Dictionary Films, headed by managing director Chris Rossiter, has signed the directing team of Eric McCoy and Justus Meyer, a.k.a. Mccoy | Meyer. Since joining together in 2012, the McCoy | Meyer duo has already directed more than 50 short-form projects (many awarded through the LA-based content sourcing company Tongal) and earned a Telly Award and a Certificate of Recognition from the U.S. Congress. Their commercial reel includes spots for Black & Decker, Famous Footwear, P&G, Verizon and Western Union.
McCoy began his film industry studies at Columbia College Chicago in 2005 and quickly leapt into freelance production, earning his way up the crew ladder in the camera, location and production departments on commercial and feature projects including “The Dark Knight.” He was an associate producer for The Midwest Film Festival for over five years before relocating to LA and landing the position of associate with the Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, Meyer also studied at Columbia College in Chicago, earning his Bachelor’s degree in Film/Video/Cinema in 2011, and soon thereafter, he also moved to LA to form McCoy | Meyer. Both men built their experiences independently as producers before coming together.
Dictionary is the first official production company affiliation for McCoy | Meyer. Prior to this, the directors as a team largely created and produced their work–all as entries for crowd sourcing, content creation contest sites like Tongal. They began entering contests as soon as they started their partnership and as they won more and more, they began to be solicited for “closed contests,” which some sites do with their more accomplished contributors.
Rossiter related, “When I reached out to the guys, we had some dialogue about their desire for greater exposure and support in order to take their work to the ‘next level.’ I think what we’re doing at Dictionary and my background in agency production at Burnett felt right to them. For me, it’s going to be a blast helping them grow and realize what I believe is great potential.”
McCoy | Meyer join a Dictionary directorial roster that includes Logan Cascia, Chris Hafner, Jon Moore, Jay Patton, Jesse Shamata, Adam Wells and Dan Waymack. The integrated production arm of Cutters Studios, Dictionary Films maintains offices in Los Angeles and Chicago, and represents prestigious directors through its offices in Los Angeles and Chicago, and together with its partner companies Another Country, Cutters, Flavor and Picnic Media, represents comprehensive full-service creative capabilities.
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide €2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was “crucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.” Starling added, “The ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why we’re prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.” Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More