Street Talk
Director Richard Yelland has secured representation in Canada via Imported Artists, Toronto. He continues to be repped stateside by Conceive Media, a satellite of bicoastal/international Believe Media….Plum Productions, Santa Monica, has signed director Jake Schreier. Already at his new roost, Schreier, 23, has wrapped his first commercial, a job for Pontiac. Schreier made his initial mark with the short film I Love My Cat. During his sophomore year as a Tisch Scholar at NYU film school, Schreier gained distribution for the film, which screened on the Independent Film Channel, as well as at other venues. He also recently helmed a music video for The Thrills….Dana Tynan, a noted fashion photographer recently turned director, has joined Detour, a Venice, Calif.-based production house headed by executive producer Josh Canova, for representation as a commercial helmer….Vinton Studios, Portland, Ore., has added three commercial directors to its advertising division: animator/video helmer/painter/multimedia artist Courtney Booker; Jeff Drew, who created the animated short film Walk, which has scored on the festival circuit; and animation director and designer Aaron Sorenson….Commercial film and design company Hornet, New York, has signed stop-motion animation artist Peter Sluszka for exclusive representation. His recent endeavors include collaborating with director Michel Gondry of bicoastal/international Partizan on a music video for the single “Walkie Talkie Man” from Kiwi rock/hip-hop amalgam Steriogram. The clip received a Grammy nomination for best short form music video of the year….Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More