Director Mark Pellington and producer Tom Gorai of Los Angeles-based Pellington/Gorai have signed with bicoastal/international Propaganda Films for exclusive representation in spots and music videos. The deal also give Propaganda first-look rights to all Pellington/Gorai’s feature film, television and internet projects. In other Propaganda news, the company has committed to the Hollywood redevelopment push, signing a 10-year lease for a 30,000-square-foot office building in the heart of the city. The interior of the two-story building will be demolished, and a new space will be designed. The company’s four current Hollywood locations will be consolidated into the new site by early fall. The complex will include offices, production suites, editing bays and a state-of-the-art screening room. It will house Propaganda’s commercial, music video, talent management, television, film and new media divisions, in addition to Satellite’s spot and music video divisions…. Word is that director Richard D’Alessio is joining New York-headquartered Shooting Gallery Productions….Director Boris Damast has joined the directorial roster of bicoastal Celsius Films…..Feature filmmaker John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Pecker) is making his spot debut via bicoastal The Industry: a more.com assignment for Citron Haligman Bedecarre, San Francisco….Denver animation studio Celluloid has added directors/designers Dan Yaccarino, Stacey Steers and Cathy Joritz, director Bill Kopp, and designers Aaron Augenblick and David Zweig….Stu Kuby has joined JSM, New York, as director of production….Bicoastal Johnson/Burnett Studios is opening a production office in Toronto this month. Tania Smunchilla, former VP, marketing/sales for The Post Group, Toronto, has been named to manage the new Johnson/Burnett, Toronto, operation….Bicoastal/international marketing communications company Pittard Sullivan has teamed with Goldman Productions, Cincinnati, to launch a joint venture audio company, RipTide Music. Richard Goldman, founder of Goldman Productions, will serve as CEO/president of RipTide Music, which has signed composer David Logan….
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