Lineup consists of MG โGraceโ Evangelista, Alexander Gilbert, Rhym Guissรฉ, LJ Johnson, Andrew Rhee
Tamika Lamison, executive director of the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP), has announced the five Fellows who have each been awarded $25,000.00 stipends to produce spec spots during the Program’s 2022 cycle. The Fellows are: MG “Grace” Evangelista, Alexander Gilbert, Rhym Guissรฉ, LJ Johnson and Andrew Rhee.
Almost 700 directors applied to the Program–more than ever before. Most of these directors began their careers in other media–documentaries, dramatic shorts, music videos, etc.
This fourth cycle of the Program comes after the pandemic hold during which CDDP launched its 50/50 Mentorship program where more than 50 directors were matched with industry professionals who mentored them via Zoom.
The five 2022 CDDP Directing Fellows will participate in a six-month Program meant to provide them with experience and exposure to the inner workings of commercial and content production. The Program begins with a series of Workshops where the directors learn from industry professionals about the nuances of commercial production–from pitching treatments to working with clients on set and in the post process.
The directors have been paired with mentoring companies and agencies that will give them first-hand access and insight into the process, then work with them to produce spec spots based on scripts provided by the agencies.
Mentoring companies this year are: Spears & Arrows, Invisible Collective, Caviar, Rattling Stick and Arts & Sciences. Agencies include: Saatchi & Saatchi; TRG-The Richards Group, Dallas; The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va.; High Dive, Chicago; and Wieden+Kennedy NY.
The Program culminates in an industry showcase for company owners, directors, agencies, and clients that will, hopefully, lead the Fellow directors to being signed by AICP member companies and becoming DGA members..
“The CDDP is the only program in existence that affords this kind of expansive access, support and real-world change to talented, under-represented directors. We are committed to being the change that we want to see in the commercial world,” noted Lamison. “Being inclusive while championing and nurturing unique POVs is a win-win for everyone.”
In addition, several finalists have been invited to participate in the Program’s Workshops in person: Rachel Myers, Stephanie Martin, Andrew Reid, Danielle Shapira, Alfredo Vidal, Davis Northern, Tayo Amos, Carlos Asse, Guillermo Casarin, Victor Ridaura, Cris Gris, Temi Ojo, Savannah Sivert and Taylor Hinds, Star Victoria, Brian “BLT” Tan, April Maxey, Carlos Hurtado and Leon Lozano. Semi-finalists can join virtually.
Last year the Program launched five Fellows: Tameer Shaaban (recently signed by his mentoring company Durable Goods), Manjari Makijany, Siyou Tan, Iqbal Ahmed, and Araeia Robinson–all of whom are becoming mainstream commercial/content directors.
The CDDP’s mission is to foster awareness and increase e directing opportunities for women and other under-represented directors in the commercial production industry through a targeted program of outreach, mentorship, and exposure. The Program works to pair unsigned directors with AICP member production companies. In addition to providing a grant to create a spec commercial, the Program includes an industry showcase of the directors’ work, workshops specific to the intricacies of the ad world, mentoring, and shadowing with commercial production companies.
For information on the program as well as how and when to apply, click here.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More