Actor/comedian/director Jamie Kennedy, whose credits include the half-hour hidden camera/practical joke/prankster WB reality TV series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and Michael Addis, with helming credits that include the well received comedic feature documentary Heckler (starring Kennedy), teamed to direct a hidden camera online spot campaign introducing the Portégé Z830 Ultrabook lightweight laptop computer for clients Toshiba and Intel.
The assignment from Los Angeles agency goodness Mfg. marked the ad directorial debut of Kennedy and Addis who are repped as a commercialmaking duo by First Wave, a New York-based hybrid production/post/music house headed by exec producer Justin Havlik.
The Ultrabook videos feature professional pickpockets Bob Arno and Ben Seidman, along with real-people accomplices and unsuspecting marks. The scenarios involve an Ultrabook being placed inside the bag of a distracted, unsuspecting person. The computer is so light that he or she doesn’t even notice they’re carrying a laptop. Sure enough, a security guard comes around asking to inspect people’s bags for a stolen computer. When the guard discovers the laptop, accusations fly at the mark who’s been deftly set up.
Kennedy related, “We took the hidden camera comedy we have so much fun with–in TV and film–to commercials and created some pretty cool branded entertainment. The agency came up with a great campaign for us to do what we do best. Social experiments with real people’s reactions are at the heart of the pieces and we made sure that it was a fun experience for everyone involved.”
The “I Was Framed” campaign also includes an interactive component with an embedded YouTube video game that lives on Toshiba’s Facebook tab.
Havlik produced for First Wave. Ruben O’Malley served as DP.
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