The Directors Network (TDN), the talent agency for commercial freelance directors, directors of photography, and director/DPs, has signed two new California-based directors, Austin Smithard and Peter Sorcher. Since being discovered by Steven Spielberg, Smithard has helmed campaigns for brands like McDonald’s, Chevy, Bank of America, Verizon, and Adidas, among many more national and international clients. Smithard is currently in post on a feature film and recently wrapped a sci-fi short starring Blake Lively and Oscar winner Adrien Brody. Smithard is based in L.A. Sorcher, profiled in a past SHOOT Directors Issue, has directed award-winning commercials for Starbucks, Nike, Coca-Cola, Intel, and many more national and international brands. Recent projects include directing spots for the Sheraton Hotel’s “Go Beyond” campaign and a multi-narrative campaign for the app Speaking Photo….
DP John Schmidt and production designer Andrew Baird have joined Innovative Artists for representation in commercials. Schmidt has lensed for brands such as Subaru, Geico, Adidas and Bayer. Baird has worked with brands including Verizon, the U.S. Navy, Samsung and TNT….DP Frank Perl has returned to Dattner Dispoto and Associates for representation…
Venice, Calif.-based digital agency Left Field Labs has added Ken Rivera as executive VP of business development. Rivera will oversee strategic partnerships and business development initiatives. Most recently, he was EVP of media & client partnerships at HYFN, where he was instrumental in its evolution from a development shop into a full-service digital agency and multi-platform ad-tech company. Prior to joining HYFN in 2013, he was VP of partnerships & digital media at Machinima, one of the early digital media pioneers to build an ad network around the growing community of YouTube creators….
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More