Cutters Studios, based in Chicago with a revamped L.A. office and new locations in Detroit and Tokyo, has extended its geographic and creative reach further with the launch of a New York office. The core team assembled for the Big Apple venture, located in SoHo, consists of executive producer Elizabeth Krajewski, former EP of Beast NYC, and editors Steve Bell and Nadav Kurtz.
Bell comes over from Cosmo Street while Kurtz started his career at Cutters in Chicago and has continued to work through all of its offices.
“We didn’t want to entertain the idea of a New York office until we could offer the kind of opportunities that would attract the best talent,” said Tim McGuire, Cutters Studios CEO and president. “We’ve had unprecedented growth and we are able to give editors an opportunity to work in other large markets where we have a strong presence. So the timing couldn’t be more perfect for us to tackle an advertising hub like New York City.”
Cutters Studios EP Craig Duncan added, “We knew opening an office in New York would be an exciting challenge. Tim and I both agreed that in addition to a world-class editorial roster it was imperative that we have great leadership. Five minutes into our first conversation with Elizabeth I knew she was the one. She had an immediate understanding of our culture and what we wanted to achieve.”
Bell’s editing credits include such clients as the National Hockey League, Coke, Absolut, Mercedes, Nivea and Google Labs. Kurtz’s ad endeavors span collaborations with such directors as Tony Kaye (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), Vincent Haycock (Absolut), Sean Thonson (Central Dupage Hospital) and Jordan Brady (Chicago Crystal Meth Task Force). Kurtz also made a notable directorial debut with the short film Paraiso, which tells the stories of three immigrant window cleaners who risk their lives every day rappelling down some of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers. Paraiso was screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and earned inclusion on last year’s Oscar Short Subject Documentary shortlist. Paraiso was co-produced by Kurtz’s The Strangebird Company and Dictionary Films, which is part of the Cutters’ family of shops. Kurtz noted that he would have never been able to bring the short film to fruition without the production resources of Dictionary and post support from Cutters.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More