Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis has chosen Saville Productions for exclusive U.S. commercial representation.
His first campaign with Saville, a Father’s Day commercial, is slated to debut in June. “I’ve always had a strong feel for telling stories about unusual cross-generational and family relationships,” noted Haggis. “Even though I’m brand new to commercials, it’s just a natural extension into a different medium. I simply love to tell authentic, humanistic stories.”
Haggis, a two-time Academy Award winner, is the only scribe in history to have penned two consecutive Best Picture Oscars. The first, 2005’s Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood, earned Haggis his first nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
For the second, 2006’s Crash, he received Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (with Robert Moresco). Haggis also received a Best Director nomination for the film. In 2007, he was honored with his third Academy nomination for Best Original Screenplay (with Iris Yamashita) for the Eastwood-helmed Letters from Iwo Jima.
Haggis joins a high-profile roster of colleagues at Saville, including filmmakers Martin Campbell, Barry Levinson, James McTeigue, Roger Michell, Bryan Singer and Wim Wenders.
According to Saville executive producer Rupert Maconick, “Brands are always looking for the right filmmaker adept at both communicating human values and creating enduring emotional connections (with their consumers). Paul brings both qualities to the table.”
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