The lineup of speakers is taking shape for SHOOT‘s first ever Directors Symposium, which is being held in conjunction with SHOOT‘s 8th Annual New Directors Showcase Event.
The daytime learning/networking Symposium will be held May 11 at the DGA Theatre in New York, as will the evening’s New Directors Showcase. Register here.
Among the panelists confirmed thus far are:
o Laura Belsey, director, Shadow Pictures and C-Entertainment, & teacher, “Commercial Directing,” Graduate Film School of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
o Wayne Best, executive creative director, JWT New York
o Caleb Deschanel, director/cinematographer, Dark Light Pictures
o Bob Giraldi, director, Giraldi Media, & teacher, “The Project Class” & “Evolutionary Dynamics in Advertising”, School of Visual Arts, NY
o Bonnie Goldfarb, founder & executive producer, harvest
o Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, managing partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
o Nick Iannelli, VP, Deluxe Postproduction, Toronto
o Kevin Kerwin, director, Authentic Films, & 2009 Showcase director
o Craig Leffel, partner/senior colorist, Optimus
o Stacey Mokotoff, president, Bird Bonette Stauderman Inc.
o David B. Perry, executive VP/head of TV production, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
o Allison (Ally) Polly. head of strategy and brand partnerships, Filmaka Entertainment Studios
o Bobby Sheehan, producer/director/writer/cameraman/co-founder, Working Pictures Inc.
o Kristi VandenBosch, CEO, Publicis & Hal Riney
The Directors Symposium (9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., including lunch) will feature a series of panel discussions and Q&A sessions with leading directors, agency creatives, production company entrepreneurs and other notable artists and executives who will share their expertise, helping to define opportunities in an evolving marketplace spanning advertising and entertainment (and the coming together of those two worlds). Speakers and panelists will also relate their experiences with emerging tools and processes, and delve into the art of building an individual director’s brand. Talent from past New Directors Showcases will share how their careers have since progressed, providing inspiration for our latest crop of directors to be introduced in the evening.
The decision to expand the reach of the New Directors Showcase with the launch of the Directors Symposium was spurred on by several dynamics, including this being the year SHOOT celebrates its 50th anniversary as well as the Showcase’s scheduling to coincide with CreativeWeekNYC (May 10-14), a week-long series of events, such as The One Show, that will be attended by creatives and creative management from all over the world.
The evening’s New Directors Showcase (6-10 p.m.) will feature: a screening of the Showcase reel consisting of 25 to 30 pieces of work culled from submissions from this year’s New Directors Search; a panel introducing six of the new directors with two industry pros providing insight and perspective; and an after-party downstairs at the DGA.
Registration for the Directors Symposium Daytime Event includes the Symposium, lunch and guaranteed seating to the evening’s New Directors Showcase Event & After Party. Individual tickets are $195. (Early bird rate of $175. through Friday, Apri. 16th!) Groups of three or more receive a 10 percent discount. Event details and registration info are available at www.shootonline.com/go/register.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More