Global content studio Pulse Films and transatlantic comedy production outfit Merman have launched Merman X Pulse. Headquartered in L.A. and London with Pulse’s Kira Carstensen and Merman’s Jeremy Rainbird at the helm as EPs, the new shop will produce branded content, utilizing its roster of comedy filmmakers. Merman X Pulse has access to a roster of leading comedy creators, writers, directors and performers, including David Cross (Arrested Development for Fox, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret for IFC); Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe for Amazon, Divorce starring Sarah Jessica Parker for HBO); Chris O’Dowd (Moone Boy for BBC, Bridesmaids); comedy creators Upright Citizens Brigade; New Zealand collective The Downlow Concept; and a collection of commercial directors from around the world. Merman X Pulse will work directly with brands and agencies creating branded content and commercials. In addition the company will also offer access to its talent and creative teams through script-development, workshops, brainstorms, appearances and promotion…..Live action production company Traction Ave. Films has launched in the heart of L.A.’s downtown arts district. The new venture opens with a roster of eight directors: Shane Drake, Christopher Leone, Nick Losq, Michael Norman, Jerry O’Flaherty, Toben Seymour, Ben Tedesco, and design collective StarBeast. Their slate of work includes broadcast spots for Toyota, Disney, Nike, Lenovo, and Chevrolet; videogame content for EA, 2K Games, and Facebook Games; music videos for Taylor Swift, Timbaland, and Moby; sci-fi and comedy pilots on Netflix and SyFy; and branded content for Kia Motors and Southern Comfort. Heading up Traction Ave. Films are creative director/director Losq, EPs Scott Gemmell and Lloyd D’Souza, and VFX supervisor Chris Clyne. The partners are launching Traction out of StarBeast, their digital design and production company….
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