ACTRESS HELEN HUNT was in Chicago last weekend with Chelsea Pictures/L.A. to direct a 60-second spot for Frito-Lay's new TrueNorth healthy snack brand that will air on the Osc...

While it might appear that Hollywood films are a relatively recent part of my 30 years of Chicago coverage, features actually have been thriving for decades ? and without the ne...

IFP HAS NAMED RYAN JEWELL, fresh from two years as Cinema/Chicago's managing director, as its new executive director, a position that's been vacant for four months. At C...

Fears of an impending SAG strike was the big reasons why the number of Hollywood studio features that shot in Chicago in 2008 dropped precipitously from the strong year before. ...

One of the five highest-grossing foreign films of 2008 - French import "Tell No One," grossing more than $6.1 million ? was released nationally by local specialty film distribut...

The 2008 winners of IFP/Chicago's Production Fund, writer/director Miguel Silveira and producer Andrew Eick of Pangea Media Productions, are in preproduction on their short film...

While mindful of an uncertain economy but deeming it "a necessity" to open a new market, Comma music partners Bryan Rheude and Larry Pecorella officially opened Comma L.A. Jan. ...

Zacuto USA founder Steve Weiss is happy to find himself back in the director's chair after a seven-year hiatus as co-producer/director on a series of up-close-and personal discu...

NATHYN MASTERS is in pre-production on his apocalyptic martial arts feature Divinity: Mark of the Antichrist," a follow-up to his "4th Beast: Mask of the Antichrist," released b...

VETERAN ACTOR TONY SHALHOUB, best known as the title character in the popular "Monk" detective series on TNT, was part of the ribbon-cutting ceremonies that officially opened ...

With his acceptance into the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), Tom Fletcher has become ASC's only Midwest-based associate member. Fletcher, the owner/VP...

The 6th annual Motion Graphics Festival, now through Jan. 25, expects to host 900-1,200 attendees from throughout the region, who will hear some 40 leading graphics artists and ...

Just like big post companies that have added production services to their menus, Chicago's Goliath TV show producer, Towers Productions with more than 100 staffers, has gone int...

This month marks my 30th year as chronicler of Chicago's visual media industry. I'm told that I'm the longest-running film trade writer in the business. It isn't what I planne...

Color correction guru Bob Sliga was the only man in Chicago had a big smile on his face as he shoveled snow from the sidewalks of his Frankfort home a few weeks ago. After tw...

FILIP JAN RYMSZA is in preproduction on his third feature, the L.A.-set neo-noir "A Girl and a Gun" with producer Liz Federowicz of Kiss Kiss Productions. Named for Jean Luc...

After 10 years as a commercial and videogame music house, GameBeat Studios landed its first car commercial, an animated spot for Toyota Yaris and agency Burrell Communications. ...

Casting director David O'Connor has begun one of the most challenging and unique searches of his 20-year career. His challenge is to find 10 fun, outgoing Americans with N...

The first campaign from new spot house Company C employed hidden cameras, candid interactions and a timely gimmick to illustrate client Western Union's tagline, "There's a bett...

"After MUCH soul searching," local SAG president Todd Hissong has joined the growing number of actors across the country who are calling for a No Strike authorization. In ...