The Association of National Advertisers’ and the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Joint Policy Committee on Talent Union Relations has reached an agreement on a new three-year collective bargaining contract with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) covering the production of music tracks in U.S. TV and radio commercials.The previous AFM labor contract expired on Oct. 16. The new agreement, which is subject to ratification by AFM membership, is retroactive to Oct. 17 and extends to Oct. 16, 2004….Directors Scott Burns and Peter Berg have signed with bicoastal HSI Productions. Burns was previously partnered in bicoastal Tool of North America, while actor/ writer Berg had most recently been repped as a spot director by now defunct Shooting Gallery Productions….From private to public and back to private again. That’s the journey of Steve Shore, the long-time president/executive producer of Shelter Films. First a privately held company, Shelter was bought last year by the publicly traded, New York-headquartered Paradise Music & Entertainment (SHOOT, 7/7/00, p. 7). About a month ago, Paradise announced that Shelter had ceased all operations. However, Shore kept many of his Shelter colleagues together and has now resurfaced with them in the just launched bicoastal, privately held production house Public Domain. Among the former Shelter folk at Public Domain are directors Tim Abshire, Rent Sidon, Melissa Bolton and Ned Ambler….Director Richard Sears has joined bicoastal Coppos Films. He had been at bicoastal HKM Productions…..Biscuit Filmworks, Hollywood, has signed director Brian Baderman, who comes over from bicoastal/international Believe Media……Park Pictures, New York, has signed director Ramaa Mosley….New York-based Curious Pictures has added Australian director Nick Donkin for U.S. representation….Comtrack will relaunch on Nov. 1 under the new leadership of equal partners and composers Larry Pecorella and Bryan Rheude. The Chicago-headquartered music house will also be changing its name to Comma….Charlex, New York, has added designer/director Jeet Tailor….The industry is mourning Don S. Maurer, president/CEO of McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C., who was killed in a car accident on Oct. 20….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More