With bases of operation in Berlin and Hamburg, international design and film production company Sehsucht (which translates into English as “visual addiction”) is expanding its range of services beyond animation, VR and digital to the realm of live action. With the introduction of Jenny Nesselhauf as sales and directors rep, and Ruth Jansen as sr. creative producer, Sehsucht is building out a full production services arm. Both hires come from strong production backgrounds, having initially worked together for many years at Markenfilm.  Jansen went on to become head of TV for Kempertrautmann/Bullet, and later re-teamed with her former colleague at Plexus Productions, where Nesselhauf was managing director. Their fruitful collaboration has created many successful project over the years, including the Review campaigns with director Kay Kienzler and Wolfberg. As co-founders of the production department, Nesselhauf and Jansen will lead the expansion of Sehsucht’s portfolio, both domestically and internationally. They bring with them to their new roost the directing duo Wolfberg, repped exclusively by Sehsucht for the German market….

Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola announced the re-launch of The Family Coppola’s Zoetrope.com website, the home and virtual studio for the writing community. The redesign showcases many enhanced options, one of the most notable additions being a section for short films. Zoetrope.com, an interactive crowd-sourcing, online writing workshop platform, was originally launched nearly two decades ago, with the intention that it would be a network for artists while primarily serving as a great source of content and story ideas for Coppola’s acclaimed literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story.  However, the platform quickly gained traction among writers as a vibrant online community.  A revolutionary use of the internet at the time, Zoetrope.com established itself as an early pioneer in social media. Writers that had been working in isolation now had an engaging community where they could share their stories, make contacts, and learn from one another. Directors, producers and other artists soon joined and the site transformed into a virtual studio. The website set the precedent for a new era of crowd-sourcing and writing workshops. Coppola has always envisioned the site as a means to benefit the creative community.  Zoetrope.com is free to join, and always has been.  The newly revitalized Zoetrope.com is not only comprehensive, modernized, more efficient and faster, but has also added a short films section in which screenwriters, directors and producers can receive peer feedback.  The site encompasses acting resumes, photography, song writing, short films, stories, novels, scripts, short flash fiction, poetry, music, and photos. For every story a member submits, they are required to review five other works, so each person gets exposed to other writing which provides growing opportunities in addition to receiving feedback. Members can also create groups based on specific interests and areas of creativity, as well as invite friends and other members to join. In addition to these benefits, work submitted may also be considered for inclusion in Zoetrope: All-Story, as well as the very first short story vending machine in the United States, designed by Short Edition and housed in Coppola’s San Francisco restaurant, Cafe Zoetrope. Recently launched alongside the revised Zoetrope.com are two writing contests, the twentieth annual Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest and the fourteenth annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, both of which are running on Zoetrope.com where anyone can submit entries. The grand prize for the fiction contest is $1,000 and $5,000 for the screenplay contest. Both contest winners will also receive consideration from top literary and talent agencies….

MySHOOT Profiles