NY-based First Wave TV has signed London-based director Kit Lynch-Robinson for U.S. representation. His work spans such brands as Google, Samsung, Ikea, McDonald’s and Peugeot. An early adapter of digital content, Lynch-Robinson’s work has earned notable viral reach for content encompassing documentary, scripted comedy and action genres. Additionally, Lynch-Robinson regularly lends his directorial talents to segments for the BBC series Top Gear. Lynch-Robinson made a name for himself as a director in 2005 by helming one of the films of the visionary interactive Hewlett Packard “Hype” campaign that won 34 industry awards including two Gold Cannes Lions. Embracing the digital space early on, the director has continued to craft inventive approaches to adapting campaigns to the online landscape as seen in his recent work for UK meat snack brand Fridge Raiders via Saatchi & Saatchi London. Lynch-Robinson leveraged user-submitted prototypes of a hands-free snacking device to create quirky test videos that were released through the brand’s social media channels. The “MMM3000” campaign garnered over 110 million impressions and won numerous awards including a Bronze Cannes Lion. Prior to joining First Wave TV, Kit was represented in the U.S. by Saville….Andrea Ball has joined BLVD’s commercial directorial roster. After selling her thesis film, Beats Per Minute, to iTunes for distribution, Ball launched her career assisting award-winning commercial and music video icon Samuel Bayer. Ball was selected for SHOOT’s 2012 New Directors Showcase for her Chevy “Imagination” commercial. In this heartwarming spot, Ball bases a father and son’s nighttime excursion to convey the smooth, otherworldly nature of the Chevy SUV ride. As the spot starts, an iconic recording of a rocket launch propels the story, and the fluid, gravity-free ride begins. A football, a toy plane, and a coffee cup begin to float up as the Chevy reaches zero gravity. The details, VFX and casting help create the perfect picture of the child’s imaginary journey in his father’s Chevy. A recipient of a Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, Ball is a member of the Women in Film, and a Hollywood Foreign Press Fellow….The Cavalry Productions has signed director Ben DeJesus for commercials and digital work. DeJesus has a track record of spots and web work for the Latino market….Production company B-Reel has brought Andy Williams aboard as a managing director and executive producer in New York. Williams has over 10 years of digital marketing experience, including his most recent gigs at Barton F. Graf 9000, LLC and 72andSunny, where he focused on agency digital capabilities, digital thought leadership and on managing the User Experience department….
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More