Gartner For Gardner, New Prexy, People in the News
GARTNER FOR GARDNER Helping to get us into the holiday spirit is “Rookies,” a spot promoting the Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. Directed by James Gartner of Santa Monica-based GARTNER for Gardner, Nelson & Partners, New York, the spot tells the parallel stories of a Rockette and a young girl as each prepares for her first show at the legendary New York venue. The Rockette is getting ready to perform in the Xmas Spectacular while the girl is an eager member of the audience on this very special night.
The agency team consisted of creative director Tom Nelson, art director Claudine Lorme, copywriter Chris Baier and producer Meegan Hanrahan. Rich Carter and Don Block executive produced for GARTNER, with Roger Petrusson serving as producer. The DP was Tony Wolberg. Editor was Tom Schachte of Bluerock, New York. Colorist was John Bonta of Company 3, New York. Music composer was Robert Miller of RMI, New York. Casey Hogan of Blast Digital Audio, New York, was sound designer/audio mixer.
NEW PREXY
Seattle-headquartered Corbis has named Gary Shenk as its president. He elevates to the role after having served as senior VP of images, overseeing the company’s image licensing business. While he takes on new duties in the Corbis presidency, Shenk will continue to direct the firm’s image licensing biz, including product management, strategic partnerships and photographer relations. He will report to Corbis CEO Steve Davis, who formerly held the dual president/CEO title….
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Tom Eaton has been promoted to VP of music for advertising at Universal Music Publishing Group, Los Angeles. He formerly was senior director of music for advertising, motion pictures and TV. During his eight years with Universal Music, Eaton has placed songs in commercials for Cingular, KFC, Nissan and Target, among other brands. In his new role he will work to create new opportunities for Universal’s current roster of writers, to exploit the catalog and to serve as a liaison connecting the writers, ad agencies and the publishing group in order to place songs and writers on appropriate ad campaigns…..Colorist Bob Curreri has returned to RIOT in Santa Monica; his last roost was The Syndicate, Santa Monica. He brings strong credentials in spots and music videos to RIOT; in the latter discipline his work on My Chemical Romance’s “Helena” earned him this year’s Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Award for best color correction. Curreri’s spot credits span such clients as Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen and JC Penney. He also performed final color for The Courier, a micro-series co-sponsored by Verizon Wireless and Pontiac that aired on CBS earlier this year……Digital artists studio Radium, with studios in San Francisco and Los Angeles, has added editor Lee Gardner and senior designer Courtney Booker…..BBC Worldwide has appointed Clara Fon-Sing as VP America East Coast and Latin America for its BBC Motion Gallery imagery licensing business. Fong-Sing, who had been at French public television archive INA, will be responsible for leading the New York-based Motion Gallery team to take advantage of opportunities in the United States and Latin America……Post industry vet Luana Ayers has joined the Technicolor facility in New York where she will direct operations…..
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