Lincoln Mercury has decided to stop filming commercials for its 2001 line of automobiles until the actors’ strike is resolved. The move came the day after SAG and AFTRA claimed that a recent Lincoln Mercury spot smacked of racism in that it entailed use of makeup to darken the face of a white stunt driver. Lincoln Mercury and agency Young & Rubicam denied the unions’ allegation, saying that it’s common practice to silhouette stunt drivers by dressing them in dark clothes and darkening their features so that the car-not the driver-stands out in a commercialA.Publicly traded, New York-headquartered Paradise Music & Entertainment has acquired bicoastal commercial production house Shelter Films, which remains under the day-to-day aegis of president/founder Steve ShoreA.Stavros Merjos, president/owner of bicoastal HSI Productions, is entering the Internet content arena with the formation of Kayoss. Merjos is partnered in the new bicoastal venture with key executives at HSI and sister bicoastal shop Mars Media. George Linardos, head of new media at HSI, has been named lead exec at Kayoss, which will be home to top short form directors as they create original streaming video and animation for the WebA.HSI Productions has also signed director/cameraman Warren Kushner….Meanwhile, director Hype Williams, formerly of HSI, has launched his own New York-based production house, Instinct…..The Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) is in the final stages of launching two additional local chapters, one in Minneapolis, the other in Atlanta. Tony Fischer, president of Fischer Edit, Minneapolis, has been spearheading the organization of that market’s chapter, while the formation of AICE/Atlanta is being headed by Michael Matassa, CEO, Matassa Editorial, AtlantaA.Ben Davis has come on board as a producer for tomandandy, New York. He was formerly a music producer at Saatchi & Saatchi, New YorkA.New York-headquartered music and sound design house JSM plans to open satellite offices in Southern California, London, Paris, and Auckland (New Zealand) before year’s end. According to the company’s timetable, the first launch will be either in the Los Angeles area or LondonA.Ad veteran Michael Niles has been named executive producer of Hollywood-based World Wide Wadio; he joins as the shop plans a New York expansion and a diversification into new media….
