. Hesh Rephun has been named staff West Coast rep for bicoastal Headquarters. He completes what is now an in-house sales force for the company. Rephun has experience in both repping and PR for the spot production business. Earlier in his career, while based in New York, he was involved in East Coast repping for such houses as now defunct Harmony Pictures and G.M.S. Productions….Dana Locatell has joined Creative Management Partners (CMP), New York. Locatell, who was a sales rep at the now closed R/GA, will work with Mitch Kanner, former executive at Venice-based Digital Domain, on a still-to-be-determined visual effects endeavor at CMP.…Stuart Sternbach of Pangea, New York, has signed Austin, Texas-based XOPIX Productions, with director/ cameraman Richard Kooris, for East Coast representation…. Orlando Management, Los Angeles, has signed production de-signer Fred Andrews for exclusive representation in commercials and music videos….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More