VICTORY GARDENS BUYS BIOGRAPH. Victory Gardens Theatre will buy the Biograph, at 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., for $2 million and spend $7-$8 million renovating it into a new 299-seat main
by Jonathan Abarbanel
JOE MANTEGNA made a surprise appearance at the Royal George Theatre last week, delighting the cast and audience of “Bleacher Bums,” the show about
What made waiting for the phone call from Project Greenlight so nerve wracking for director Scott Smith, who was waiting to hear whether he was still
by Ed M. Koziarski
This is the second of a two-part report.
The Community Film Workshop of Chicago hasn’t been around as long as, say, Columbia College, but it sure has done its share of video training since it opened back in
The Chicago animation scene is dominated by commercial broadcast, many top firms being divisions of larger post houses or production companies, like Superior Street’s
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR. Michigan Avenue gets a welcome dash of international glitz and know-how with the arrival of Graham Woodall, JWT’s new ECD, who heads creative and production. The native
Seattle corporate producer Martin Whitehead is set to direct his feature debut here this July, the digital supernatural thriller “The Promise Keeper.”
Whitehead and his New York-based
Not only have two Chicago filmmakers advanced to the Top Ten in the heated Project Greenlight competition, but a local screenwriting team has been named to the Top 100 round
“Dee Dee Rutherford,” the third film from Bob Brown and Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Films, shoots here in June. “Dee Dee” is a comedy about the black sheep of a
THE FOUNDATION OPENS. When his 10-year Red Car contract ended, editor James Lipinsky decided the time had come to go into business for
Changing spaces. Popular FCB/Chicago president/CEO Dana Anderson is DDB’s new CEO, reporting to chairman Bob Scarpelli. Former agency president Ray Gillette will head
TRADEMARK CONFLICT NOT FUNNY. Second City Television (SCTV) took umbrage over the SCTV acronym of the new Stand-Up Comedy Television cable channel and told the upstart channel to cease and
THE WAGE TAX CREDIT BILL (HB 5180) is en route to a five-year extension, having passed the Illinois house and is now under consideration by the
“Cup of My Blood” got an L.A. reception that was “universally enthusiastic” last week when filmmakers Lance Catania and co-producers Noel Olken and Kenny Nilsson shopped the feature to around
The Chicago Advertising Federation will bestow its prestigious Silver Medal Award upon Bob Scarpelli for his 27 years of dedication to the Chicago advertising community.
After searching for a new theatre for their improv shows and classrooms for almost four years, Annoyance Production founders Mick Napier and Jennifer Estlin leased “ideal theatre space” at 4840
Joe Pytka departed from his signature grunge look to deck himself out in a tux, his long blondish-gray flowing around his shoulders, to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the
EQUIPMENT EXPANSION. SMS Equipment Rentals acquired three Panasonic SDX900 camera packages “that are positioned under HD for people who can’t handle an HD budget,” says owner Man Sung Sun.
Executive director Rebekah Cowing will leave IFP/Chicago after four years, and the IFO’s Bob Hudgins now heads IFP’s new board of directors.
After nearly
