Minerva Content, the management consulting and representation firm run by partners Mary Knox and Shauna Seresin, has signed Machine Head. They will be handling sound designer Stephen Dewey on the East Coast and in the Midwest….
Long-time Deluxe postproduction sales executive Russ Robertson has returned to the company as SVP of sales, Encore New York, to support the growing demand for its TV post services in the region. He re-joins Deluxe from a year at Panavision, where he drove camera systems and production services as VP of marketing. Robertson built his career at Deluxe, joining the company in 2002 in Toronto and spending 14 years leading sales teams and efforts as VP of sales in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York, helping to establish the New York outpost of Deluxe’s Encore in the process. He began his 20-year postproduction career serving in sales and services roles at a number of facilities in Toronto….
Bonnie Rosen has joined strategic branding and marketing innovations agency Troika as an account director. She is responsible for leading client accounts and building relationships and partnerships with media and technology companies to elevate brand experiences. Rosen reports to Austin Katz, chief development officer. Most recently, Rosen was a consultant with various media and technology companies, where she helped develop partnership roadmaps, strategy and product ideation. Rosen spent six years at Viacom Media Networks in multiple roles from counsel to director of business development within content distribution. At Viacom, she built creative, strategic solutions that resulted in high-value partnerships with clients, including Amazon, Comcast, Verizon, and Hulu….
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