NY and Brooklyn-based production company Hornet has opened a shop in London. Hornet’s partnerships and long running history in the U.K. made London a fitting choice, as the studio has produced numerous award-winning campaigns and noteworthy adverts there over the past 10 years. Hornet’s new venture will lend greater support to its international roster while also laying the foundation to seek out and develop new talent in the U.K. Veteran producer Lisa Hill (most recently of Passion Pictures) will take the reins of Hornet London as EP. Hornet London will represent directors Yves Geleyn, Dan & Jason, Peter Sluszka, Julia Pott, Gabe Askew, Eran Hilleli and Parallel. London-based director David Luepschen will join the roster in February….L.A. production company DUCK Studios has signed Milan-based creative studio Dadomani for representation. Dadomani’s team consists of four members whose talents combine into one singular creative vision: Donato Di Carlo (postproduction), Leonardo Ponzano (set design), Francesco De Meo (set design) and Faio Cirilli (animation). They develop and manage projects from the initial idea up to the delivery of the finished product. For stop motion, Dadomani animates a range of mediums including paper cut-outs, clay, and found objects. They enjoy the juxtaposition of colored sets with minimalist characters. Dadomani has completed work for clients including Coach, Lavazza, McDonald’s, Barilla and Vodaphone….Rob Meltzer, director of Dove Men+Care’s 2015 Super Bowl spot “Calls for Dad” (a version repurposed from his original Father’s Day ad), has launched L.A.-based production company RINGER along with EP Sven Shelgren. Already under the RINGER banner, Meltzer has directed projects for Coca-Cola, AT&T, the NBA, Bravo and Nickelodeon. In addition to his spot work, Meltzer is a prolific director of TV promos, turning out campaigns for NBC, ABC, CBS, TBS, Discovery, Food Network and Bravo….
Writers of “Conclave,” “Say Nothing” Win Scripter Awards
The authors and screenwriters behind the film “Conclave” and the series “Say Nothing” won the 37th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards during a black-tie ceremony at USC’s Town and Gown ballroom on Saturday evening (2/22).
The Scripter Awards recognize the year’s most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen, including both feature-length films and episodic series.
Novelist Robert Harris and screenwriter Peter Straughan took home the award for “Conclave.”
In accepting the award, Straughan said, “Adaptation is a really strange process, you’re very much the servant of two masters. In a way it’s an act of betrayal of one master for the other.” He joked that “You start off with a book that you love, you read it again and again, and then you end up throwing it over your shoulder,” crediting author Robert Harris for being “so kind, so generous, so open throughout.”
In the episodic series category, Joshua Zetumer and Patrick Radden Keefe won for the episode “The People in the Dirt” from the limited series “Say Nothing,” which Zetumer adapted from Keefe’s nonfiction book about the Troubles in Ireland.
Zetumer referenced this year’s extraordinary group of Scripter finalists, saying “projects like these reminded me of why I wanted to become a writer when I was sitting in USC’s Leavey Library dreaming of becoming a screenwriter. If you fell in love with movies, or fell in love with TV, chances are you fell in love with something dangerous.”
Special guest for the evening, actress and producer Jennifer Beals, shared her thoughts on the impact of libraries. “If ever you are at a loss wondering if there is good in the world,” she said, “you have only to go to a... Read More