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.
Roscor veterans, check them out! Or if you know a former Roscorite, be sure to bring his attention to the job postings.
You know that old saying: “When one door closes another one opens.” And the new door could open on an even better opportunity than the one that existed before.
OPTIMUS UPPED MIKE BERG to editor after four years as assistant to editor/partner Randy Palmer and three national campaigns for American Family Insurance, CDW and UPS on the air. A University of Wisconsin/Madison grad, Berg joined Optimus from now-defunct JWT where he was an in-house editor. On the side, he performs improv comedy for the iO.
CHICAGO SCENES for the second season of “Shameless,” the Showtime series about a dysfunctional Chicago family, will shoot here for five days starting Nov. 7, with a crew of 50 … L.A.’s Hungry Man is back in Chicago for another round of commercials for Walmart, whose enlightened executives discovered the benefits of Illinois’ 30% tax incentives for commercials.
DON’T MISS “THE LAST RITES OF JOE MAY,” the Chicago-made feature starring Dennis Farina, screening tonight, Nov. 1 at the Midwest Independent Film Festival at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, starting at 6 p.m. Steppenwolf Films’ Tim Evans and co-EP Russell Scalise will be there for post-screening Q&A.
FOR THE FIRST TIME in its 30 year history, Reeling: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival opens with a feature by a Chicago filmmaker – Stephen Cone’s “The Wise Kids.” The coming-of-age drama has won several major awards, including Outfest’s Grand Jury Awards for dramatic feature and screenwriting.
Reeling is the world’s second oldest festival of its hand and its 65 programs will screen through Nov. 12 at six area theatres.
CAMP KULESHOV JUDGES will review 36 imaginative entries demonstrating the facile and imaginative talents of future editorial stars — assistant editors who work for AICE member companies – to determine the winners of the annual event. Always a rockin’ good time, the Camp convenes Nov. 7 at the Volcano Room upstairs at the Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, starting at 6:30 p.m.
DIVERSITY AND ENTERTAINENT is the title of AFTRA/SAG’S Conservatory Nov. 7 at the Kaufherr Center. Todd Hissong moderates the panel of actors Michael Patrick Thornton, Cheryl Hamada, John Lawson and casting director/producer Sharon King, who is the community acknowledged leader in diversity issues and chairs the IPA’s diversity committee.
A GREATER NUMBER of out-of-town AICP members have already Rasp’s to the annual AICP Show, indicating “We’re ahead of last year in terms of guests and sponsorships,” says AICP/Midwest Chapter president Mark Androw.
Androw expects guests at the upcoming Nov. 17 show will top last year’s 1,200 attendance record.
The Midwest chapter welcomes members who live and work in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana and, of course, Illinois.
FAMOUS FACES. International star Gary Oldman will be in Chicago Nov. 17 to attend a special screening of the British thriller “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” for Cinema Chicago members at AMC River East. Director Tomas Alfredson is also scheduled to attend. Goldman plays the iconic spy George Smiley in this adaptation of author John LeCarre’s novel.
Actor/director Forest Whittaker comes to Chicago Dec. 3 to host the GEANCO Foundation’s Health and Hope for Africa Concert Gala at the Museum of Science and Industry.
NEW FACE (OR PHASE?) AT DDB. The agency’s new chief strategy officer, John Kottmann, joins from Ogilvy/New York after a bare three-and-a-half month stint as a senior partner in its planning department, and also new business planning. Previously, most of his career had been spent at McCann/New York in high level positions.
Read Lewis Lazare’s exclusive interview with DDB leaders Peter McGuinness and Ewan Paterson and you’ll see how Kottmann (keep new business in mind) fits into their client-building strategy.
NEW TO THE REEL IS JULIAN GRANT, the professional moviemaker for 20 years before being lured to Columbia College as a tenured professor in what he calls “my third career.”
“I know a thing or two about independent cinema and getting films made with no money and a lot of heart,” Grant says. “Chicago’s indie cinema scene is thriving. I see it every day on the streets, on Facebook, on the web and (occasionally) at the cinema.” All good reasons for Grant to speak out and report on indie cinema for the Reel.
Grant’s addition is part of the Reel’s expanding coverage of Chicago’s bigger-than-you’d-suspect visual media industry.
Email me – Ruth@reelchicago.com – and let us know what other areas you’d like the Reel to cover.
