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).
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More