Sam Swisher and Trevor Shepard have secured space in Culver City, Calif., to house their recently launched Woodshop, a production company focused on design and animation. As creative director, Shepard leads WoodShop’s design, animation and live-action projects. He previously served as creative director at Elastic, a sister company to Rock Paper Scissors. Prior to that he had been an art director with Stardust, and animator/designer at Blind and Motion Theory. Woodshop exec producer Swisher was former EP/head of sales for Public VFX….Director/writer Kevin Samuels has joined the roster of MAKE + MODEL, the studio headed by exec producers George Cawood and Mark Hyatt. Samuels’ directorial credits span such clients as AT&T, Home Depot, Hyundai, Budweiser and Skechers. For the latter, Samuels recently wrapped a spot starring hockey great Wayne Gretzky….
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More