Industry vet Dennis Loonan has joined bicoastal Giraldi Media as head of sales for the East and West Coast….Bicoastal visual effects house MassMarket has reached deals with independent firms Miss Smith, New York, and Novick & Associates, San Francisco, for representation on the East and West Coasts, respectively. Novick will additionally handle the Texas market….Bicoastal production company Stardust Studios, headed by founder/creative director Jake Banks, has entered into a representation agreement with London-based production house Rokkit, extending Stardust’s marketing presence for commercial and music video production across the U.K, Europe and Asia (excluding Japan)….Culver City, Calif.-based production hybrid The Famous Group has secured independent rep firm Reber Covington–headed by Rebecca Reber and Brooke Covington–to handle the West Coast….Chuck Silverman of Chuck Silverman Represents has taken on West Coast and Texas representation for a pair of shops: Portland, Ore.-based production house @Large Films, and hybrid production/editorial house Foundation Content, which maintains operations in Chicago and Santa Monica….
David Attenborough, The Enthused But Hushed Voice Of Nature Programs, Turns 100
The BBC is hosting a party for David Attenborough at the Royal Albert Hall. Cinemas are playing his nature films. Friends have spent weeks lavishing praise on the man and his work. But the world's most famous wildlife presenter is likely to be uncomfortable with all the attention as he celebrates his 100th birthday on Friday, said Alastair Fothergill, the producer of some of Attenborough's most well-known documentaries and the director of Silverback Films. "He's always been very clear to all of us that work with him: 'Remember, the animals are the stars, I'm not,''' Fothergill told The Associated Press. "So, yes, surprisingly for one of the most famous men on the planet, he doesn't like being famous at all." Glorious gorillas But Attenborough has had to accept the accolades this week as scientists, politicians and conservationists celebrated the man who has brought frolicking gorillas, breaching whales and tiny poisonous frogs into living rooms around the world for more than 70 years. Through BBC programs such as "Life on Earth," "The Private Life of Plants" and "The Blue Planet," Attenborough has illuminated the beauty, ferocity and sometimes downright weirdness of nature in a hushed melodic voice that conveys his own awe at what he is witnessing. Viewers who might never leave their hometowns were transported to the Himalayas, the Amazon and th unexplored forests of Papua New Guinea. But behind the stunning images was an attention to scientific accuracy that helped teach people about complex subjects like evolution, animal behavior and biodiversity. And as the evidence mounted, he began to sound the alarm about climate change, ocean plastic and other human-caused threats to the planet. That helped people understand not only how... Read More