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 Ma...
Handheld Films is breaking from principal photography on its $500,000 sci-fi thriller "Lost Girls" to shop the work in progress at the American Film Market held in L.A. this m...
New Theater Collective's expansion into film is in full swing, with two projects in production.Natalie Berning's DV feature "Equinox" shoots weekends in Wisconsin from now thro...
With his first horror movie "Short Cut Road" in stores, Marc Selz is in the final weeks of post on his follow-up, "Unaware." The HD "Unaware" is a step up from the no-budget ...
Famous regional stars of regional animated films and commercials will highlight the 2004 Midwest Animators Conference April 23-24 at the Double Trees Guest Suites in Downers Gro...
The highly touted Task Force for the film industry that DCEO director Jack Lavin assured would help lead filmmaking to new heights has been named. As a matter of fact, two week...
Everyone knows the commercial production industry is big, but how big didn't hit home until the new AICP survey spotlighted its immense size. According to the survey, di...
Veteran L.A. producer-director William Grefe' will show clips demonstrating how he created scenes for his low-budget films, vs. how much money Hollywood would have spent for the...
"BARBER SHOP 2" BENEFIT MAKES THE CUT. Columbia College alums and "Barber Shop 2" producers George Tillman (left) and Bob Teitel (third from left) join college president Dr. War...
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 four years at IFP...
Radio Ridge Productions is gearing up for a year of growth to follow up several major expansions in the past year."We're in the midst of a major drive toward new business develo...
Freelance editor Ryan Koscielniak has a plan to turn his passion for travel into a concept he can sell to television. Through his RyBred Films, he is producing the TV pilot "24...
Visions of Light's Joe Farris took a major risk last summer when he decided to buy how own camera package. He got a $150,000 loan with the Small Business Administration just b...
Seven women have set out to accomplish what it took 14 men to do before.The Women's Cliffhanger Project is a more streamlined, structured version of the improvisational filmmaki...
Joe Pytka needs no introduction. The King of Commercials ? the director who's made billions of dollars for the biggest advertisers in the world, the winner of every conceivable...
Good news for the film industry, baaad news for smokers. The good news: The Cook County Board of Commissioners Feb. 3 voted not to enact any type of lease tax, or to incre...
JWT wins the $12 million Illinois Tourism account, resigned last year by BBDO. Tom Bernadin is Leo Burnett's new president, from Interpublic's Lowe's/New York -- the first n...
Feature business last year in Illinois was not only a heckuva lot better than it first appeared ? and it also looks like it's going to significantly improve in 2004. Clockin...
At a time lately when "pulling back" is more often heard than "capital expansion," Film & Tape Works' announcement of a major equipment investment and a general growth was both ...
These are busy days for Chicago's resident audio guru Hank Neuberger. Make that Super busy. He and Terry Fryer, his partner in recently formed Third Wave Productions, had an i...
