Bicoastal Bedford Falls has signed feature director Adam Shankman for worldwide commercial representation. An established choreographer, Shankman helmed the upcoming The Wedding Planner, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. Shankman’s shortform directing credits include promos for Just Shoot Me, Veronica’s Closet, Frasier and the forthcoming Bette…. Director Pierre de Lespinois has signed with Los Angeles-based production house c.2K for exclusive spot representation….September Productions is relinquishing its 22-year-old Boston office, and consolidating all of the company’s operations at its New York site. Directors Elena Colombo, Neil Salley, Paul Henschel and Dan Driscoll, who is also September’s president/owner, will continue with the company. However, Bill Cuccinello , a 13-year September veteran, is departing to sign with Picture Park, which has offices in Boston and Santa Monica, for spot representation. At press time, Boston-based head of production Kim Daniels was deciding whether or not to relocate to New York. Executive producer Sonta Giamber, who is already New York based, will stay with the company. Additionally, September has also shuttered its corporate- and industrial-video division, September Films….Editor Mary Hackett, a staffer at the Chicago office of postproduction facility Avenue, is relocating to the West Coast, where she will work out of Avenue’s Santa Monica operation….Executive producer Eugenia Trujillo-Vieira has joined Miami-based production house Peliculas Ponder. She returns to the commercial world after taking a 10-month hiatus in Europe. Prior to her sojourn, Trujillo-Vieira had a six-year stint at ilumina films, Miami, serving the last two years as an executive producer….After wrapping a feature commitment, director Todd Phillips is again available for spots via bicoastal Moxie Pictures….
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