Trevor Park heads Towers’ entry into the rentals business

Just like big post companies that have added production services to their menus, Chicago’s Goliath TV show producer, Towers Productions with more than 100 staffers, has gone into the post business – equipment rentals, too.

The 20-year old company has been restructured into three stand-alone subsidiaries that operate under the new umbrella of Towers Holdings, Inc. and draw from its abundant in-house resources.   More >

Local SAG president Todd Hissong

“After MUCH soul searching,” local SAG president Todd Hissong has joined the growing number of actors across the country who are calling for a No Strike authorization.

In a recent letter to his private mailing list that become widely circulated, Hissong stated he and other local SAG board members are exercising their constitutional rights as rank-and-file SAG members to independently express their views.   More >

GameBeat Studios owner Darryl Duncan

After 10 years as a commercial and videogame music house, GameBeat Studios landed its first car commercial, an animated spot for Toyota Yaris and agency Burrell Communications. It will air in mid-January.

“We went for something that was very youthful, a bit techno, a bit electronica, funk and even a little house music style,” said Darryl Duncan, GameBeat owner/composer.   More >

David O’Connor takes on overseas reality TV show

Casting director David O’Connor has begun one of the most challenging and unique searches of his 20-year career.

His challenge is to find 10 fun, outgoing Americans with Norwegian ancestry to participate in a new reality TV series, “The Great Norway Adventure,” that will be shot next April and May and aired in that far-off Scandinavian country   More >

Company C founder Patrick Donnelly

The first campaign from new spot house Company C employed hidden cameras, candid interactions and a timely gimmick to illustrate client Western Union’s tagline, “There’s a better way to give the gift of cash.”

In the viral campaign, Comedian Michael Govier tries in vain to hand out money to a series of surprisingly reluctant passersby on the streets of Chicago.   More >

Noah Wyle will star in “ER’s” finale

For the past 15 years, NBC/Warner Bros.’ Chicago-set “ER” crews came to Chicago three or four times a year to shoot exteriors with stars of the show.

Now “ER” will film here for the last time, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, according to Roger Anderson, who has been the Chicago producer/production manager on the top-rated series for all of its 15 years.   More >

Dave Auerbach in his surplus-full warehouse

What Dave Auerbach has stacked in his Chicago warehouse is stuff you can’t put a price on.

“I probably have more television equipment than anyone else in Chicago. I don’t even know all of what I have,” jokes Auerbach about the 5,000 pieces of broadcast and production equipment towered to the ceiling in his northwest side Chicago Surplus warehouse.   More >

Filip Jan Rymsza

FILIP JAN RYMSZA is in preproduction on his third feature, the L.A.-set neo-noir “A Girl and a Gun” with producer Liz Federowicz of Kiss Kiss Productions.

Named for Jean Luc Godard’s comment “All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun,” the film “centers on a down-on-his-luck runner who poses as a Hollywood producer when he meets an aspiring actress fresh off the bus from Kansas,” Rymsza says.   More >

This year has been filled with shock and awe, allright. We’ve know where we’ve been –- Michigan competition, Illinois’ six months of lost Hollywood production, the disappearance of a big house and the emergence of many boutiques, strife in academia, big agency account losses, etc.

Before you reach for a tissue to dry your tears, wait! Maybe the year ahead will be better, okay, certainly very different.   More >

January 9 - HOWARD ALK: A LIFE ON THE EDGE retrospective of six of the late director/editor/cinematographer films of the people and turbulence of the 1960s. A number of filmmakers will pay tribute to Alk and discuss his work. Until Feb. 1.

At the At the Gene Siskel Center, 164 N. State, 7 p.m., $9. Presented with the Chicago Film Archives and the Chicago Cultural Center.    More >