Word is that filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) is coming aboard Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart.35mm for spot representation….Executive producer Chris Wagoner has launched Los Angeles-based spot/music video house YOU Media, with a directorial roster for commercials consisting of Art Haynie, Mark Neale, Jeff Kennedy and Dean Karr; YOU’s initial lineup for music videos includes directors Ivan Zacharias, James Brown, Michael Martin, Trey Fanjoy, Nic Wood, Phil Griffin, Neale and Kennedy. YOU will also rep director Marcus Nispel for clipwork and for non-U.S. commercials. Nispel maintains his affiliation with L.A.-based Morton Jankel Zander for U.S. spotwork….Director Jim Edwards is joining Cognito Films, Santa Monica, for spot representation. He continues to maintain Los Angeles-based Barking Weasel for non-commercial projects….Bob Kuperman, former president/CEO of the Americas at TBWA Worldwide, has been named chairman of DDB New York. The move represents a return to his career roots, as he broke into the then-Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York, during the so-called "golden age" of advertising, when the agency was turning out classic ads for Volkswagen.…Diana Schroeder, who heads Spotmakers, the production department at Dallas-based The Richards Group, and her husband, Jed Schroeder, a Richards Group creative, are leaving the agency and moving to Chicago, where Jed will join DDB on Feb. 12, as an associate creative director; Diana will remain at Spotmakers until the end of February, and plans to freelance produce in Chicago….Videotape editor Michael G. Collins died suddenly while at work last week (1/22). Self-employed at his New York company MCEdit (on the Frame:Runner premises), Collins was 48….Remedy Studios, New York, has added James Malatesta as senior VP/head of strategic planning. Malatesta joins Remedy from the New York office of Boston-headquartered WatchPoint Media, an interactive television company, where he was VP/content development for the past six months. Before this, he was VP/head of client services at the New York office of Pittard Sullivan, from February 1999….
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More