By Robert Goldrich
NEW YORK --Camille Geier has joined Curious Pictures as senior VP/head of studio, a newly created position at the multi-platform production and entertainment company. Geier brings extensive experience in short and long-form fare to her new Manhattan roost, having served as executive producer of visual effects for such features as Ghost Town (directed by David Koepp) and the soon-to-be-released Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi), and as visual effects producer on a slate of films that includes Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese), Bloodwork (Clint Eastwood), Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen), and Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven).
On the ad front, Geier has had a hand in overseeing production for and producing assorted commercials. She comes over to Curious from Rhino-Gravity where she played an integral role in building its feature film VFX division while running the commercials operation. Her production acumen across different disciplines and genres dovetails nicely with a Curious mix of both original content and work for hire spanning features, TV shows, new media, commercials and gaming.
On the latter front, for example, Curious is active in game development and production, having worked on the noted interactive game Rockband (Beatles, Green Day, etc.), various iPhone apps and is now, according to managing partner Jan Korbelin, about to embark on a major deal to develop a game property for an undisclosed lifestyle brand.
Curious had been courting Geier for some time to take on a lead role in growing the studio’s capacity and creativity, in finding more ways to share resources to serve the different entertainment and advertising platforms, and in helping to further diversify business.
“A lot of our growth has organically developed,” related Korbelin who himself is a veteran feature film producer (an exec producer of the Oscar-winning Crash) and management executive. “For instance, we have a director on the commercial side [Rohitash Rao] who came up with an idea for a TV series, which we are helping to develop for one of the major networks. Our talent base is constantly generating new ideas for content.”
Prior to her tenure at Rhino, Geier spent seven years at Industrial Light+Magic (ILM), serving most notably as a senior producer where her exploits included not only the aforementioned Gangs of New York and Starship Troopers but also visual effects for select spots, including McDonald’s for DDB Chicago, via ILM’s now defunct commercial unit. Earlier she was a senior producer with the former (Colossal) Pictures, turning out commercials such as Coca-Cola’s “Games” via Creative Arts Agency (CAA), Beverly Hills, and a Nintendo campaign out of Leo Burnett Chicago.
Geier noted that (Colossal)–with its involvement in spots, TV series and long-form projects often blending live action, effects and varied forms of animation–parallels the diversity fostered by the Curious creative and business model. The major difference, she observed, is that in recent years, the digital and interactive component has come of age, giving Curious an even more expansive palette from which to shape content.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More