Currently in running for Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series for "Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live In Concert"
Commercial production company Tröll Pictures has added director Natalie Johns to its roster. She is currently nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert, a PBS Great Performances presentation. Additionally, Johns’ documentary I Am Thalente tied for the Audience Award (with Lilibet Foster’s Be Here Now) honoring Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
“For my first formal relationship with a commercial production company, I was drawn to the fact that Tröll is very specialized with a very small roster–they treat their directors like partners,” said Johns who was also drawn to the prospects of working with company EP Peter Steinzeig.
Johns was born in Zimbabwe, grew up in South Africa, launched her career in the UK, and is currently based in Los Angeles. Throughout her career she has directed and produced many live concert events, television and web specials, working with artists including Bono, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Pussy Riot, Sam Smith, The Flaming Lips, The White Stripes, Peter Gabriel, Lauryn Hill, Adele, Imagine Dragons, A$AP Rocky, and Childish Gambino. She has worked with Amnesty International on several projects including its “Bring Human Rights Home” and “Electric Burma” concerts, and with Coca Cola’s Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) on a branded video starring Chris Taylor, Solange Knowles, and Twin Shadow that reached half a million viewers in under 24 hours. She has also collaborated with brands including Spotify, Bacardi, Nike, and Rock The Vote on commercial campaigns.
In addition to commercial projects, Johns is currently in development on a documentary with John Legend’s #FREEAMERICA initiative.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More