Director Dana Adam Shapiro has joined Little Minx@RSA Films for representation. Shapiro co-directed (with Henry Alex Rubin) and served as a producer on Murderball, a documentary about quadriplegic rugby players who go on to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens.
Murderball was an Oscar nominee for best documentary feature and received assorted honors, including the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Beyond filmmaking, Shapiro’s experience also includes having served as editor of Spin, a founder of Icon magazine, and as a novelist.
On the latter score, Shapiro’s The Every Boy (Houghton Mifflin) tells the story of a 15-year-old boy’s death and his father’s attempt to learn about his son through his diaries. Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s production company, and Paramount Pictures plan to make the book into a film. Shapiro is slated to write and direct the adaptation.
Rhea Scott, president of Little Minx, said that she was put in touch with Shapiro by RSA Films’ president Jules Daly. Scott was impressed with Shapiro’s work and personal demeanor. “He was straightforward, sharp, not full of himself at all, and just very smart,” said Scott of Shapiro.
Scott added that by being a documentary filmmaker, Shapiro brings an extra dimension to the Little Minx roster. The director conversely is looking forward to the extra dimension–in terms of depth of production support and access to varied talent–that Little Minx can provide him. He noted, “For Murderball, we shot more than 200 hours of digital footage over two-and-a-half years with a two man crew. So when Rhea started talking about DPs, ADs, ACs, PAs, gaffers, grips, storyboards, I felt like a kid walking into the chocolate factory.”
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More