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…..

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