MEC Wavemaker, the content division of MEC, has boosted its U.K. management lineup with the appointment of Danny Weitzkorn to the new role of content partnerships director. Weitzkorn joins Wavemaker from Ball Street, the U.K. multi-platform football network, where he was client services and marketing director. Weitzkorn will now lead integrated content partnerships for clients including Compare The Market, Danone and Visa Europe. He will focus on delivering insight driven content solutions at the points on the purchase journey where they can most effectively impact a brand’s performance. Weitzkorn will report to Damien Gillman, MEC Wavemaker’s head of content partnerships….
NYC-based creative production collective Sibling Rivalry has added Shelby Ross as exec producer. Ross brings more than 20 years of commercial and film production experience to Sibling Rivalry after honing his skills at shops including Epoch Films and Smuggler. He then went on to create and executive produce global campaigns for clients such as Gatorade, HP, Northrop Grumman, Google, Samsung, Verizon, and Save the Children….
Toronto-based music and sound design company BoomBox has signed music director, producer and composer mr/tommy zee to its roster for Canadian representation. Based in Amsterdam, but now available to the Canadian market through BoomBox, mr/tommy zee is the founder of music collective HLGRM and previously worked as a creative director for MassiveMusic. His credits include work for global brands such as Nike, Audi, Google, BMW, Heineken, as well as the recent national Team Canada spot, “Ice In Our Veins.” The deal gives BoomBox’s clients exclusive access to mr/tommy zee’s roster of world class singers, songwriters and composers that he has built up over a decade. This marks the first time the former Torontonian is available for commercial work on his home turf in six years….
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More