The New York-based holding company for a number of video and audio postproduction houses, Creative Content Artists (CCA), is ceasing operations. Nearly all the facilities under the CCA banner have closed. At press time, SHOOT confirmed that the only shop still open for business was Lower East Side, New York. The New York companies shut down by CCA include post/visual effects houses arc.light editorial, Liquid Labs, cyclotron and Crush Digital Media, in addition to music/audio post houses Superdupe Recording, East Side Mix and Barasch Music & Sound. As earlier reported, CCA shuttered Post Perfect in January. CCA, headed by chairman of the board David Carmen, a Washington D.C. lobbyist, came into being last summer as Burning Suits, LLC, after acquiring New York Media Group. The Burning Suits’ moniker was changed to CCA in the aftermath of Sept. 11……Kenneth S. Williams has been named COO of Liberty Livewire Corp., the publicly held Santa Monica-headquartered firm which provides technical and creative services to producers, owners and distributors of entertainment and advertising content. He formerly was president of Technicolor Digital Cinema, a Los Angeles-based joint venture between Technicolor and Qualcomm…..Ohio Edit, New York, has entered into an agreement to handle spot representation for Weta Digital, Wellington, New Zealand, the special effects house owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor (winner of two 2002 Academy Awards for Special Effects and Make-Up) and Jamie Selkirk. This deal marks Weta’s first foray into the U.S. commercial market….. Editor Bob Mori joins CO-OP Editorial, Santa Monica, effective Aug. 19. His last staff roost was Cosmo Street, Santa Monica. Prior to that, he was at Superior Assembly Editing Company, Santa Monica….Culver City-based music/sound design house barton: holt has added composer Linda Martinez to its roster. Her composing credits include assorted TV shows, including the upcoming Taken, produced by Steven Spielberg for the Sci Fi Channel. Martinez recently toured with Destiny’s Child as keyboardist, writer and arranger….Composer Dan Marocco has joined Duotone Audio Group, New York….The Mine, Hollywood, has signed director Jeff Byrd for commercial and music video representation….Dana Townsend has joined graphic design/visual effects/CGI boutique SOL designfx, as executive producer of its Venice, Calif. office. The company also maintains a Chicago shop. Her former staff positions include serving as executive producer at digital studio Radium, San Francisco, and earlier as executive producer at Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, Calif….BBDO is closing its Houston office next month….New York agencies Christy MacDougall Mitchell and Communications Plus have merged to form Christy MacDougall Mitchell Bodden….Nathan Hurlburt has joined Match Frame, Austin, Texas, as Flame/Smoke operator. He had been serving as Smoke editor at New York-based Liquid Light….Avid editor/designer Damion Clayton has come aboard Splash Design, New York….Dragonslayer, Sydney, Australia, has signed director Charlie Watson for exclusive representation in the Asian market….Director Nicholas Reynolds, who won a Gold Lion at this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival for Ikea’s "Dog," has signed with The Third Eye, a production company in Redfern, Australia. Reynolds had been directing ads via The Shooting Gallery, Singapore….
Curatorial Committee Is Set For The 2025 AICP Show
The AICP has unveiled the full roster for the Curatorial Committee for the 2025 AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial. The committee, representing a lineup of experts from a cross-section of the industry, will gather this spring under the leadership of AICP Show chairperson Patrick Milling-Smith, co-founder and CEO of SMUGGLER.
The entry deadline for the full suite of AICP Awards--which includes The AICP Show, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards--is Wednesday, Feb. 26. Full entry details can be found here. The results of each show will debut during AICP Week in New York this June, and be featured at a gala celebration at The Museum of Modern Art.
The AICP Show Curatorial Committee is the final stage of a bifurcated judging system that begins with a series of panels with experts in various fields from around the globe, nominated by their peers, who judge work across their respective categories. The Committee then serves as the final arbiter of the awards, confirming eligibility and appropriateness to category, as well as selecting the Best of Show--the winners in the Advertising Excellence/Campaign and Advertising Excellence categories.
In assembling the Committee, Milling-Smith said he was seeking a wide range of viewpoints and influences, representing just about every facet of branded film and commercial creation and production matrix. “We strove to assemble a complementary and aspirational range of voices and experiences,” he commented. “This Curatorial Committee is an inspiring blend of creative and executional excellence. I want it to be a rewarding and invigorating experience for all in the room, and best of class in terms of the caliber of people reviewing the... Read More