As we kick off a yearlong “Then and Now” series in this issue to commemorate SHOOT’s upcoming 50th year anniversary, it occurred to me that a recent panel discussion I moderated had some of the elements our anniversary coverage will uncover relative to reflections and observations on changes in the industry, what dynamics have remained constants, and what the future holds.
The panel was the SHOOT session Music For Commercials at the recent Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film and TV Music Conference in L.A. Panelist Andrew Bancroft, associate creative director/copywriter at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), San Francisco, observed, “My hiring at the agency wouldn’t have happened before the nature of the business changed.” Bancroft didn’t have the classic advertising portfolio. Instead his background was in web content, including developing online musical projects.
With the digital age emerging, GS&P saw the benefits of Bancroft’s then atypical creative experience and hired him. The shop has since tapped into his sensibilities for innovative music-driven projects, including the “Comcast Town” spots, as well as the tongue-in-cheek California Milk online rock opera Battle for Milkquarious. The opera found lyricist Bancroft collaborating with composers/performers Tyler Spencer and Zach Shipps of the band Electric Six.
Yet while the rock/pop domain is hot in terms of crossing over into the ad biz, there’s something to be said for original music and sound houses with artisans who have both creative and advertising sensibilities. Panelist Josh Rabinowitz, senior VP, director of music for Grey Group, New York, noted that while his agency successfully explores and taps into rock/pop talent, some 70 percent of Grey’s work involves commercial music houses.
Underscoring those contributions was the work shown by Liz Myers, composer/co-founder of Trivers/Myers Music, composer Danny Dunlap of Beacon Street Studios, and Zack Sinick, executive music producer of Squeak E. Clean Productions.
The latter screened the U.S. Cellular spot “Shadow Puppets” for Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, featuring a track which had a new arrangement of the 1926 song “Tonight You Belong To Me.” The charming piece reflects the arrangement chops that a music house brings to the table, as well as the appropriately understated vocal performances of Sinick and Elizabeth Shapiro, with Sinick also on ukulele.
The contributions of an original music house were also evident in Vinamilk’s “Balloons” for Lowe Vietnam. A simple, touching story unfolds to a musical score that’s a mesh of Western and Asian worlds. Beacon Street composers Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau and Dunlap reached out to Orange County, Calif’s. Little Saigon where they met musician/teacher Chau Nguyen who exposed them to Vietnam’s musical culture and performed on Vietnamese instruments that were incorporated into the track.
Besides demonstrating the value of ad music house acumen, “Balloons” represents the industry’s expansive reach with agencies and artists finding new pockets of business globally.
Also reflecting new opportunities that lie ahead while affirming the ongoing importance of original music and sound shops was the work showcased by Myers–another of the beautiful animated broadcast spots that Trivers/Myers has scored over the years for United Airlines, and then a recent distilling down of the essence of that brand music identity into a Twitter intro for United. Her observation is that with the advent of social media, music for a growing number of projects is getting shorter and shorter but having a much wider impact than ever before.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More