Seed Media Arts, the production house under the aegis of owner Roy Skillicorn, has brought director Tim Abshire aboard its roster. His work spans assorted blue-chip brands including Google, Jeep, ESPN, Walmart, PlayStation, Febreze, Volkswagen and Coca-Cola. The director has worked with such celebs as Drew Barrymore, Chris Rock, Derek Jeter, Ben Stiller, Jeff Goldblum, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Alice Cooper, Triple H and Sheryl Crow. Among the many awards won by Abshire’s work are three Cannes Gold Lions, an MTV Moonman Award, Gold Pencils, Clios and Gold fro Promax. Seed, which maintains offices in Chicago and Los Angeles, has a directorial lineup that includes David Rosen, Jason Lindsey, Anthony Garth, Rick Wayne, Reuben Wu, Scott Betty and Corey Rich….
The photography, directing and husband-and-wife duo of Peden + Munk (Taylor Peden and Jen Munkvold) has joined L.A.-based production studio Concrete + Clay. Their imagery has been central to rebranding major companies such as Tommy Bahama, Smirnoff, Jack Daniels, Williams Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, eBay, Gold Peak Tea, The Coca-Cola Company, Apple, Coors, Electrolux and Carrabba’s Restaurants. They also just completed the pilot for a new Netflix series about food….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More