Production house launches office in Cape Town headed by De Villiers
Backyard Productions, headquartered in Venice, has extended its reach internationally, launching a full-service office in Cape Town, South Africa. Dubbed Backyard SA, the new venture is a partnership with veteran executive producer Janette De Villiers who will act as the company’s managing director and will continue to separately maintain Groundglass, her South African production service company.
Groundglass has produced hundreds of international jobs over the years, including many for Backyard. Backyard SA will offer Backyard’s director roster to the South African advertising community and will serve as a resource for American advertisers wanting to shoot overseas.
“We’re partnering with a like- minded person in Janette,” said Blair Stribley, Backyard’s president/partner. “She has the personality and energy that fits right in with the Backyard brand, and Janette is known internationally for her exceptional production track record. This move gives our clients a great alternative location to consider shooting.”
De Villiers said of introducing Backyard’s roster to South Africa, “Creatively, they’re a very good fit for this market. More and more American advertisers want to shoot here and now they can with a trusted brand.”
In recent years, Backyard has gotten a lot of interest from clients considering production in South Africa which offers diverse locations, top-level crews, a deep acting pool and a very production-friendly environment. Plus, U.S. advertising dollars stretch further with the value of the dollar against the Rand.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More