Director Rob Lieberman–who won the inaugural Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for commercials based on his work in 1979, and then went on to take the top DGA honor again as Best Commercial Director of 1995–has come aboard the roster of DNA, Hollywood, for spots. The move reunites Lieberman, a four-time DGA Award nominee, with DNA executive producer Patricia Judice. The two first collaborated years ago at the venerable Harmony Pictures where Lieberman was a founding partner.
Lieberman was formerly repped for commercials by production house Form, which closed when partners Jesse Dylan and Craig Rodgers went their separate ways. (Director Dylan has since launched Wondros while exec producer Rodgers joined GARTNER, SHOOTonline, 7/28). Among Lieberman’s latest ad endeavors is a Form-produced Oreo spot shot in Shanghai and featuring recently retired NBA star Yao Ming.
With a filmography spanning ads, TV and features, Lieberman has to his credit more than 1,000 commercials for clients such as AT&T, Budweiser, Burger King, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Merrill Lynch, Hallmark and Sprint. Over the years, Lieberman’s spots have garnered assorted kudos, including Gold and Silver Lions at Cannes, multiple ANDYs and Addys, and 29 Clio Awards. He also helmed Hallmark’s “Working Mom” for Leo Burnett, Chicago, which earned a primetime commercial Emmy nomination.
On the feature film front, Lieberman has directed D3: The Mighty Ducks, Fire in the Sky, All I Want For Christmas, The Tortured, and The Stranger. He made his feature directorial debut with Table For Five starring Jon Voight who at the time was fresh off of winning the Best Actor Oscar for Coming Home. Lieberman’s newest feature, Breakaway, will be a Special Presentation at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. A cross-cultural story marked by humor, Breakaway centers on a young Sikh-Canadian man who aspires to hockey stardom but first has to overcome several daunting challenges to realize his dream.
Lieberman began directing TV in the early 1980s and has to his credit work for such series as Dexter, Brothers & Sisters, Eureka, Shark, Haven, Lost Girl, The X-files, thirtysomething, Gabriel’s Fire (which he guided as exec producer to garnering three Emmys), Harts of the West, The Young Riders, and Strong Medicine. Lieberman’s longer form TV endeavors include the telefilm Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy, the CBS miniseries Titanic, the TNT movie Second String and a pair of SyFy miniseries–Earthsea and The Final Days of Planet Earth. He directed the pilot and served as exec producer of USA Network’s The Dead Zone, helming many of its episodes during that series’ seven-year run. Of the 19 pilots Lieberman has directed, 16 have sold through to series, an atypically high success rate.
Here’s the trailer for his feature film Breakaway:
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More