GSD&M IDEA CITY “UNSCREWS AMERICA” Austin, Tex.-based ad agency GSD&M Idea City has turned out an integrated campaign, “UnScrew America” spanning TV print, online media, viral videos and a website. The genesis for the project came when Leslie Chilcott, a producer of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, approached Idea City CEO/cofounder Roy Spence about developing a campaign that would encourage people to make the switch to energy-efficient lighting.
“Not everyone can rush out and buy a hybrid [vehicle], especially if you’re 13 years old,” said Chilcott. Changing a lightbulb is great, but what happens when we all change five? Ridiculously good things.”
In one TV spot, “Dead Serious,” actor Paul Reubens surprises actress Missi Pyle as she is changing her closet light bulb to an energy saving Compact Florescent Lightbulb (CFL). The comedian then surprises her by being uncharacteristically humorless when it comes to the subject of global warming. The commercial then ends with a voiceover saying, “If we all switch to CFLs and LEDs (Light-Emitting Diode), it will have the same effect as taking millions of cars off the road. Learn more at unscrewamerica.org.
“Dead Serious” was one of two TV campaign spots directed by Mark Palansky of Company, Los Angeles. Editor was Scott Philbrook of Fluid, New York.
For Idea City, Jeff Nixon and David Stanton were group creative directors; Mitch Bennett was associate creative director/writer; Wes Whitener, associate creative director/art director; and Paul Golubovich the producer.
MJZ’S DANTE ARIOLA FINDS A CHAIR Director Dante Ariola of MJZ has been named executive chairman of the 2008 Clio Awards’ Technique Jury. Ariola won the DGA Award last year as the best commercial director of 2006.
Ariola joins a roster of ’08 Clio executive jury chairpersons that includes Content & Contact chair Johnny Vulkan, partner in Anomaly, New York; TV/Cinema/Digital chair Tony Granger, chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York; Print, Poster, Innovative and Integrated chair Jeremy Craigen, executive creative director of DDB U.K.; and Interactive chair Matias Palm-Jensen, creative president of Farfar, Stockholm. The Clio Fest is set for May 14-17 in Miami….
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Deluxe Vancouver Ltd., a division of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., has appointed Mark Atkinson as VP/general manager. Atkinson will be responsible for the new direction of Deluxe Vancouver, the former postproduction unit of Rainmaker recently acquired by Deluxe. He will segue from his current role as general manager of creative services for Deluxe Digital Studios, to his new position at Deluxe Vancouver effective March 1. Prior to joining Deluxe, Atkinson spent six years at DreamWorks SKG in a senior postproduction capacity. Deluxe has split the former Rainmaker post and effects company into two divisions. Atkinson will direct all motion picture lab, telecine, editorial and media management operations under the Deluxe Vancouver umbrella while Marianne O’Reilly continues to manage the visual effects division as president of the new CIS Vancouver entity. CIS Vancouver and the newly named CIS London, formerly Rainmaker U.K., are part of CIS Visual Effects Group. President of CIS Visual Effects Group is Don Fly who also leads CIS Hollywood….
Writers of “Conclave,” “Say Nothing” Win Scripter Awards
The authors and screenwriters behind the film โConclaveโ and the series โSay Nothingโ won the 37th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards during a black-tie ceremony at USCโs Town and Gown ballroom on Saturday evening (2/22).
The Scripter Awards recognize the yearโs most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen, including both feature-length films and episodic series.
Novelist Robert Harris and screenwriter Peter Straughan took home the award for โConclave.โ
In accepting the award, Straughan said, โAdaptation is a really strange process, youโre very much the servant of two masters. In a way itโs an act of betrayal of one master for the other.โ He joked that โYou start off with a book that you love, you read it again and again, and then you end up throwing it over your shoulder,โ crediting author Robert Harris for being โso kind, so generous, so open throughout.โ
In the episodic series category, Joshua Zetumer and Patrick Radden Keefe won for the episode โThe People in the Dirtโ from the limited series โSay Nothing,โ which Zetumer adapted from Keefeโs nonfiction book about the Troubles in Ireland.
Zetumer referenced this yearโs extraordinary group of Scripter finalists, saying โprojects like these reminded me of why I wanted to become a writer when I was sitting in USCโs Leavey Library dreaming of becoming a screenwriter. If you fell in love with movies, or fell in love with TV, chances are you fell in love with something dangerous.โ
Special guest for the evening, actress and producer Jennifer Beals, shared her thoughts on the impact of libraries. โIf ever you are at a loss wondering if there is good in the world,โ she said, โyou have only to go to a... Read More