Directors Bethan Seller and Quran Squire have joined the global roster of RadicalMedia. Seller will be handled by Radical worldwide–except for Ireland and Scotland where she has ongoing representation relationships. Radical president Frank Scherma said he was drawn to her “wonderful eye” and directorial acumen, particularly from a storytelling and production design perspective.
Seller has a penchant for eliciting strong performances, a knack for subtle comedy, and for creating colorful and engaging film full of bold and quirky characters. Seller’s first film Luxuriously Taxable, which she wrote, produced and directed, raised awareness about the U.K. luxury tax placed on tampons. The film directed viewers to sign an independent petition to axe the tax, which gained over 300,000 signatures and was picked up by Dazed & Confused, Bustle, Metro, The Daily Mail and the Independent’s i100 list. Seller’s attention to detail and positive energy inspire her and others to create compelling work spanning comedy, lifestyle, drama, narrative and fashion.
Aside from her considerable talent, Scherma noted that Seller is based in London which dovetails well with the reality of those American ad agencies currently looking to shoot overseas. During the pandemic, having U.S. directors go abroad could prove problematic. Having Seller in Europe already thus offers a viable option to clients and brands.
Meanwhile Squire is a writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles. He was born and raised in Essex County, New Jersey, where his creative lens around the narratives of the mundane and the extraordinary were shaped. Squire is a graduate of both Morehouse College and Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television, MFA. His work has been recognized by many platforms such as the American Black Film Festival, Newark International Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival, and Revolt TV’s Film Festival. Squire recently completed projects for Loud Robot and Warner Bros Records. Radical had a chance to collaborate with Squire on a music video and the experience was so favorable that the company put him up for another project and brought him aboard its roster.
Scherma said that in addition to being bright young talents, both Seller and Squire are “good people” who are great to work with. And their profile is in the Radical wheelhouse, continued Scherma, which is to nurture new directors, helping them to garner work that showcases their talent and advances their careers.
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