“CHICAGO FIRE” EXECS – show co-creator/EP Michael Brandt and EP/director Joe Chappelle – will present the top awards to the winners of the Best of Midwest Awards Tuesday, Dec. 4 – an event that is totally sold out! Two other special guests are “Chicago Fire” star Lauren German and “Liberal Arts” producer Claude Dal Farra.
Sidebar: When Brandt and collaborator Derek Haas (“Wanted,” “3:10 to Yuma”) got the call from Dick Wolf to come in and talk about writing a show about firemen, they said, “We don’t know anything about firemen, but we like doing a show set in Chicago because the city was born out of fire.”
Chapelle, who worked as an agency producer here after he graduated Northwestern, is a big name in hit TV series, as an
BTW, “Chicago Fire” is Chappelle’s first Chicago shoot since he left the city for L.A. back in 1994. He is a big name in hit TV series: EP/director on “The Wire,” “The Fringe” and “CSI: Miami,” among others.
FORMER AGENCY COPYWRITER Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s, appearance Thursday, Dec. 6 at Energy BBDO’s Creative Salon will be the last held at the agency’s 80-year old home in the Wrigley Building. Come Jan. 2, Energy BBDO will have new digs at 225 N. Michigan Ave.
Rosenthal has written acclaimed adult and best-selling children’s books have. Her years-long project The Beckoning of Lovely, for which hundreds gathered at Chicago’s Bean for an annual happening, was last year turned into a feature film. And until recently, Rosenthal hosted “Mission Amy KR,” a community blog hosted by WBEZ. All are welcome, starting at 4 p.m
“MOB DOCTOR’S” CANCELLATION” comes as no surprise as it was predicted after the first couple of shows that the low-rated drama wouldn’t last past one season. The 13 week Monday night series will end after airing Dec. 3, Dec. 19, Jan. 5 and Jan. 7.
With 4.6 million average viewers and a paltry 1.3 rating, it’s the least watched drama of on network TV this fall. It had been shooting at Chicago Studio City.
“Mob Doctor’s” demise leaves Chicago with two network shows: NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” which just got a boost with a full 22 episode season order, and MTV Chicago-set “Underemployed,” which hasn’t made much of a critical or audience impact but nonetheless will continue production here.
FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA selected experiential and marketing Agency EA to create the White House’s holiday display – “Joy to All” is the theme — for the third consecutive year. Gabrielle Martinez, Agency EA managing partner and lead designer, brought together local artists who began work in April.
Chicago artists who had distinctive roles in the holiday display were David Lee Csicso, whose projects include the mosaic in the CTA Belmont station; glassmaker David Condon; paper artist Jami Darwin Chiang and terrarium designer Heidi Feinerman.
OVER $20,000 IN RAFFLE PRIZES will be won by luck ticket holders at the Chicago Creative Pro Users Group (former name — Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group) at its Dec. 5 annual wrap party at Goose Island Brewery. Thos prizes include an All Access Passt to the Editors Retreat (a $2,995 value); an Avid Medica Composer (another $2,995 value, courtesy of Avid), a KiPro Mini ($1,995 value, courtesy of AJA), an Atomos Samura ($1,595 value, courtesy ouf Atomos), and many more great values.
“AIR CONDITIONS,” a 34-minute first complete narrative film by Ryan Oliver, a dedicated horror film writer/producer by night who calls horror “my forte, my genre,” and Fletcher camera prep tech by day, premiered Friday at the “Terror in the Aisles 13” night at the Portage Theatre.
Oliver spent four years in L.A. “in various experiences on sets,” he says, that included acting, effects artist on horror films, Technicolor projectionist, before joining Fletcher back in 2007.
“Air Conditions,” about a trapped air-conditioning repairman watching his captor’s grizzly plans unfold before his eyes, stars John Fenner Mays and Leo Resudek Jr.; was shot by Alejandro Garcia, edited by freelancer Daniel Cervantes and sound/music by Gregor Mortin, sound designer at Steppenwolf.
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