Chris Cantwell has joined Pictures In A Row's roster of commercial directors. Cantwell most recently served as creative director at The Walt Disney Company's social media group DigiSynd, where he created popular viral videos for box office hits including Toy Story 3 and Cars 2. His projects and directorial credits at DigiSynd included the “Lots-o' Huggin' Bear” YouTube commercials with a vintage 1980s look that appealed to Gen X-ers. The campaign earned a 2009 Webby Award and helped reach a larger, older audience for Pixar's Toy Story 3, contributing to the box office success of the final film in the franchise. Cantwell also created and helmed “Cars N' Deals of Emeryville,” a faux car commercial that increased buzz for Pixar's Cars 2…. Lori Huck, a former VP of New Line Television, has joined Hollywood, Calif.-based MRB Productions as its director of development. Founded by two-time Emmy Award-winning producer Matthew Brady, MRB specializes in television, features, new media and commercials. With an eye towards all facets of TV development, Huck has developed and helped launch various network series, such as Spike TV's Blade: The Series, MTV's Friday: The Animated Series, and Lifetime's television movie, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society. Huck has also acted as the studio executive for FOX's Kitchen Confidential and UPN's The Twilight Zone, as well as for FOX, in the network's Movies and Miniseries Department, and at ABC in Daytime Programming….Tom Moudry, CEO and chief creative officer at agency Martin Williams, Minneapolis, now regains the title and responsibilities of president, while Laura Terry, formerly VP and account director has been appointed chief marketing officer. Moudry reclaims the president role from Mike Gray who has been working to transition out of agency life for several months….Chicago-based production house Radar has added to its directorial ranks, bringing on AK the Director who comes over from South Africa with some 200 commercials and assorted international awards to his credit. Also new to the Radar roster is the directing/visual effects duo known as COPA, consisting of Alex Frisch and Vico Sharabani. A co-founder of Method Studios, Frisch is known for his effects work in David Fincher's The Game, Gore Verbinski's The Ring and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and commercials for Pepsi, Adidas, and Bridgestone. Sharabani, formerly of New York's rhinofx, is an award-winning VFX artist and creative director who has made commercials for Mercedes, Nike, and AT&T in addition to television and music video work for Sex and the City and Kanye West, respectively. As a team, Vico and Alex have directed commercials for Chrysler, Levi's, Sony PlayStation, Michelob, and Exxon…. Ben Eagleton has joined Fuel VFX, Sydney, as head of color. The move marks his return to Australia after a two-year tenure as the group head of color for Tag Worldwide while based at Smoke & Mirrors New York. Originally from London, Eagleton spent his early years working at Rushes before emigrating to Australia where he took a senior colorist position with The Lab. He then opened BEAN in Sydney, which two years later was acquired by Tag Worldwide, parent of Smoke & Mirrors. Appointed Tag's head of color, Eagleton moved to New York and was responsible for establishing new grading suites and workflows for Smoke & Mirrors' New York, London, Shanghai and Sao Paulo facilities. In recent years, Ben has worked on commercial campaigns and music videos for directors Spike Lee, Gerard de Thame, Jake Scott, Chris Cunningham, Jonathan Glazer, Paul Hunter and Joachim Back….
FireAid Concert Features Major Music Stars, Shares Stories Of Loss To Raise Money For L.A. Wildfire Relief
Pop stars, first responders, rock stars and those who've lost everything in the devastating LA-area wildfires came together for FireAid, a massive benefit concert Thursday that combined spectacular performances with moving storytelling from survivors and reminders of the destruction.
In a night full of surprises, a reunion of Nirvana — fronted by St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett in the place of the late Kurt Cobain — tops the list. They launched into "Breed," "School" and "Territorial Pissings" respectively, inspired and unexpected choices.
Drummer Dave Grohl's daughter, Violet, then emerged on stage for "All Apologies."
Closer Lady Gaga, after powering through the Oscar-award winning "Shallow" and "Always Remember Us This Way" from "A Star Is Born," played a new song on the piano. "It's just for tonight, it's just for you," she said of the song she wrote with fiancé businessman Michael Polansky. "Time is a healer."
"All I need is time," she sang in the folk-y pop chorus. "To heal my broken wings and then I'll soar."
Green Day kicked off the massive show by launching into "Last Night on Earth" at the Kia Forum and were soon joined by Billie Eilish for the first surprise of the night. The lyrics are surprisingly astute: "If I lose everything in the fire / I'm sending all my love to you."
After their set, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong hugged actor Billy Crystal, who was there to welcome to the crowd at the Kia Forum.
"Our goal is simple tonight, to spend more money than the Dodgers spent on free agents," he joked. He told the audience U2 offered the first big donation of the night: $1 million dollars.
Crystal said he was wearing the clothes he had on when he evacuated. He lost his home in... Read More