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 ...

ZIG/CHICAGO MAY ZAG with the loss of creative director Kevin Lynch come early February, when he leaves the Chicago branch of Toronto-based Zig. Two years ago Zig acquired h...

Wisconsin's burgeoning film industry will get a giant boost when the state's first and only independent stage rental complex, located in Milwaukee, opens with a gala party Jan. ...

What Dave Auerbach has stacked in his Chicago warehouse is stuff you can't put a price on. "I probably have more television equipment than anyone else in Chicago. I don't ev...

Without the usual fanfare of movie stars and photo flashes, Gov. Rod Blagojevich quietly made his first order of business Monday morning the signing of the Illinois Tax Credit ...

THE SALE OF EQUIPMENT AND FIXTURES at the Avenue Edit auction earlier month "did very well," although auctioneer Paul Finn of the Boston-based auction house could not reveal...

For the past 15 years, NBC/Warner Bros.' Chicago-set "ER" crews came to Chicago three or four times a year to shoot exteriors with stars of the show. Now "ER" will film here ...

More than 130 stars -- including George Clooney, Matt Damon and Tom Hanks -- strongly urged SAG members to vote down the guild's strike authorization. In a letter sent Monday...