Editorial house Spot Welders extends its postproduction reach with the launch of visual effects company Shipping + Handling. The new venture is located on the Spot Welders property in Venice, Calif. Helming Shipping + Handling are visual effects supervisor Casey Price and exec producer J. Patrick McElroy. Price’s body of work spans multiple disciplines. She served as VFX set supervisor on Spike Jonze’s latest film Her starring Joaquin Phoenix. Her spot exploits include Visa’s 2008 Olympics campaign back while she was working at D-Train. McElroy had served as a producer at Spot Welders prior to moving over to Shipping + Handling….Multi-disciplinary production studio BREED–launched a year ago in NY by exec producers Rich Rama and Zak Thornborough–has signed directors David Lodge, Simon Robson and Thomas Cobb and hired executive producer Peter Steinzeig to head up its Los Angeles office. Steinzeig is a former EP with Backyard and Pixomondo. Director Lodge has been repped for commercials in the UK by RSA London since 2007, and has shot spots for numerous brands over the past two decades, including McDonald’s, Vodafone, BT, Ikea and most recently, the cheeky “Aliens” for Kellogg’s. British helmer Robson joins BREED from Animal Logic and is known for hybrid animation/live action-style spots for such shops as Wieden+Kennedy London, 180 Amsterdam and DDB Sydney. And Cobb’s endeavors include title design with high profile credits, including the opening sequences for Homeland and Weeds….Design and animation studio Buster has named Joseph Kiely as executive creative director for motion graphics, and Neville Burtis as exec creative director of the agency’s print, outdoor and digital division, BusterINK. Both staffers report to Buster’s CCO/executive producer Jonas Morganstein. Buster’s parent company is Stun Creative, which is headed by principals Brad Roth and Mark Feldstein….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More