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Reel Chicago is a daily digital magazine that covers the news in Chicago on all aspects of advertising, film, TV, media and production. The content is original, written by industry experts and contributing Op Eds
Local 727 members joined in the fight against COVID-19 at the United Center, working to convert space in Parking Lot E outside of the arena into a mass COVID vaccination center. Members assisted in the installation of a remote clinic set to serve the people of Chicago by distributing vaccinations beginning on March 9. Run … Continue reading “Local 727 Members join in the Fight Against COVID-19”
When employers wouldn’t step up, Teamsters Local 727 stepped in—recently purchasing thousands of masks for distribution. On March 21, Governor Pritzker mandated a “shelter in place” order that outlined the specific employees who were deemed “essential” and could leave their homes to go to work. Many Local 727 members are considered essential, frontline workers under … Continue reading “Local 727 purchases thousands of masks for members”
Over the weekend, the House passed legislation (Families First Coronavirus Response Act, H.R. 6201) in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the key provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act impacting workers includes: 1) requiring employers to give paid sick leave in addition to what employers currently provide for those directly affected by … Continue reading “New legislation & Local 727’s fight for its members”
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Teamster 727 member Anne Stuart, a commercial driver, charging the union with sex discrimination, is back in the game after a judge tossed her lawsuit out of court last March.
Writer/producer/director Jack C. Newell’s romantic comedy, “Open Tables,” is one of 15 films showcasing in the 51st Chicago International Film Festival’s “City & State” section — the largest number of local participating filmmakers yet.
While it was believed the owner of three Toronto movie studios was also the owner of an $80 million movie studio for Chicago, it turns out that a local group of investors are the real owners.
Nick Mirkopoulos, chairman of Cinespace Studios, who is brokering the deal for the purchase of the Ryerson Steel property, said his company will simply manage the studio.
In fact, Mirkopoulos said, the contract hasn’t been finalized for the Ryerson property, though he is confident that it will be.
The Illinois House’s last-minute amendment to Senate Bill 4 (SB4) to add a sunset clause in five years to the state’s hard-earned tax incentives has riled up film workers who are eager to do something about it.
“By all means contact your state senator and tell him how you feel about the importance of retaining our incentives,” urges John Coli, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 727, with 6,000 members.
The Film Unit of Teamsters Local 727 hit a momentous historical milestone March 10 when it admitted — are you ready for this? — its very first female member in its 70 year history.
She is Ann Stuart, Chicago manager Props on Wheels, which rents whatever kind of vehicle model, year or make a producer could ever want or need in the line of film production.
“I was stunned,” says POW owner, Minneapolis based Brian Denny, a 17-year member of Teamsters Local 638.
Power Book IV: Force paid tribute at the season finale to beloved crew member Mike Zobel who passed away suddenly during the filming of the show. For those fans of Power Book IV: Force who noticed a tribute card dedicated to Mike Zobel at the end of the season finale and were wondering, “who’s Mike … Continue reading “Power Book IV: Force pays tribute to beloved crew member Mike Zobel”
Teamsters Local 727 asks for your support for the family of Tamiko Talbert-Fleming, wife of Local 727 Pepsi member Alfonzo Fleming, who lost her life on Friday, January 16, 2022, due to a senseless act of gun violence. Tamiko served the community as a beautician for over 30 years. She was a known counselor and entrepreneur, … Continue reading “Go Fund Me created to support the family of Tamiko Talbert-Fleming”
In an 11-page indictment returned Wednesday, the US District Court of Illinois charged high-ranking Teamster official John T. Coli Sr. with extorting “quarterly cash payments” from a business identified as “Company 1.”
Although the indictment does not identify the business by name, the Sun Times on Wednesday quoted an anonymous source who claims that it is Cinespace Chicago Studios.
According to the indictment, Coli demanded that “Company 1” deliver $25,000 cash payments from “around October 2016” until “about April 4, 2017.”
WHAT AN UNEXPECTEDLY NICE GESTURE. In surely what’s got to be a first in the 35-year annals of Hollywood-in-Chicago entertainment production, departing director Ron Howard, stars Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, and the cast and crew of “The Dilemma,” placed a full page ad in the Sun-Times Friday.
The ad thanked Chicago “for a great shoot and a great time in your town!”
The ad offered “Our special thanks to ?
Construction is underway to convert a 330,000-sq. ft warehouse into the first of what could be seven to soundstages for Chicago Film Studios, on the 50 acre Ryerson Steel campus on the Southwest Side.
When completed, it will be the biggest state-of-the-art film studio outside and is propected to employ 6,000 over a five-year period.
ACCORDING TO RELIABLE SOURCES, one of the A-List L.A. directors, who came here for the Leo Burnett/Olympic Committee shoot last week, got into a bit of trouble at the wrap party at a local club and ended up in the ER.
It seems the director got into an altercation with the club management over the tab. Things got heated and an altercation with the bouncer ensued.
The bouncer removed the director from the premises. Because of a neck injury that the dust-up might’ve caused, the director was rushed to Northwestern Hospital.
The Donut Boyz, originally a hip-hop group, have been fusing comedy, rap, and snack foods into their musical stylings since 2006. Now Erica Duffy, Julio Desir, and Adam Rudder are aiming to bring that energy to your TV screens in the form of a half-hour scripted comedy series centering on the joy of Black male … Continue reading “Erica Duffy, Julio Desir, Adam Rudder team up on TV Pilot “The Donut Boyz””
May sweeps are here and that is good news for One Chicago fans. Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and Chicago Fire will run new episodes every Wednesday in May until the finale on May 26. The Reel Chicago staff has been planning a One Chicago finale party. If you’re planning to do the same, here’s a … Continue reading “‘One Chicago’ fans, get ready for May Sweeps”
ACTRESS JULIANNA MARGULIES IS ILL – she has chicken pox – and her scheduled appearance Sunday, May 15 at Anderson’s Bookstore in Naperville has been canceled. “The Good Wife” star has been on tour promoting her children’s book, “Three Magic Balloons,” and her visit here will be rescheduled for another time.
THE WEEKEND WILL BE PACKED with city-sponsored Lake FX Summit events, with media and entertainment-related panels taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center and the Cultural Center, free and open to all. Here are some of Friday’s panels:
Chicago Deputy Mayor Steve Koch was among the speakers Thursday at a street-naming ceremony that honored the late Nikolaos “Nick” Mirkopoulos, the visionary owner of Cinespace Studios that transformed Chicago’s film industry and the studios’ North Lawndale neighborhood.
Fortunately, Cinespace is a monster-sized film studio so it can easily accommodate the hundreds of guests expected to attend GalaWeen, a bewitching costume party Halloween night, Oct. 31, 7 p.m. until midnight, to support CineCares Foundation.
George Kohut, considered one of the best camera operators in the country, a favorite of feature directors John Hughes and Andrew Davis, and a tireless advocate for workers’ rights, died May 8 from complications of a stroke. He was 70 and had spent 44 years in the Chicago film industry.
Phone calls and Emails of sympathy, gratitude and shock been pouring into studio executive Alex Pissios’ office at Cinespace since the news of the death of Cinespace owner Nick Mirkopoulos on Saturday swept film industries from Toronto to LA.
AFTER THREE YEARS with Shirley Hamilton Talent as a TV and film agent, Sanaa Sayyed joined Claire Simon Casting as a casting assistant – where she first worked as an intern practically off the plane from Houston.
Casting was always her first love, she says, and right now there’s no place busier than Simon, which is casting for TV series “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD,” “Betrayal,” “Crisis” and sci-fi feature “Jupiter Ascending.”
THE RECENT NATO SUMMIT in Chicago is the setting for filmmaker award-winning filmmaker Ben Kolak’s indie feature MAYDAYS that he says is in the political tradition of filmmaker Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool.
Chicago’s ranking as a film city is a sometimes thing. There have been times when Moviemaker Magazine, for example, has put Chicago on top of a list of the 25 best cities to live and work in one year, and then ignores it the next year in a similar compilation.
To compensate for past sins of omission, the current issue of the International Cinematographers Guild ICG Magazine cites Chicago as one of its five “Great [Union] Locations, where film commissions, vendors and residents love union crews.”
