Changes At The Helm
Feature filmmakers Gary Ross and Gary Fleder have signed with A Band Apart, Los Angeles, for exclusive representation as commercial directors. Ross made his movie directorial debut with Pleasantville. He also helmed the acclaimed Seabiscuit. Ross has four Oscar nominations, the most recent for best screenplay (based on material previously produced or published) for Seabiscuit, a film that received seven Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture. Meanwhile, Fleder’s directing credits include Runaway Jury, Don’t Say A Word and Kiss the Girls. He has also helmed assorted TV crime dramas such as Homicide: Life on the Street and The Shield. Earlier in his career, Fleder has been repped for spots by bicoastal Original Film and now defunct Propaganda Films….Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, whose film A Very Long Engagement is currently playing to critical acclaim, has signed with Grand Large, a Paris-based commercial production house. Jeunet will be available to the American ad market via Curious Pictures, New York, which has entered into an affiliation with Grand Large. Per the relationship Grand Large gains a foothold in the U.S. market while Curious adds a coterie of directors in France, including Jeunet, Pitof, Marc Caro, Siraj, Wiebke, Tom Kan, Fred Garson and Serge Guerand. Curious has appointed head of production Meredith Brown and head of sales Rachel Klein to manage Grand Large in the U.S. Among Jeunet’s other directorial credits are Amelie, The City of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection and Delicatessen…..Bicoastal HSI and its London affiliate Exposure Films have parted ways with Renck Akerlund Films, the Stockholm-based shop of directors Jonas Akerlund and Johan Renck. This ends a six-year working relationship between HSI and helmers Akerlund and Renck. Prior to Serious, Akerlund and Renck were handled in the U.K. market by London houses Jane Fuller Associates and Rose Hackney Barber…..Directors David Popescu and Christina Hodnet have joined The Story Companies, bicoastal and Chicago, for exclusive spot representation in the U.S. Popescu has already booked his first job at The Story Companies, a campaign for Totes and Isotoner, out of WonderGroup, Cincinnati. A comedy director who has done the lion’s share of his work in Canada, Popescu continues to be repped there by Brown Entertainment, Toronto. Hodnet also maintains Canadian representation, through The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto. She has been active internationally, recently wrapping an Orange Mobile spot for Young & Rubicam, London. Hodnet first secured U.S. representation in 1999 at bicoastal Celsius Films….Creative director/director Chris McKenna has come aboard the roster of bicoastal Stun Creative. He will work primarily out of Stun’s New York office….Noted automobile still photographer Tim Damon has signed with Admit One Productions, Woodland Hills, Calif., for worldwide representation as a commercials director/cameraman…..
DreamWorks Animation Hits 30 With A New Hit Different From The Norm: “The Wild Robot”
Filmmaker Chris Sanders had finally cracked "The Wild Robot."
Peter Brown's middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from "Lilo & Stitch" to "How to Train Your Dragon," came along.
His vision, however, was different from the norm: The story started without zippy dialogue and didn't follow traditional beats. He also wanted to embrace a more illustrated style that melded analog warmth with computer generated imagery capabilities, which was finally technologically possible. Before he got too deep, he needed to make sure the studio was on board.
"They said, 'That's the reason we bought the book. We want to do something different,'" Sanders said. "One of the great strengths of DreamWorks is they're willing to try new things. To everybody's credit, they stayed the course."
And it's already paying off. "The Wild Robot" opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. Sanders didn't know it at the time but something bigger was at play too: "The Wild Robot" would be released coinciding with the studio's 30th anniversary.
It wasn't so long ago that DreamWorks was the new kid on the block. The upstart, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, was in October 1994 the first new studio in 60 years. Since their first animated release ("Antz," in 1998), DreamWorks Animation has released 49 feature films that have grossed more than $17 billion at the box office. They have major franchises, including "Shrek," which became the first best animated feature Oscar winner, "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to... Read More