Executive producers Carl Swan and Lizzie Schwartz have teamed to launch Community Films. The new venture opens with a directorial roster consisting of Seth Gordon, Jared Hess, Michael Patrick Jann, Matt Smukler and Pam Thomas.
Swan and Schwartz previously served as exec producers at Hello! and Moxie Pictures, respectively. Community’s lineup includes directors who were formerly with those two houses as Smukler and Jann were with Hello, and Gordon, Hess and Thomas had been repped by Moxie.
Smukler is a prolific spot helmer. Commercial and TV director Pam Thomas has credits that include Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Jared Hess directed such features as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. Gordon’s endeavors include the documentary King of Kong and the comedy feature Horrible Bosses. And Jann has Reno 911 and Drop Dead Gorgeous among his credits. Hess, Gordon and Jann additionally have considerable spotmaking experience.
Together, Swan and Schwartz have more than 30 years experience producing commercials, web films, shorts, music videos, and features. Swan served as executive producer at Hello! and predecessor house HKM for 10 years. Earlier he served as head of production at Harmony Pictures.
Schwartz worked with producer Cary Woods at Miramax on features like Scream and Citizen Ruth, before going on to executive produce at Moxie Pictures for 15 years.
Community has already turned out several spots, including Smukler-directed fare for Robitusson via Grey and McDonald’s out of Moroch; a Pam Thomas-helmed job for Amica from agency Cronin & Company; and a Hess-directed assignment for Direct Auto and agency Cramer-Krasselt.
The production company’s sales team consists of Reprizent (Michael Arkin, Anna Triggs, Taina Torres-Wirth) on the East Coast, MJ Companies (Marguerite Juliusson) in the Midwest, and Amy Jones on the West Coast. Community is repped in the U.K. via London production house Independent.
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