Commercial production company Ampersand has entered into a partnership with creative management firm MilkToast for U.S. representation covering the East and West Coast markets. MilkToast is headed by Philip Fox-Mills, Jake Strom and Dani Ostrowski on the East Coast, and Bryan Farhy and Jen Herrera out West. This partnership comes to fruition partly due to Ampersand managing director Phillip Detchmendy’s pre-existing relationship with MilkToast’s Fox-Mills and Farhy. Detchmendy and Fox-Mills worked together in the past at Satellite, while Farhy and Detchmendy are co-founders of The FireFlies West bicycle charity ride. Ampersand’s parent company, AOI Pro., a leading creative production company in Asia, maintains offices in eight countries, AOI Pro. produces over 1,000 commercials per year and is active in the film and TV spaces…..
The Alliance of Independent Representatives (AIR) recently unveiled its first annual Unsigned Diverse Directors Showcase. The showcase took place on July 25 with an introduction from AIR president Veronica Lombardo of VLM. The attendees were introduced to showcase filmmaking talent by members of the Alliance’s Diversity in Talent committee: Isabel Echeverry of Kontakto Reps, Sonia Blum of Sonia Reps and Mary Saxon of Saxon + Partners Presents. Inclusion in the Showcase was limited to the top five directors, as determined by members of AIR. Submissions were open to directors who identified as women, AAPI, Black, BIPOC, Latinx or LGBTQ+ and were currently independent and not represented by an established commercial production company or post house. The six directors featured (the showcase was expanded, as there was a tie for one of the coveted slots) were Ilanna Barkusky; Utsab Giri; Jose Ho-Guanipa; Antonio “Tronic” McDonald; Paul Moore; and Mike Palafox. Giri and Ho-Guanipa were past SHOOT New Directors Showcase honorees–in 2021 and 2019, respectively. Simian was a supporting sponsor of the AIR showcase…..
Full-service creative agency Giant Spoon has named Lauren Gluck as the agency’s first VP of business development. In this role, Gluck will be leading all new business efforts, including expanding the agency’s creative, media, and social practices, and adding to its current client roster which includes GE, MassMutual, Yelp, Coravin, HP, Petco, and Kate Spade New York. Prior to landing at Giant Spoon, Gluck worked as director of growth at The Many. For the past decade, Gluck has helped agencies like Kastner & Partners and David&Goliath lead new business and expand their client roster. Gluck began her career in New York at the PR agency DKC before moving to Los Angeles in 2014. Since then, Gluck has honed her account management skills, working with brands like HBO, Google, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Rakuten, and CVS. In addition to her success in new business over the years, Gluck is most proud of her non-profit work, fighting for children’s privacy rights online and raising funds to build schools in Sierra Leone…..
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More