Los York–the independent multidisciplinary creative studio behind the 2024 Clio-winning “Flip the Script” campaign for longtime client Motorola–is expanding its roster of commercial directors, which until now has been sitting under the umbrella of Los York Films, the studio’s commercial division. Now that division has just been renamed Los Films. This follows the arrival of Chris Abitbol, a London-based expat production executive who was hired in March to manage and build the shop’s film discipline as head of films.
“With the hiring of Chris Abitbol we made a conscious choice to aggressively grow our live action capabilities, put some fuel on the fire,” said Los York founder and chief catalyst Seth Epstein. “Chris is bringing energy along with creating a home for some exceptional new directors.”
“Los York has a stellar reputation in the industry for design and mixed media centric work” said Abitbol, who works closely with the newly named division’s executive producer Leticia Gurjao. “That’s what we’re founded on, creating insane artistry in advertising. With Los Films, we’re sharpening our live action storytelling chops. We’ve already got a top roster of storytellers in our quiver and we’re about to add another bunch of very cutting-edge talents. But more of that later.”
The name shift to Los Films is an intentional move coinciding with the launch of a new website which captures the division’s new positioning and new attitude, tapping into Los York’s roots of being resourceful, rebellious and passionate.
“And now with the signing of some incredible up-and-coming as well as world-class directors, we wanted to signal that there’s a new era, a reinvigoration,” said Epstein. “Los York has always been multidisciplinary and Los Films will continue the brother-sister dynamic with Los York, leveraging our creative, design and postproduction infrastructure. In a sense, while this is definitely a big thing for us, it’s also not a big thing because we’ll be doing what we’ve always done best–create the best work for our clients every which way we can, with an incredibly versatile crew of ‘Global Nomads of the Arts.’”
Los Films’ roster of directors is represented on the East and West Coasts by Simpatico, in the Midwest by SG+P Reps, and for multicultural work by Momentum.
Top Olympic sponsor Panasonic is ending its contract with the IOC
TOKYO (AP)--Olympic sponsor Panasonic is terminating its contract with the IOC at the end of the year, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Panasonic is one of 15 companies that are so-called TOP sponsors for the International Olympic Committee. It's not known the value of the Panasonic sponsorship, but sponsors contribute more than $2 billion in a four-year cycle to the IOC. In a statement, Panasonic said it became an IOC sponsor in 1987 and expanded to the Paralympics in 2014. It did not make clear why it was changing course and said only that is was related to continual "reviews how sponsorship should evolve." Two other Japanese companies are also among the IOC's 15 leading sponsors. Toyota, which for several months has been reportedly ready to end its contract, was contacted Tuesday by The Associated Press but offered no new information. "Toyota has been supporting the Olympic and Paralympic movements since 2015 and continues to do so," Toyota said in a statement. "No announcement to suggest otherwise has been made by Toyota." Japanese sponsors seem to have turned away from the Olympics, likely related to the one-year delay in holding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The COVID-19 delay reduced sponsors' visibility with no fans allowed to attend competition venues, ran up the costs, and unearthed myriad corruption scandals around the Games. Tiremaker Bridgestone told AP "nothing has been decided." Toyota had a contact valued at $835 million — reported to be the IOC's largest when it was announced in 2015. It included four Olympics beginning with the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games in South Korea and ran through the just-completed Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Reports in Japan suggest Toyota may keep its Paralympic Olympic sponsorship. The... Read More