Bicoastal Union Editorial has expanded its long-form and feature film services with the addition of Noah Haeussner as head of entertainment development. Haeussner comes over from Level 1 Promotion, where he served as director of national promotions for film and TV.
An editorial shop with a roster experienced in commercials, music videos, features and trailers, Union diversifies and now becomes a full-service marketing and postproduction house in the feature arena. The company has been awarded its first project in this capacity, handling the entire marketing campaign for Obselidia, the feature debut from director Dianne Bell, which recently screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
“This is a natural evolution for Union,” said Union partner/executive producer Michael Raimondi. “Many of the additions to our roster over the last couple of years have contributed to this moment.” Union partner/editor Sloane Klevin co-produced and edited the Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody Award-Winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, for example; editor Jinx Godfrey cut the Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire; and partner/editor Jim Haygood (Fight Club, Where the Wild Things Are) is currently editing the feature Tron. Union recently completed work on trailers for high profile TV projects like HBO’s Addiction and True Blood.
While at Level 1, Haeussner developed and managed a number of online and offline marketing initiatives for films such as Speed Racer, The Dark Knight (Harvey Dent campaign), Angels & Demons, and The Taking of Pelham 123. He previously headed up the film marketing department at StreetWise Concepts & Culture, a youth-oriented marketing firm, where he developed and executed national campaigns for Warner Bros.’ 300, I Am Legend, Get Smart, and Paramount Pictures’ Beowulf. Roles as marketing manager at National Lampoon and in public relations with Bender/Helper Impact working with such clients as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. and MGM Home Entertainment, round out Haeussner’s professional experience.
Haeussner said that his background in marketing and brand integration, paired with Union’s experience in the advertising arena, makes Union’s entertainment division an ideal branding partner for studios. “My counterparts at the studios had been very interested in the notion of a one-stop shop for the marketing of their films,” Haeussner recalled. “There have tended to be a lot of middle men in this process, and we offer a streamlined vision and concept for feature marketing; we can edit your epk, do the print, create the online presence, handle offline marketing activities, and, of course, edit trailers and TV spots.”
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