Director Damien Drake has joined creative digital studio Click 3X. The director, cinematographer and producer has traveled the world shooting documentaries, commercials, TV shows, music videos and branded content. In 2012 and into 2013, Drake directed more than 30 videos in over half a dozen countries for Procter & Gamble’s “Everyday Effect” campaign, which included what became high-profile commercials featuring elderly couple Morty and Lee Kaufman. Drake began his career as a producer at VH1 Classic, where he conducted hundreds of interviews with legends such as Elton John, REM and The Clash. In 2004, he founded East Pleasant Pictures and produced entertainment content for Sprint’s new digital account with music superstars Akon, Rihanna and Amy Winehouse. In 2009, producer Fisher Stevens recruited Drake to shoot over 100 days in Africa for a project documenting Dr Amy Lehman and the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic. Drake went on to shoot Stevens’ subsequent docs, Mission Blue and My Decisions….Venice, Calif.-based Slim Pictures has signed the directing team of Peter Goeltenboth & Florian Giefer, a.k.a. Pet & Flo. Known for its blend of unique in-camera effects and stop motion visuals, the Berlin-based duo handles all directorial duties equally, from the casting to art direction to operating the stop motion rigs. Beyond stop motion, Pet & Flo’s expertise includes working with front-screen projections, miniature puppets, hand-cut animations, time-lapse techniques, Rube Goldberg machines, and so on. Their credits include such brands as Olympus, BMW, and Coca Cola…. Still photographer/director Anthony Dias has signed with Square Planet Media for both commercial and digital advertising assignments. It marks the first time that Dias has been represented as a director in addition to his work as a still photographer. He joins directors Toshi Oku, Francis Dreis, John M and Chris Weinstein at Square Planet…
Snubs and Surprises In Oscar Nominations
In one of the more wide-open Oscar fields in recent history, there were plenty of nominations surprises Thursday. Not too long ago, it seemed that people like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman were destined for best actress nominations, while general audience disinterest in the young Donald Trump movie "The Apprentice" might have indicated its awards chances were dead on arrival. But the members of the film academy had something different in mind. Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the 97th Oscar nominations. SURPRISE: Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, "The Apprentice" The young Trump movie "The Apprentice" has been one of the bigger awards season question marks, especially after it failed to resonate with moviegoers in theaters. And yet both Jeremy Strong, for his portrayal for Trump lawyer Roy Cohn, and Sebastian Stan (who was also in the conversation for "A Different Man" ), for playing the future two-time president, made it in. Only Strong got nominated by the Screen Actors Guild. SNUB: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, "Hard Truths" This will forever be one of the more confounding awards season oversights. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivered one of the all-time great performances in Mike Leigh's "Hard Truths," as the perpetually aggrieved and sharp-tongued London woman Pansy. The general thinking is that it was either going to be Jean-Baptiste or Fernanda Torres, and Torres got in for the equally beloved "I'm Still Here." SNUB: Pamela Anderson, "The Last Showgirl" This is perhaps up for debate, but there was certainly a lot of goodwill behind Anderson's movie-star turn in Gia Coppola's "The Last Showgirl," especially considering her SAG nomination. But like with Jennifer Lopez and... Read More