The Chicago-headquartered AICP / Midwest has elected new officers and board beginning Oct 1 for a two-year term, with Mark Androw of STORY reelected for a third term as president.

AICP / Midwest is one of seven regional chapters. Its membership consists of 22 General Member and 24 Associate Member companies.

The newly elected officers, in addition to Androw, are freelance producer Marsie Wallach as vice president, who is new to the board, and Essanay Studios’ Wayne Kubacki, returning for his second term as treasurer.

Negotiations between the AICP/Midwest and IATSE Local 476 went smoothly and quickly, to deliver a new four-year contract that continues to demonstrate their mutual goal of delivering the best, most professional work in commercial production.

The AICP Next Awards, an extension of the AICP Show that traditionally climaxes a year of special events in Chicago, screens Nov. 3 at the AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave. theatre.

Optimus executive producer and freelance spot producer Marsie Wallach are producing the Chicago Next Awards that honor winners of “the most innovative work in alternative media projects,” says AICP/Midwest president Mark Androw of STORY.

After four months of concern over how future film business would be affected by the suspension of the Illinois Filmmakers Tax Credits — a consequence of the state’s on-going budget impasse  — the Governor’s Office last night officially announced that film tax incentives remain viable and applications are welcome.  

It looks like Chicago/Illinois’ spot production market is vastly bigger than has been officially reported in the past, according to AICP’s just-released 13^th annual Survey of the Commercial Production Industry activity in 2014.

If Chicago’s visual media industry is ending 2014 with a big smile of satisfaction from a profitable outpouring of work, then 2015 will have everyone positively beaming like the sun.

Seven more organizations are starting the New Year with new looks, staff and ideas.

For the first time, STORY production/post will have an in-house sales director, working in its new offices when commercial pro, Melissa Thornley, starts Nov. 1 as Midwest head of new business development.

ONE AT OPTIMUS has boosted its directors’ roster to 11 with the addition of a trio of award-winning directors. They are LA-based Danny J. Boyle and Ben Chappell, both known to Chicago clients through past associations, and director/photographer Ben Fink of New York.

 

Tuesday night’s Annual Ad Community Shorts program of 14 films vividly displayed the high quality and imagination of filmmakers who work in various capacities in agencies and production houses. 

The 14 programmed films were so compelling, so good within their genres that the jury must’ve tossed coins to slot their final choices into traditional first-second-third places.

BREAKING THIS WEEK is a 60-second spot

MULTICULTURAL AGENCY COMMONGROUND, named Ad Agency’s Small Agency of the Year in 2012, has just become bigger and a more important player.  After a 3-month review, it won the African American work for Verizon Wireless, formerly with Global Hue. 

Fourteen commercials produced by Chicago agencies and one production company are on the AICP Shortlist of 230 spots that are competing for a final slot on the prestigious annual AICP Show Reel and NEXT Awards. 

When the curators meet to make their final decision, the number of spots will shrink from the Shortlist’s 10 entrants in each of 23 categories, to from one-to-three spots per category.

Events uptempo during the second half of April (accelerated no doubt by Mars and Mercury, planets of creativity and communications going direct) also gives us a choice of more than one or two places to go on the same night.

JOB OFFERS KEEP POURING IN for Roscor’s former skilled employees, 100 of whom were suddenly and sadly terminated from the 35-year old Mt. Prospect-based AV equipment company on Black Friday, Oct. 28.  Many had been with the company for 20 years, and some as long as 30 years. 

Companies from all over who learned about the mass layoffs have reached out to the former staffers with job openings! 

Invitations to send in letters, resumes and applications appear in the BackTalk, or comments section, following our recent Roscor stories.

EVERYONE HERE who worked on the Chicago-set, Chicago-filmed “Boss” – all the unions, the Cinespace owners, all of us who believe in our industry and want to see it thrive – will be ecstatic hearing the rave reviews the show is starting to garner.