Havas Media Group has made several key leadership appointments across North America. Greg Walsh, global chief commercial officer, has expanded his role to include oversight of operations, commercial, investment, data, technology, and talent. As a result, he adds chief operations officer, Havas Media NA, to his duties. Amy Ginsberg has been named chief investment officer, responsible for the overall media investment vision and strategy and will join the NA leadership team. Ginsberg comes over from Canvas Worldwide where she led investment efforts since 2016. Prior to joining Canvas Worldwide, Ginsberg built her expertise at agencies Initiative, Ogilvy & Mather, Mindshare, and Zenith Media. She has serviced brands such as Papa Johns, Hyundai and Kia, Burlington, Arby’s, Merck, Ameriprise, and Miller Coors. Jason Kanefesky will serve as managing partner, head of marketplace intelligence, at Havas. This newly created leadership practice will ensure clients receive actionable intelligence and insights on partners, platforms, audiences, and supply and demand dynamics…..
Company 3/Method Studios’ Atlanta location has merged its creative editorial team (formerly provided as Beast Editorial) under the Company 3 banner and is making significant investments in connectivity and remote workflow technology to incorporate the previously siloed editorial team into Company 3’s full suite of post offerings. With the editorial group, led by editors Eddie Kesler and Matt Barron, seamlessly integrated into the company pipeline, “we will be able to enhance collaboration among our visual effects, color and sound departments,” said Company 3 Atlanta’s managing director/colorist Billy Gabor. “We believe this development will be particularly compelling for clients seeking the convenience and quality assurance we provide as an end-to-end, offline-to-delivery post facility.” Recent campaigns produced from offline-to-delivery include: Adidas’ “One More,” Iris Worldwide; and Coca-Cola’s “Coke With Coffee,” KO:OP…..
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