Creative editorial company Beast has secured Victoria Venantini as its East Coast sales rep. Based in New York, Venantini is an independent consultant with a proven track record in advertising and production sales, having worked with leading clients such as Moxie Pictures, Digital Domain and RSA Films. Venantini comes from a family of creatives and has a background in commercial production, cutting her teeth as an assistant to director Bob Giraldi before transitioning into sales for Coppos Films, RSA, and others. She has worked in various sales, management, and business development roles both in-house and independently with top talent in advertising creative services…The Directors Network (TDN) has signed L.A. comedy commercial director Jonathan David who recently completed another national campaign for Dunkin’ Donuts. His talent for directing performance-based comedy can be seen in hundreds of commercials for agencies both in North America and abroad. Another new director to TDN is David Jellison who is known for his ironic comedy dialogue work. He recently helmed a Florida Lottery ad; other clients include the NFL, General Mills, Honda and Target. Additionally, TDN has signed Barry Markowitz, ASC, for spot representation. Markowitz is known for such features as Crazy Heart and Sling Blade and spots for clients including the World Cup, Goodyear, Dodge and Adidas….The Skouras Agency is now representing cinematographer Nadim Carlsen for commercials and features exclusively in the U.S….Timecode Systems Ltd., which specializes in wireless technologies for sharing timecode and metadata, has appointed Grady Sellards as North American sales director. Sellards will work alongside Adam Parr, Timecode Systems’ global sales director, and the company’s U.S. master distributor, Denecke Inc., to establish Timecode Systems products in the U.S. market….
Review: Director Joe Carnahan’s “The Rip”
Lines between cop and criminal get murky in Joe Carnahan's "The Rip," a crime thriller set across one foggy Miami night, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Damon and Affleck, of course, are so closely associated with Boston — most recently they produced the 2024 heist movie "The Instigators" there — that a detour to South Florida puts them, a little awkwardly, in an entirely different movie landscape. This is "Miami Vice" territory or Elmore Leonard Land, not Southie or "The Town." In "The Rip," they play Miami narcotics officers who come upon a cartel stash house that Lt. Dane Dumars (Damon) says may have $150,000 hidden in the walls. It turns out to be more than $20 million, though, and their mission immediately turns from a Friday afternoon smash-and-grab into an imminent siege where no one can be trusted. "The Rip," which debuts Friday on Netflix, is a lean and potent-enough neo-noir where almost all the characters are police officers, yet it's a mystery as to who's a good guy and who's not. It's a nifty and timely premise, even if "The Rip" literally tattoos its message across itself. When Dane sits down with the young woman (Sasha Calle) at the stash house who seems plausibly innocent, she looks at tattoos on his hands and asks what they mean. On one: "AWTGG": "Are we the good guys?" As much as the answer might seem a foregone conclusion in a movie starring Damon and Affleck, who are also producers, "The Rip" plays with and against type in ways that can keep you engrossed. (The cast also includes Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun and Kyle Chandler.) However, the exposition is so light and hurried in "The Rip" that that's almost all it plays with. We know almost nothing about our characters outside of the action in the movie, making all the... Read More