Cowboy Films, London–which has maintained a 15-year reciprocal sales relationship with Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago–will become Crossroads Films U.K. effective April 1. Triggering the move was the decision by Cowboy managing director Lisa Bryer to retire from the company next month to become a full-time mom to her eight-year-old twins. Crossroads partners/execs Cami Taylor and Dan Lindau then finalized a deal to round up Cowboy and become its co-owners.
Cowboy mainstay Carly Stone will continue as executive producer in charge of production for Crossroads Films U.K. Plans call for Taylor to shuttle back and forth as needed between Crossroads’ stateside and U.K. operations. Crossroads’ U.S. directorial roster will for the most part be repped in the U.K. via Crossroads, London. Conversely the Crossroads U.K. directors will be available to American agencies.
Tanya Cohen, Crossroads’ West Coast rep, has been tabbed to additionally serve as exec producer in charge of sales for Crossroads U.K. She too will go back and forth between the U.S. and U.K. At press time, Cohen was seeking a London-based sales associate.
In addition to commercialmaking, Crossroads will have footholds on both sides of the Atlantic for music videos. U.S. music video house merge@crossroads will now have a counterpart shop in London, under the merge@crossroads U.K. banner. As SHOOT went to press, merge executive producer Joseph Uliano was slated to pay a visit to London to help facilitate the merge@crossroads operation there.
Cowboy (soon to be Crossroads U.K.) helmers such as Nick Lewin, Julia Jason, Mike Leigh, Tim Pope and TV director Jon Sen are available to the stateside spot market via Crossroads in the U.S. Pope, a lauded music video director who founded Cowboy with Bryer, will remain active in clips in the U.S. and U.K. Crossroads’ directors pretty much across the board will have the opportunity to cross over between commercials and music videos.
Crossroads’ U.S. directorial roster will have a conduit to European business and production via Crossroads U.K. Those helmers include Kieran Walsh, Salvatore Totino, Kevin Samuels, Paul Schneider, Lloyd Stein, Gillean Proctor, Jesse Peretz, Mark Pellington, Wayne Isham, Bruce Hurwit, Steve Eshelman, Russell Bates, Marcus McCollum, Mike Nelesen and Terri Timely.
Furthermore, Crossroads’ stateside representation of international directors via its reciprocal sales agreement with Velocity Film, Johannesburg and Cape Town–reflected in the U.S. label Velocity@Crossroads–will also extend to the U.K. This means that Crossroads U.K. will rep such Velocity directors as Keith Rose, Greg Gray, Lourens van Rensburg, Sergio, Mark Lawrie and Mickey Madoda Dube.
Still to be determined is what directors, if any, from Avion Films, Toronto–which also has a longstanding reciprocal representation agreement with Crossroads in the U.S.–might be repped in the U.K. via Crossroads.
And there are directors on the Crossroads roster–such as Wilfrid Brimo and Sebastien Grousset–who will continue to only be handled in the American ad market by the company.
While Crossroads grows its global footprint, Cowboy’s Bryer is going out on a high note, not only wrapping a successful tenure at Cowboy but also producing director Kevin Macdonald’s upcoming feature for Cowboy and Slate Films: The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker. (Macdonald directs spots via Rogue Films, London.)
Actor Steve Guttenberg Returns To L.A. Neighborhood Now Charred By Devastating Wildfire
Steve Guttenberg awoke Thursday morning to a grim reality: The treacherous wildfire that tore through the Pacific Palisades had left his once-lush neighborhood charred and unrecognizable.
With homes smoldered, streets emptied and friends scattered by evacuation orders, Guttenberg counted himself among the fortunate. His property was miraculously spared. But the actor-producer still struggled to reconcile his relief with the haunting sight of his ravaged, once lavish community.
"Just this morning, I woke up and I was really conscious of my mental state and my mental health, because the last three days, I've seen so much tragedy," said Guttenberg, pacing through the ruins of his neighborhood. He said his home has electricity but no running water.
Guttenberg thanked God that his block was safe, but he said about 20 homes were burned "pretty bad" in his 80-home community after wind-whipped fires tore across Los Angeles, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled as the fires burned uncontained Wednesday. He said the fires are the worst he's ever seen in his 66-years.
The wildfires have burned the homes of several celebrities including Billy Crystal, Carey Elwes and Paris Hilton.
Guttenberg said he never expected all of this to happen.
"It's like when someone dies suddenly," he said. "It's like when someone gets hit by a car. You never expect that to happen. That's how shocking it was."
During Guttenberg's stroll, it was an eerie scene with scorched palm trees, homes reduced to ash and rubble, and the daytime skies casted an ominous twilight over the devastation.
"I've seen people scared, people in wheelchairs, mothers and fathers trying to find their kids, people having anxiety and panic... Read More