The industry is mourning the loss of Chuck Sloan, a respected production house executive who teamed with director/cameraman Eric Saarinen to launch Plum Productions, a shop which had a successful 26-year run. Sloan, 71, died of an apparent heart attack suffered while he was vacationing in Virgin Gorda. He was a mentor to many in the commercialmaking community. In next week's issue, SHOOT will cover his career and share reflections from his colleagues and friends…..PromaxBDA, a global association for marketing, promotion and design professionals working in the entertainment industry, has named writer, producer, actor and author Spike Lee the recipient of the PromaxBDA Lifetime Achievement Award for creativity. He will be presented the award at the 2011 annual conference taking place June 28-30 in New York City. Los Angeles production company Pony Show Entertainment, through which Lee directed recent MSNBC branding campaigns and other commercial work, began their association with the director in 2007, featuring a rebranding Gatorade campaign starring 35 of the world's foremost athletes. Lee's recent spots produced by Pony Show for T-Mobile star Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade….Minneapolis-based Splice Here® has added editor Matt Silver and producer Steve Fait. Silver's career includes tenures at bicoastal Bug Edit and New York-based Go Robot! He has cut national campaigns for such clients as Dunkin' Donuts, Snickers, Carl's Jr., IBM, American Express, Chevy and Fidelity. Fait joins Splice from visual effects studio ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic)…..
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More