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….
TikTok’s Fate Arrives At Supreme Court; Arguments Center On Free Speech and National Security
In one of the most important cases of the social media age, free speech and national security collide at the Supreme Court on Friday in arguments over the fate of TikTok, a wildly popular digital platform that roughly half the people in the United States use for entertainment and information.
TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok's sale by its Chinese parent company.
Working on a tight deadline, the justices also have before them a plea from President-elect Donald Trump, who has dropped his earlier support for a ban, to give him and his new administration time to reach a "political resolution" and avoid deciding the case. It's unclear if the court will take the Republican president-elect's views — a highly unusual attempt to influence a case — into account.
TikTok and China-based ByteDance, as well as content creators and users, argue the law is a dramatic violation of the Constitution's free speech guarantee.
"Rarely if ever has the court confronted a free-speech case that matters to so many people," lawyers for the users and content creators wrote. Content creators are anxiously awaiting a decision that could upend their livelihoods and are eyeing other platforms.
The case represents another example of the court being asked to rule about a medium with which the justices have acknowledged they have little familiarity or expertise, though they often weigh in on meaty issues involving restrictions on speech.
The Biden administration, defending the law that President Joe Biden signed in April after it was approved by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress, contends that... Read More