MRB Productions, a Beverly Hills-based house headed by president/CEO Matthew Brady, has signed director Brian Ades, who was last affiliated with Flying Pineapples, a shop in Hawaii. Earlier in his career Ades had been at Gas, Food & Lodging in Los Angeles.
Over the years, Ades has helmed spots for such agencies as Ballpark, Ideology, Rodgers Townsend, Stern Advertising, Square One, Jay Advertising, Stoner Bunting and Big Bang Seattle. He joins an MRB directorial lineup that includes Jamie Babbit, Mark Teitelman, Rico Labbe, Branson Veal, Michael Wang, Brian O’Connell, Gary Califano and Jeremy Haft.
MRB Productions was launched in 2001 by Brady and specializes in commercials, independent features, television shows and specials. The company found instant success after its inception with short comedic features for ESPN’s ESPY Awards. Other recent projects include the “Live Free or Die Hard” SportsCenter commercials with Bruce Willis, and Kiefer Sutherland’s indie feature, I Trust You to Kill Me.
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