DRAFTFCB ADDED TWO TOP CREATIVES, industry veterans Doug Behm and Jon Flannery as SVP/CDs to work on the agency’s KFC account.
Since 2001, Behm was SVP/group creative director at Element79, on brands including Gatorade, Propel and Tropicana. Earlier he was a CD at FCB on Coors Light, Kraft BBQ sauce and Handi-Snacks, among others.
Flannery was most recently SVP/group CD at Leo Burnett and held the same position earlier at Element79, working on Gatorade, Propel Fitness Water, Quaker and others.
SAG AND THE MOVIE STUDIOS have delayed resuming their contract talks because SAG president Alan Rosenberg and SAG first VP Anne-Marie Johnson are going to court Tuesday to demand the reinstatement of national executive director Doug Allen, who was fired Jan. 26.
As a consequence of the court action, talks with the studios have been put on hold.
Ned Vaughn, alternate board member and spokesman of the moderate Unite for Strength faction, blasted the legal move by Rosenberg and Johnson as being out of step with the guild’s 120,000 members.
NEW EDITING BOUTIQUE, THE COLONIE will hold its Grand Opening Party Thursday, Feb. 5, now that staffing and facility are completed, at 610 N. Fairbanks, in what had been Outsider’s original and unique space.
Hosts are The Colonie partners, executive producer Mary Caddy and editors Brian Sepanik and Bob Ackerman. An Added attraction is a photography exhibit by Colonist Billy Sheahan.
CHICAGO CRAFT WORKERS rarely get their names in print, so veteran gaffer Andrew Cook was delighted to be mentioned in an article in the current issue of “American Cinematographer.”
The article, by Ian Stasukevich, was about a film being shown internationally about internationally famous performance artist, Catherine Sullivan, a prof at the U of C, who creates her own language with sound or movement.
The film, “Triangle of Need,” was shot by DP Roul Germain of New York, gaffed by Cook, in Chicago and Florida last year.
IFP’S SPIRIT AWARDS local viewing party Feb. 21 is also a chance to meet new IFP executive director Ryan Jewell, who’s been working on all kinds of new ideas to enlarge and enhance IFP’s endeavors on behalf of indie producers.
No venue set as yet for the party, but be assured there will be food and drinks and a change to celebrate independent film.
FILM MICHIGAN: TicTock Studios’ new courses of basic film set training will be taught by hit feature producer Jeffrey Stott, former EVP of Castle Rock Entertainment, at the Henry Food Community College in February.
Dates for classes are Feb. 6, basic film set training; Feb. 9-13, grip training and Feb. 23-27, 2009 electrical training.
The state-approved program works closely with Michigan Works! to help out-of-work or underemployed Michiganders learn how to take existing skill sets and move them laterally into the state’s growing film industry.
SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST RICHARD ROEPER’S Oscar night party at Hub 51 will benefit the Columbia College Film School Scholarship Fund. The host committee includes local luminaries Robin Robinson, Brenda Sexton, Linda Yu, Christie Hefner, Scott Turow, Alexi Giannoulias, Steve Lombardo, Larry Wert and many others, reports the Sun-Times’ Stella Foster, also a committee member.
VOICEOVER ACTOR AL MITCHELL heads to Clear Lake, Iowa for the “Winter Dance Party ? 50 Yeas Later” reunion at the Surf Ballroom, commemorating the last concert appearance of Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Richie Valens on Feb. 2, 1959. This was the night memorialized in Don MacLean’s song “American Pie” as “The Day the Music Died.”
Mitchell attended that concert when he was in high school. “Being a big Buddy Holly fan, it was wonderful to see this concert. Of course I had no way of knowing that I would be present at one of rock ‘n roll’s most storied moments,” he says.
