WHAT A WEEK this is turning out to be ? crammed with activities, information, good food, fun ? a fitting climax to what’s turned out to be a very good business year. So here’s what’s going on.
On Wednesday, there’s a 6 p.m. AIC Midwest general membership meeting at Fletcher camera, with key speakers New York-based AICP president Matt Miller and AICP VP/labor relations Jane Nunez discussing the how the new IATSE national agreement affects commercial production. The meeting is open to all interested persons.
At the Chicago Filmmakers Meetup also Wednesday night, special guest is Julian Grant, producer/director of some 22 films in as many years, including his latest, “The Defiled.”
Then on Thursday, big, national Media Services and Showbiz Software hosts a 1-3 p.m. seminar on how the Illinois tax incentives work, discussed by a 5-personal panel of experts, also at Fletcher Camera. The second part of the workshop, 3:30-5 p.m. covers interactive participation with Showbiz budgeting and scheduling software.
That night, from 6-9 p.m., Avid holds a demonstration of its new family of ProTools family at Prairie Productions, which still allows attendees time to enjoy the rest of the evening at the big AICP Show and party.
At 5:30 p.m., doors at the Chicago Cultural Center where 1,000 guests are expected, “about the same as last year,” says show producer Chris Hill of Digital Kitchen.
One at Optimus produced the sponsors’ reel, which Hill calls “really great. It’s a narrative and different approach from years past and it’ll go over real well with the audience.”
A TOP AWARD in the Clio Healthcare Awards held in New York last week went to director/editor Adam Sobocienski of new full-service production company Fiber Films.
His winning spot, “Origami,” for Rockford health Systems via Pittsburgh-based Brunner Advertising, won the top honor in the TV/Cinema/Digital category for direct-to-consumer advertising for a health provider. Winners were chosen from more than 1,000 entries from 235 agencies in 27 countries.
This was Sobocienski’s second big win for Rockford Health Systems, having picked up two Best of Show ADDY Awards earlier this year. His latest commercials include Zippo Outdoor Lighters, recently featured as Adweek’s “Ad of the Day,” and a Cub Cadet lawn tractor integrated campaign of national spot, web and interactive in-store videos.
TRIPPIN’ Fletcher Camera’s general manager Zoe Borys makes her third visit to Plus Camerimage in Bydgoszcz, Poland Nov. 30, where she’ll spend a week at the international film festival celebrating the art of cinematography.
Nov. 30 is also the date when Local 476’s Mark Hogan leads a sales call on Hollywood studios with the aim of putting Chicago on their location list for pilot production during the first quarter of 2011.
APPARENTLY ENERGY BBDO EMPLOYEES like their workplace, a lot, as the agency was ranked #43 in its category as one of Chicago’s Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune in a special magazine supplement. The ranking was based on employee survey responses to a set of statements about their feelings towards their workplace and focused on issues such as the direction of the company, execution and conditions.
