Director/writer Richard Yelland is joining Happy Ending, the New York-based production company founded by executive producer Steven Shore and director Jonathan David earlier this year. Yelland’s film Floating: the Nathan Gocke Story, produced by Oscar-nominee, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), won Best Documentary at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. Floating was also a Best Documentary winner at the 2010 New York City Short Film Festival and is currently airing nationally on FUEL TV. Yelland’s directorial credits also include projects for Fox Sports, Fuel TV and Ford….Beef Films, headed by partners/exec producers Ashley Adams and Stephen Hens, has signed writer/director Seth Townsend for exclusive U.S. spot representation. Townsend first became known in the commercialmaking arena as a producer, writer and director for the Traktor collective, working on spots, music videos and branded content. He later formed Seth & Bobby, a directing partnership with Bobby Lewis, and signed with Partizan. Townsend later went on to direct independently. He now joins a Beef directorial roster that consists of Danny Trachtenberg, Ian Schiller, Joe Schaak, Little Red Robot, Michael Pescasio, Nick Spooner, and Alex Anderson….George Meeker has joined bicoastal Interrogate as executive producer/partner. He had been exec producer at Furlined. Interrogate, which is headed by managing partner Jeff Miller, has a directorial roster in the U.S. that includes Jeff Labbe, the Snorri Bros., Henrik Hallgren, Amit Mehta, and Outsider helmers James Rouse, Scott Lyon, Bart Timmer, Henry Littlechild, Jorn Threlfall and Vesa Manninen….Asher Edwards, formerly a sr. producer at The Mill LA, has joined the MPC LA team as executive producer. He will be developing and sharing talent at his new roost while helping plan the facility’s expansion into the second floor of the Santa Monica building in which it’s housed. Edwards came to The Mill LA from The Mill NY where he was head of 3D production. Prior to his tenure at the Mill, Edwards worked at MPC London. His U.S. market credits include VFX for such notable spots as Coca-Cola’s “It’s Mine” and AMF’s “Caterpillar”….Tim Sepulveda has joined design-focused production studio Leviathan in the new role of design director. He had most recently been freelancing for several leading Chicago shops, including Leviathan, and prior that served in senior designer and associate creative director positions at Charlex, New York….Hook, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based interactive company that creates integrated content for agencies and their brands, has enlisted Dave Evans, formerly executive integrated producer at Saatchi & Saatchi LA, to lead company strategy and development. Earlier Evans served as senior integrated producer at Crispin Porter+Bogusky for Burger King, Coke Zero and Zune while co-leading Microsoft. His credit include Toyota’s “Swagger Wagon” at Saatchi and Coke Zero’s “Rooftop Racer” at Crispin….Global creative agency Attik in San Francisco has brought Paul Wang aboard as associate creative director, design. For the past two years, he has been Motorola’s director of global brand design….
HBO Inks Two-Year First-Look Deal With Sharon Horgan and Her Production Company Merman
HBO has signed a two-year first-look television deal with BAFTA-winning and Emmy®-nominated actor, writer, and producer Sharon Horgan (“Bad Sisters,” “Catastrophe”) and her multi award-winning production company Merman. HBO has also given a straight-to-series order for a new original comedy series, the first project under this deal, from Horgan and produced by Merman, with Horgan serving as writer, star, and executive producer.
This comedy series follows a 50-year-old divorcee’s search for sex and love while juggling caring for her ailing parents and parenting her should-be grown up son.
Amy Gravitt, executive VP, HBO & Max Comedy Programming, said, “We’re thrilled to be reunited with Sharon. Her willingness to offer up her own experiences through the characters she creates makes us all feel a little less lonely, that is what sets her comedy apart so brilliantly. She also has such a sharp eye for material and a strong desire to shepherd other people’s stories, we’re looking forward to the new talent she will bring into the fold.”
Horgan said, “I’m so happy to once again be working with Casey [Bloys], Amy, Francesca [Orsi] and the team at HBO, and really excited that Merman get to continue to tell stories for a company that’s been home to some of the most iconic television shows ever created.”
Horgan has created and starred in such series as “Pulling,” “Catastrophe,” “Motherland,” “Amandaland” and BAFTA and Peabody winning series “Bad Sisters,” which recently released its second season. She received Emmy® nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (“Catastrophe”), Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (“Bad... Read More