Gobsmack!, the Bangalore and L.A.-based content studio founded by director Shyam Madiraju, will be handling representation in India for Anonymous Content. The agreement, which includes most of the Anonymous roster of filmmakers, is the first representation deal for Anonymous outside of the U.S. or U.K. Among the Anonymous directors whom Gobsmack! will rep in India are Andrew Douglas, Malcolm Venville, Mark Romanek, David Kellogg, Brett Morgen, PES, David Fincher and Guy Ritchie. “It's become a global marketplace for production as well as for creativity. Our partnering with Gobsmack! in India is an effort for us to widen our pool of sources of great work for our filmmakers and offering them as many options as possible. If you look at India, it's a culture with a tremendous film background and a literacy of production. They have sophisticated audiences and great crews. And their economy is the economy of the 21st century. For us, this move makes a lot of sense.” Madiraju is well-positioned to introduce the talents of Anonymous Content to the Indian ad agency marketplace. As a director working in the US, he was repped by Anonymous for three years. A former creative director at such shops as TBWAChiatDay, Ogilvy & Mather and The Martin Agency, Madiraju took his agency acumen and successfully transitioned to directing in 2006 with a series of spots for the L.A. Film Festival. Madiraju then went on to direct a series of highly acclaimed virals for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel that were produced by Anonymous. He left Anonymous in 2009 to found Gobsmack! in India and the U.S….DP Shane Hurlbut, who is repped by Innovative Artists, has wrapped the feature project Blackbird with director Stefan Ruzowitzky and starring Olivia Wilde and Eric Bana….
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