York for six years before relocating to Northern California, where he’s currently based.
Often mixing still assignments with video shoots, Sugrue has worked all over the world. He’s directed, shot and at times edited a number of short films and videos for agencies and corporate clients, as well as an impressive slate of personal short films. These have screened at film festivals around the US, with the most recent, Dalston, being named a Vimeo Staff Pick. He’s just back from the Middle East, where he shot a series of documentary-style promotional videos as well as stills for the Salalah Free Trade Zone in Oman.
Sugrue’s films, while often based in reality, don’t fit the typical description of documentary work. “I like to take reality and finesse it,” he explains, “employing lighting and camera moves that you don’t normally see in docu-style work to add mood and emotion.”
Workhorse Media is represented on the East Coast by Daria Zeliger of A:D Talent Management, in the Southeast by Jim Miller of Miller & Associates and on the West Coast by Sherry Howell of Sherry & Company.
A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly
U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.
The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.
Here's what it all means:
What is the Justice Department's goal?
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.
"The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."
Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."
It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More