Slo Graffiti, a division of Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures, has signed director Robert B. Martin Jr., for commercial representation. Martin previously operated now-closed casting agency The Monkey Brothers with former partner Aaron Priest, who recently signed a deal to direct spots through bicoastal/international Partizan (see SHOOT, 12/1, p. 1)….Director Dean Karr and executive producers Arthur Gorson and Bernard Nussbaumer have launched The Mine, a Los Angeles-based music video and spot production house that will also feature a graphics department. Karr was previously repped by Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart, where Gorson was his producer. The Mine also reps director Christopher Salzegeber, who comes over from Shooting Star Pictures, Los Angeles, and Gorson expects to sign additional directors in the near future. Gorson and Nussbaumer are additionally partnered in Ventana Films, a Los Angeles-based feature film production company, which they formed in ’89….First Edition, New York, has been bought out by a group of five industry vets: a pair of former First Edition staffers, president Scott Holmgren and editor Tony Siggia; John Monte, formerly an editor at Ruff House Editorial, New York; Mitch Schreiber, previously an editor at Invisible Dog, New York; and Mac West, most recently a consultant at Madison Advertising Management, New York, and before that a producer at BBDO New York. First Edition was previously owned by Bobby Smalheiser and encompassed three entities, two of which have changed their names since the company’s sale was finalized on Nov. 30. The editorial shop, long known as First Edition, has become Steel Rose Editorial. The audio house Aural Fixation has a new moniker, Howling Trout Audio. And Splash Design continues to operate under the same banner.…Sue Wladar has joined wild(child) editorial, New York as executive producer…. Several production houses have decided to post their reels online through Planetpoint.com, gaining distribution in the Source Maythenyi database. They are: Partizan; Hollywood-based DNA; A Band Apart; and Santa Monica-based Backyard Productions. The Source Maythenyi and Planetpoint.com are divisions of Creative Planet, a Los Angeles-headquartered provider of technology services for the industry….
