FOCUS GROUP TURNS CHAOTIC IN BUNTIN’s TENNESSEE LOTTO SPOT
Nashville-based ad agency BUNTIN has turned out a commercial for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation in which Instant Game characters--from prospectors to pirates to metallic mimes--jockey for position in a focus group. Their lively discussion winds up devolving into chaos, sending even the moderator crying for help. 

The comedy ad spotlights the varied Instant Games available. Directed by Jon Nowak via 8th Street Productions, the commercial is part of the “What’s Your Instant Game? campaign conceived by a BUNTIN team which includes chief creative officer Dave Damman, EVP/executive creative director Ray Reed, sr. creative lead Will Cauthen, copywriter Mike Harrell and VP/executive producer Danielle Keenan. Spot was edited by Andy Peters of Open Water Post.

EMERGING FILMMAKER GRANT WINNERS TO BE FETED IN JANUARY
The winners of the 2024 Spirit Awards’ Emerging Filmmaker Grants--three filmmakers who will each receive a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant--will be announced at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch, taking place on Sunday, January 6, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Every year, exceptional emerging filmmakers are acknowledged by the Spirit Awards, with nominees and winners chosen by committee. The three awards are: The Someone to Watch Award, recognizing talented narrative filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition; The Producers Award honoring emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films; and the Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of nonfiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. Past winners include Mollye Asher, Jessica Beshir, Elegance Bratton, Mel Eslyn, Debra Granik, Nikyatu Jusu, Gerry Kim, Shaka King, Bing Liu, Kelly Reichardt, Lizzie Shapiro and Chloé Zhao. 

“The Emerging Filmmaker Awards are an essential part of the Spirit Awards, recognizing remarkable new talent in both directing and producing,” said Josh Welsh, Film Independent president.

The Spirit Awards and Emerging Filmmaker Awards nominees will be announced on December 5, on Film Independent’s YouTube, Facebook and X channels. Winners will be revealed at the ceremony taking place Sunday, February 25, 2024 in Santa Monica. 

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE...
Alissa Feldbau has been promoted to executive producer of production company Voyager in New York. From bidding and supervising commercials, branded content, short films, and music videos, to producing campaigns of all sizes, she has been an integral part of Voyager’s growth over the last four years. Feldbau began her career as an agency producer at Arnold in Boston, working on a variety of different campaigns from producing cutting edge social videos for Jack Daniel’s that tipped the scale to a new approach of reaching all kinds of audiences, to large scale television campaigns featuring celebrities and groundbreaking messaging for CenturyLink and Pfizer. After coming on board as head of production at Voyager in 2019, she quickly became engaged across all aspects of production and development, enabling the expansion of the company’s roster of directing talent and doubling of the internal production staff, alongside managing the shop’s ever-growing slate of films and commercial projects for clients such as Planned Parenthood, T-Mobile, Amazon and many more....

Editor Zoë Mountain has joined creative editorial/VFX company Nomad. Mountain is well-known for such music videos as Gryffin and Tinashe’s “Scandalous” and The Kid Laroi’s “Love Again.” Mountain has also worked on notable commercial and editorial projects, ranging from Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year shoot featuring poet Amanda Gorman, to campaigns for the likes of Calirosa Tequila. Mountain has received recognition for her work on Demi Lovato’s “Swine” music video which was nominated for an MTV VMA. Garnering 1 million YouTube views thus far and counting, the song is centered around abortion rights and the music video features queer and trans people. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Mountain found it gratifying to share her talents on a project with such an important message....