Jamie Babbit has signed on to direct an upcoming episode of Lena Dunham’s hit HBO series Girls. Babbit is repped for commercials by MRB Productions, Hollywood. Her episodic TV credits span such shows as Pretty Little Liars, Drop Dead Diva, Smash, Revenge, Rizzoli & Isles, The Middle, Cougar Town, Castle, Bunheads, and Go On. Feature credits include Sundance darling, But I’m a Cheerleader, starring Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall; the Edie Falco and Elisha Cuthbert thriller, The Quiet; and a Jury Prize winner at SXSW, The Itty Bitty Titty Committee. Babbit is on a directorial roster at MRB that includes Stephen Gyllenhaal, Jody Dwyer, Mark Teitelman, Branson Veal, Chuchie Hill and Jeremy Haft….The directing team crush+lab–consisting of director David Solomini, producer Alexander Kafi and creative director/stylist Paula Tabalipa–has come aboard the roster of East Pleasant, a production company founded in 2004. The studio is active in commercials, films, web projects, episodic TV, music videos and documentaries. Company principals include exec producer Michelle Cuccuini Hicks and directors/founders Damien Drake, Stash Slionski, Xander Strohm and David Weinstein….
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