Twist Director Matt Pittroff Delivers New Spot for 3M Scotch-Brite

Ad agency Grey and client 3M turned once again to long-time collaborator, production company Twist, for a new commercial for Scotch-Brite^™. After collaborating on numerous commercial spots with TwistDirector/DP Rich Michell over the past several years; the storyboards for this new Scotch-Brite^™ spot clearly required the comedic talents of nationally renowned Twist Comedy Director Matt Pittroff.

"I was really excited to work with Grey on this project and to be a part of brave direction for 3M," details Director Matt Pittroff. "It was a job that demanded a ton of preparation and constant communication with the agency. Grey's relationship with 3M is long-standing; and, in this day and age, those relationships must be coveted. I think we did a great job of honoring the Agency/Client process while pushing the creative as far as we could. Comedy is uncharted territory for the brand and we, as a creative team, wanted to make sure that this wasn't the first and last time. I am really proud of the work, and hope that the 'Listeners' live on. I can see Heather now, chasing down an unsuspecting sponge shopper in her senior scooter while Steve, her trusted boom guy, aimlessly records the sound of soup cans."

To view the new Scotch-Brite^™ commercial, "Stay Clean," directed by Pittroff GO HERE.

Twist Executive Producer Amyliz Pera, based in New York, has collaborated with 3M on numerous commercial campaigns with several of her Directors. "3M and Grey have really done a great job of creating a contemporary look and feel to their work, which reflects the innovation of their brand," she says. "Since Twist Director Rich Michell was part of that with his table-top and people work, we knew Matt Pittroff would be a perfect fit as a comedy Director — to carry the torch but add humor.

Most people usually don't think of comedy Directors as placing a high priority on visual style, but Matt is rare. He has just the right amount of OCD, and places a lot of emphasis on cultivating the right look and tone. He has thought about every item put in front of his camera. I would shop at his supermarket, if he ever wanted to open one."

–SHOOT Publicity Wire

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.