Commercial production house Picrow (Pictures in a Row) has signed independent rep Dawn Ratcliffe to handle marketing and sales in the Midwest. The Chicago-based Ratcliffe will be repping Picrow's directorial roster which includes company founder Peter Lang, Marc & Ish, Bryan Barber, Marc Silver, Margaret Malandruccolo, Florian Hoffmeister and the shop's latest signing, Australian director Husein Alicajic….Hollywood-based music house DeepMix has secured indie reps Val Gobos of Gobos Entertainment to cover the Midwest and Lisa Gimenez of Lisa G Reps to handle the West Coast….BE the Creative Source, a recently formed advertising, promotion, design and interactive representation agency founded by Jeff Boortz, has brought Ann Epstein aboard as West Coast partner/executive producer. Epstein's background includes posts at E! Networks, Pittard Sullivan and Nickelodeon, spanning 20-plus years of professional experience in network identity, brand strategy, marketing and promotion. BE's roster includes Denver-based creative production company Impossible TV, international creative network United Senses and digital creative boutique Neo-Pangea. As sr. VP, creative director, for E! Networks between 2001 and 2009, Epstein was charged with the on-air branding and identity for both E! and the Style Network brands across platforms, both domestically and internationally. Epstein led an in-house creative team of 21 art directors, designer and producers, managed outside creative agencies and oversaw seven network redesigns, four of which were completed entirely in house….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More