"Required Reading", Short Script-Big Screen, and People in the News
“REQUIRED READING”
Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, topped last month’s Chicago Creative Club Awards, winning best of show in two categories, including television for the Hallmark spot “Required Reading,” which was directed by David Harner, then a creative at the agency, who has since joined Venice, Calif.-based production house The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness. The commercial shows a man struggling to become literate so that he can read the greeting cards given to him over the years by loved ones. “Required Reading” made a major awards splash in August, tying with FedEx’s “Stick” (directed by Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan for BBDO New York) for the coveted primetime commercial Emmy Award. Overall at the Chicago Creative Club Awards, Burnett won 17 of the competition’s total of 27 categories…..
SHORT SCRIPT-BIG SCREEN
New York-headquartered cinema advertising firm Screenvision has launched the “Short Script-Big Screen” competition, which is open to qualified professionals in the advertising, marketing and media industries. Entrants are invited to submit a two-minute short script on the subject of their choice. The winning script–to be selected by Screenvision and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB)–will be produced into a short film that will be shown as part of a national Screenvision digital entertainment preshow in 2007. UCB will provide a production team as well as on-camera talent for the winning entry. Deadline for entries is Nov. 15; log onto www.screenvision.com for more info…….
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Mike Caguin and Eric Husband have returned to Colle+McVoy, Minneapolis, after having left the agency a year ago to work as senior creatives at Butler Shine & Stern, Sausalito, Calif. They are now taking on associate creative director duties at Colle+McVoy….Global creative and brand-engineering agency Attik has brought several artisans into its San Francisco office, including senior Flash developer Pete Shirmer, interactive producer Denise Czaja, copywriter Mary Michael Pringle, junior art director Mina Buehler Monnee and junior designers Jonathan Burkett and Ryan Lee……Cut+Run has added noted editor Chris Hellman to its New York-based talent roster, which includes company co-founder/editor Chuck Willis and editors Mike Douglas, Jon Grover, Anthony Marinelli and Adam Jenkins. A former partner/editor at Homestead Editorial, New York, Hellman has cut over the years for such clients as Miller, BK, Nike, and Coca-Cola……Editor Rich Jack, formerly of Big Sky, New York, has come aboard Bionic, the New York shop launched by veteran editors Steve Beal and Todd Feuer in 1999. Jack’s credits include commercials for Procter & Gamble, Budweiser, General Mills and HBO….Colorist Matt McClain has joined Filmworkers Club Dallas. He comes over from Riot, Santa Monica, where he served as assistant to veteran spot colorist Bob Festa as well as senior colorists Clark Muller and Brian “Crash” Carlucci. McClain’s spot credits as a colorist include Expedia, Scotia Bank and the Red Rock Casino……Cary Flaum has joined the New York office of international visual effects house Smoke and Mirrors as head of production. Headquartered in London, the company opened its U.S. operation in 2003. Flaum served as sales and facility manager at mad.house, New York, and as a senior producer at Version2, New York….
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