Corky Quakenbush and Joel Trussell have joined the directorial roster of ka-chew!, the Hollywood-based commercial production company owned by Gabor Csupo and Arlene Klasky, owners of multi-Emmy Award-winning animation studio Klasky Csupo, Inc.
Quakenbush had most recently been repped for spots by Los Angeles multimedia studio DUCK. His signing with ka-chew! marks a return to the company fold. Best known as a stop-motion animation director and for his brand of funny, irreverent work, Quakenbush was earlier repped via what was then known as Class-Key Chew-Po Commercials (now the ka-chew! banner).
He worked on the early seasons of FOX’s Madtv. His television directing, producing and developing credits include shows, pilots and segments on FOX, MTV, NBC, ABC, WB, HBO, VH-1, Disney, Cinemax, Oxygen, TBS, Discovery, and PBS. Quakenbush holds the record for number of films–nine–screened from a single director at the Sundance Film Festival. Numerous festivals have honored Quakenbush, in the form of tributes, retrospectives and awards. HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen honored him with a “Best Of” program.
In 2008, Quakenbush returned to MADtv to create more than a dozen new shorts for their 12th season. During ’07-’08, he created and directed 12 comic shorts for Turner’s comedy broadband channel SuperDeluxe.com.
Quakenbush said he was drawn in part to ka-chew! by its executive producer/creative director John Andrews, who is also head of production at Klasky Csupo. “I’ve had a long relationship with John Andrews, starting when he was at MTV in the ’90’s,” recalled Quakenbush. “I’m happy to be ‘coming back’ into the world of commercials with John as my EP. I felt now was a good time to reinvigorate my commercial direction, as most of my work during the past few years has been either service work for television and entertainment websites, short films, or the production of commercial parodies.”
Joel Trussell
Director Trussell, whose reputation is in quirky 2D animated comedy featuring well developed characters, comes to ka-chew! through his association with 6PH (Six Point Harness). A Hollywood independent TV animation studio, 6PH is repped by ka-chew! in the ad space. Currently, Trussell is directing for ka-chew! an online campaign for Nature Made out of Ogilvy & Mather. All animation is being done at 6PH.
Trussell has worked in the animation industry for over a decade. He has directed music videos for many popular artists, such as the Gossip, Jakob Dylan, Morcheeba, and Jason Forrest’s War Photographer, for which he won numerous awards, including the Ottawa International Film Festival’s Best Music Video honor. He has also directed several segments for Nick Jr’s Yo Gabba Gabba, and commercials for clients such as Nicorette and Esurance. He wrapped the Esurance work via animation studio Wild Brain but was not formally represented by that studio.
Both Quakenbush and Trussell had work in last year’s edition of Mike Judge’s The Animation Show. They now become part of a directorial lineup at ka-chew! that includes Paul Cummings, Davy Force, David Russo, Elliot M. Bour, Parallax Studioworks, Liz Blazer, Tom Deslongchamp, Jeff Gill, Paul Westergard, Tom Schroeder, Sean Nadeau, Paul Sloboda, Nadia Roden, Carolle Shelley Abrams and London-based studio TRUNK (with Grigoris Leontiades, Steve Smith, Layla Atkinson, and Siri Melchior, among other helmers).
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More