Jean Batthany has joined DDB Chicago as sr. VP/group creative director where she will lead all creative endeavors for Safeway. Batthany was most recently creative group head at Merkley + Partners where she managed Arby's, AXA Equitable, Dave & Busters and several projects for the Ad Council. Prior to Merkley + Partners, Jean worked at BBDO New York and Saatchi NY. She's also done award-winning work for Pepsi and British Airways….Creative director/art director/writer Todd Grant has joined Wexley School For Girls. During his career Grant has worked on such brands as Budweiser, Adidas, Porsche, Nike, GotMilk, Burger King, Microsoft and HP. While at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Grant co-created the iconic Budweiser Lizards, and launched the “invent” tagline for HP. At Wexley he will work with clients Wilson, Taco del Mar, Nike, Microsoft, Seattle Sounders and Seahawks, Ford Motors and the University of Washington, among others…..Following a year-long sabbatical, B-Reel creative director/partner Oscar Tillman is rejoining the digital production company's NY office. Furthermore, Patrick Ehrlund has been promoted from art director to creative director at B-Reel New York, where he's been for the past year after relocating from the Stockholm office. And Stockholm-based Petter Westlund, a founding partner at B-Reel, is now chief creative officer, a new title reflecting his ongoing creative and technical contributions to the company….Producer Lauren Shawe has joined the staff of design-focused production studio Leviathan. Most recently she was sr. VFX producer for Smoke & Mirrors, New York. Prior to her three-and-a-half years there, she spent four years as a freelance producer working with such shops as Final Cut NY, Cut+Run, Lost Planet and Transistor Studios. Among her credits over the years are the American Express commercials directed by Wes Anderson and M. Night Shyamalan, Amnesty International's “You Are Powerful” spotfrom Mother London, the 2010 iPad launch spot for Verizon out of mcgarrybowen, and last year's black-and-white Delta commercials from Wieden+Kennedy….Director Andreas Roth (a.k.a. Andy Red) of Recommended Media has been honored with a 2011 “Best in Show” Mobius Award in New Media for Dirt Devil's “The Exorcist,” a :90 student film project which has earned assorted accolades, including helping him gain inclusion into last year's Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase. The mock ad has generated nearly 30 million online hits….
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More