New York-based Cause & [Effect] has signed comedy director Beauxchamp for U.S. commercial representation. Beauxchamp recently took the director’s chair full time after having been at Turner Entertainment Networks and prior to that working as a copywriter and creative director for such agencies as DDB, JWT and BBDO. Beauxchamp’s credits include his having helmed and co-written TNT co-branded spots for Dunkin’ Donuts, Snickers, Iams and Pringles….Thomas Tortoriello, aka Tommy T, has joined Smoke & Mirrors in New York as a senior Smoke artist. Freelance for the past six years, he is perhaps best known for his 12-year tenure at Red Car, where he was staff engineer and Smoke artist from 1995 to 2007…Veteran VFX producer and postproduction supervisor Cary Flaum has joined bicoastal production company Shilo as executive producer and head of production. Flaum had most recently been freelancing in his native New York City, film studios, post houses and independent artists on assorted projects. Among those, through Nice Shoes, he was the post producer for a 180-degree format live show open for Maybelline and for spots for Google TV, and he was the post-production supervisor for the immersive film experience directed by Kanye West from Good Company which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Between 1999 and 2011, Flaum held senior staff production and management positions with Smoke and Mirrors, Perception, mad.house and Version 2…RingSide Creative‘s production operations division has merged with Jeff Moon Production Services to form subsidiary Moonlink Studios, LLC. Moonlink Studios is now billed as being the largest single source provider of production-related services in Michigan. Robin Tracey and Jeff Moon have been named co-managing directors to oversee daily operations. While Moonlink Satellite, Inc. remains independently owned by Moon, its services will continue to be integrated with Moonlink Studios, LLC. Moonlink Studios offers a wide range of production services including sound stages, live shot studios, crew, and camera/equipment packages….Music house Comma has promoted Andrew Ecklund to composer. A graduate of Elmhurst College, where he studied music business and jazz, Ecklund interned at Comma during his last school semester. With the addition of Ecklund, Comma now has nine in-house composers…
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