Moves this week at Uncle, BeachHouse, Hoben Film, Blink Pictures, Triangle, Final Cut and Stardust Studios
UNCLE has signed directors Christophe Navarre and Alain Gourrier. Navarre comes to UNCLE from RSA and will continue to be repped by Irene for the French market and RSA for the UK; Gourrier was previously repped by Tate USA. Navarre started out in commercials as assistant director under Jhoan Camitz, as well as assisting Stéphane Sednaoui, Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Martin Scorsese. He signed to Satellite Films in 2000 and earned a Young Director's Award at Cannes that year. Gourrier shot for among others PlayStation, Ericsson, and Range Rover while at Tate USA.
BeachHouse Films has signed director/DoP Gordon Willis, Jr. He recently completed a four spot campaign for Integris for Ackerman McQueen. Other recent signings include Jon Gwyther, Jeff Gordon and Brandon Kraines. Gwyther has just finished shooting a spot for Antz Pantz lingerie and another for Shell Oil for JWT London. Gordon's Trunk Monkey spot was a 2005 AICP Show Winner and he has just completed a hispanic Pizza Hut spot. Kraines is a Group101 Alumni, who since signing to BeachHouse has directed two campaigns for Time Warner Cable.
Hoben Film Directors Agency based in London has taken on Phil Traill for European representation. Traill has shot a variety of award-winning shorts including Hiccup and Flipped, and directed Channel 4 comedy series Spoons. He has just signed a three-picture directing deal with Warner Bros, and co-wrote the screenplay for Peter Cattaneo's latest film Opal Dreams, which is opening the Berlin Film Festival's Kinderfest this month. He is signed to Rogue Films in the UK.
Toronto-based Blink Pictures has signed director Christian Charles for Canadian representation. He started as a creative at Ogilvy London and then New York working on brands such as Pepsi, Lucas Films and American Express. Since moving into directing he has shot campaigns for the History, Discovery and WE channels, as well as Tilex, Sheetz and McDonald's. He is repped by Celsius in the US.
A wealth of new faces at London's Triangle. James Lamb has become head of production. Lamb spent eight years at Rushes, moving on to Red, Smoke & Mirrors and MPC before spending the last seven years as a VFX producer on features including the last three Bond films, Sahara and Harry Potter & the Philosophers Stone. Clare Howell has joined to head up the 3D department. She spent seven years at Framestore, then four years at Lambie Nairn producing for a team of directors on graphics jobs including idents for BBC2, 3 and 4, and title sequences for programmes such as Newsnight. Alex Ruggeri has also come to Triangle's CAR department from MPC and sound designer Sam Robson, a recent addition to the audio department, moves from The Bridge. The final addition is Jayne Wallace, who joins from Auckland, New Zealand where she worked for a number of agencies, video and audio post houses. As if that weren't enough, this month will also see the launch of the new Triangle Post Production logo and branding.
Editor Stephen Berger has joined the Los Angeles office of Final Cut. Berger moves from Spot Welders where he started as an assistant in 2000. Berger has cut spots for Volvo, Porsche Cayenne, eBay and Microsoft MSN as well as music videos for Ludacris and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the latter winning an MVPA Award for Best Alternative Video. He recently completed a Toyota spot and the Spike Jonze-directed Miller Lite campaign, and is currently editing a concert DVD for music artist Beck.
Bicoastal production company Stardust Studios has taken on Michael Neithardt as senior producer to run the company's New York studio. Formerly an assistant to Bob Weinstein at Miramax, Neithardt has credits spanning features, television and theatre, and has worked with Stardust on several recent high-profile projects on a freelance basis.
