NewsReel 3/12/07

The NewsReel is the new way for you to tell us your news and for us to tell everyone. Please send any adland news you may have at your disposal to Sam@thereel.net and we'll do our best to make sure it appears here.
















Gargette is a drawn to Draw
Ex Academy, Hungry Eye and Union director Simon Gargette is off to Draw Pictures to further expand the London based production company’s burgeoning commercials roster. The experienced Gargette started his career as an agency copywriter for McCann and Vernon’s before moving into stills photography and cinematography, alongside running his own studio. However, he quickly made the natural move into directing and helmed Europe’s first interactive spot for Shell as early as 1987.

Since then he’s been one of the lucky few to direct the best dog in advertising – the Dulux dog mauls the Andrex puppies every time – as well as spots for Ford and the RAC, among others.

Young creatives go for their guns
Young Guns have announced the shortlists for their 2007 awards, and with their ingenious call for entry featuring Alex Bogusky from Bogusky Crispin + Porter we’re sure they weren’t short on entries.

The Reel Team have taken note and the next time we ask for work, one of us will do so wearing white Y-fronts and holding a pink keytar…or perhaps not. (Sadly Alex Bogusky isn’t the one in his pants, holding the keytar)

The short list of young whippersnappers waiting for their ‘first time’ can be viewed at www.ygaward.com and we think you’ll agree that, with the variety of countries represented, the awards really do deserve the title of ‘International’. The winners are to be announced this Friday, 7th December.

Ben returns to The Square after a year in China
Yes, it may read like a headline for ‘EastEnders’ and a – probably utterly implausible - storyline involving the spawn of Phil and Kathy, but it’s not. The Ben is Leyland and The Square is Golden.

After a year away at Profero, in Shanghai, working with clients such as China Central Television, Fanta, Guinness and Samsung, Ben Leyland has returned to Golden Square as creative director of Disqo, their digital design department. Ewan McLeod, excutive producer and co-founder of Golden Square is delighted to have him back and said, ‘…timing is everything and the opportunity to work with Ben again was an enticing one…he not only adds depth but brings a vast amount of talent to Disqo.’ That’s all very well and good, but what will Phil say…oh, sorry, wrong Ben; wrong square.











Meri-bells ring out before Christmas
Entries for the competitions at this year’s Meribel ad festival have long been closed and the representatives from The Reel have been honing their snowball throwing skills (but of course they’d never aim for you) and the beautiful French resort is gearing up for the grand opening next week, on the 11th December. Watch out for our Meribel feature in this month's Reel.










Weekly short film festival Short and Sweet, the only weekly short film festival in London, has been going from strength to strength since its launch a year and a half ago. In July it expanded into the West End and now runs on Mondays on Brick Lane and Tuesdays at AKA WC1. Founder Julia Stephenson and her small team work tirelessly to deliver the best in short films, music videos and animation from around the globe, with the intention to inspire, unearth some of the best new talent around and provide a great and FREE place to network.

This week will feature films from: Robert Samuel, Lynnel Cizo, Jamie Rafn, Jason Reitman, Richard Fenwick, Luis Cook, Max Hattler, and Nicolas Salis

MONDAY: Venue: Cafe 1001, 91 Brick Lane Time: Films START at 19h00 TUESDAY: Venue: AKA Bar, 18 west central street Time: Films START at 19h00

Short & Sweet will also be having an end of year party on Tuesday 18th December at the AKA Bar in Soho. So put it in your diary, although we will almost certainly remind you next week.

For more info contact:
ben@shortandsweet.tv
julia@shortandsweet.tv