Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco, has brought on board associate creative director Eric Boyd and a pair of creative teams–copywriter Cam Miller and art director Ryan McLaughlin, and copywriter Liz Cartwright and art director Steven Lum. They will all report to executive creative directors Paul Venables and Will McGinness and will work across VB&P’s client roster that includes Audi of America, Intel, Google, Slim Jim, Orville Redenbacher’s, and The Phillips 66 Company. Boyd joins VB&P after stints at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Cutwater, and WORK Labs. His work for such clients as the NBA, NVIDIA, Charles Luck, and AIDES have earned him recognition in the One Show, D&AD, Art Directors Club, London International Awards, and others. Miller and Mclaughlin come over from Deutsch LA where they worked on VW. They most recently won a Cannes Lion for the VW TV spot “Baby.” Also recently at Deutsch LA, where they worked on PlayStation, was the married creative team of Cartwright and Lum. Prior to that, they spent time at TBWAChiatDay LA working on Pacific Standard Time, which earned a One Show Gold for Best Online Web series (“Ice Cube Celebrates The Eames,” “Schwartzman Celebrates Baldesarri” and “Kiedis Celebrates Ruscha”)….
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