On the heels of one of its directors, Daniel Bird, earning inclusion into SHOOT‘s 9th annual New Directors Showcase which premiered on May 10 at the DGA Theatre in New York, international production company Savage, headquartered in Prague, announced that it has opened a New York office.
Savage’s first stateside operation is being headed by the company’s founder, executive producer Pavla Burgetova Callegari. Prior to Savage, she was the director of international operations at Prague’s Stillking Films where she grew that company’s network across Europe, South America, South Africa and Asia. Her experience also spans running productions as exec producer at Bright Pictures in N.Y. and serving as a content consultant for The Mill.
Joining her at Savage N.Y. is executive producer Megan Kelly whose credentials include being head of production at Public Domain, CZAR.US and The Sweet Shop, and executive producer in the video content department of Publicis Modem.
Savage has an international roster of directors and has thus far this year turned out in excess of 20 productions for worldwide clients such as Pepsi, Kodak, Snickers and Mitsubishi. More directorial signings are planned for the second half of the year, including U.S. directors. Bird, incidentally, got into SHOOT‘s New Directors Showcase largely on the strength of his online spot “Facebook Unfriend Coal” for Greenpeace.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer โ but not the trigger โ and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More