Director Bucky Fukumoto has signed for exclusive representation for commercials and other forms of ad agency-created content with Rehab, the San Francisco-based production company headed by partner/executive producer Nathan Brown, partner/director Sean Leman and partner/director of production Vince Genovese.
Also checking into Rehab is producer Katie Mitchell who had been associate broadcast content producer at the San Francisco office of McCann Erickson where she worked with Genovese who served as head of production for McCann West prior to joining Rehab earlier this year.
Fukumoto is a Southern California native who brings to his work as a director a background in art direction and design for a host of hipster brands and luminaries that are big in the skateboarding culture, such as The Girl & Chocolate Skateboard Company. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, he worked with skater stars such as designer Andy Jenkins and director Spike Jonze, creating a wild range of skateboard graphics and print layouts and producing skate videos.
From graphic design he transitioned to motion graphics and began working for Fuel, Inc., the broadcast branding and design shop which eventually merged with Razorfish. While at Fuel he worked on broadcast promotion projects for such media brands as ESPN, MTV and Showtime. As an L.A.-based freelance designer and creative director, he’s worked with such shops as Logan and Brand New School on a variety of broadcast design and motion graphics projects for brands such as G4.
Fukumoto signed with The Directors Bureau in 2003, where he collaborated with the shop’s roster of directors in a range of design and art direction capacities, eventually teaming with former Girl staffer to form the directing collective known as AV Club. AV Club went on to direct numerous music videos for artists such as Audioslave. Working on his own as a director, Fukumoto has shot lifestyle and youth-oriented spots for brands such as HP, the fashion retailer H&M and the shoe company DVS, as well as both music videos and feature-length concert films for the UK pop star Morrissey.
“I like the fact that Rehab produces more than just traditional broadcast commercials, since that reflects the kind of work I most enjoy doing,” said Fukumoto about his new production home. “There’s an open nature to the projects they handle, with lots of room for experimentation, and that suits my talents as both a filmmaker and a designer.”
Fukumoto joins a Rehab directorial roster that includes Leman, Eric Noren and Michael Barnett.
As for producer Mitchell, during her McCann tenure she handled broadcast and web video content for such brands as Intel, HP and IHOP.
And on the sales front, Rehab has secured Michel Waxman and Marla Mossberg of Los Angeles-based indie firm MBW Represents to handle the West Coast and Texas.
Rehab has produced TV spots, web videos and other content for a range of brands that includes The Gap, LEGO, MINI, Levi’s, Adidas and LG.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More