Glenn Close stars with her sister, daughter, nephew and niece in BringChange2Mind, a PSA to combat the stigma associated with mental illness

The newly released :30/:60 PSA, “Say,” for BringChange2Mind featuring Glenn Close and her family, isn’t your typical PSA. Out of New York-based agency the watsons, its tone is one of hope, its scale is large—beautifully shot in Grand Central Station to John Mayer’s “Say”, with a creative team including Oscar® winning director Ron Howard with @radical producing, and Whitehouse editor Matthew Wood. Ms. Close founded the organization with a mission to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness by putting a face on the problem. 1 in 6 Americans suffer from mental illness and many do so in secret. Much like going public with such afflictions, getting the PSA off the ground was uniquely challenging. more

Santa Monica, CA, September 30, 2009: Digital studio Radium, Santa Monica/Dallas (www.radium.com) helps document one-of-a-kind Dickies wearers in a 5-spot campaign of :30s for the web and broadcast, including “Casey Gill,” “Jeff Milburn,” “George Cabrera,” “Ryan Suchanek” and “Erik Nelson.” The campaign was produced direct to client for the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., Fort Worth, TX. The documentary-style spots dive deep into the worlds of five men, including a barbershop owner, stunt driver and a tire-slinging community pillar who all wear Dickies in their everyday lives. Radium handled the editorial and finishing on the campaign dubbed, “Wear With Purpose.” more

Chicago IL, September 11, 2009: Editors Matt Walsh and Carlos Lowenstein of The Whitehouse, Chicago win Best in Show and Best Editing at the Chicago Creative Club Awards held Thursday, September 10. Walsh wins Best in Show for his work on Office Max’s “Penny Pranks” from The Escape Pod, Chicago. Best Editing goes to Lowenstein for Porsche’s “Accept/Reject.” more

Bicoastal production/design studio Blind applies a scissors-and-glue effect to popular films and TV shows in vivid new 3D animated :30s, including “TV Plus RR” and “Triple RR” for Bright House Networks out of Fry/Hammond/Barr, Orlando, FL. The playful spots are 30-second glides through worlds of ‘hidden CG’ paper cutout such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Daily Show, sports and rock ‘n’ roll imagery. more

Culver City CA July 6, 2009 - Culver City, CA-based production hybrid The Famous Group (TFG) announces new West Coast representation, signing with Reber Covington. Recent projects by the adrenaline-charged Famous Group, and their Interactive division, include Y&R’s global website and the interactive launch of Rock Band for Sony PSP, out of Deutsch LA. TFG has garnered high praise for their work on Gatorade’s MissionG.com portal, Mattel’s Barbie’50th Anniversary, Pepsi’s RefreshEverything.com, as well as a new iPhone app for Baskin-Robbins. more

Bicoastal production/design studio Blind helps usher in a newly re-branded and re-named Syfy Channel (fka SciFi) in the animated :15 IDs, “Horse” and “Windmill,” working directly with NBC Universal/Syfy Channel, NYC. Making the ordinary extraordinary, Blind’s cleanly rendered :15s feature a horse morphing into a rocket ship, flowers into windmills, a Winnebago into a castle and a lion into megaphones. The 4-ID campaign illustrates the channel’s July 7th content shift from science fiction only to science fiction and additional non-sci-fi shows such as the political mystery/drama, Warehouse 13. more

New York-based Cutting Room editor Merritt Duff distinguishes between corporate sponsors and strident supporters in a comic new :30 “Hotdog” for Avis Budget Group out of McCann Erickson in New York, NY, directed by NY-based Station Films’ Harold Einstein. As the official rental car of the New York Yankees, Avis shows the depth of their Yanks devotion by living the game; a corporate meeting isn’t a corporate meeting without hotdogs. Keeping it authentic, “Hotdog” stars real New York Yankees hotdog vendor Howard Elliot. more

The Whitehouse is partnering with sought-after industry vets Kieran Walsh and Frank Devlin to open Carbon, a new integrated creative VFX and finishing house based in New York. The collaboration between award-winning designer and VFX artist Walsh and EP Devlin spans more than a decade, most recently at New York-based Version2 (V2), which shuttered earlier this year. more

New York-based Cutting Room editor Mike Douglas forces macho men to get in touch with their feminine side in the comic new :15s, “Wax” and “Outfits,” for Klondike out of DDB, NY. The spots show the humiliation and pain ice cream-loving guys will endure for the iconic Klondike Bar. more

NY-based Sonic Union mixer Steve Rosen helps expose “Rescue Me” star Denis Leary’s plot to turn earth-dwelling TV watchers’ brains to mush in a recent :60, “The Leary Mission,” for Hulu, directed by LA-based Pony Show’s Peter Berg out of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, CO. In “The Leary Mission,” Denis gives us a tour through the “Rescue Me” set and openly admits that TV is his preferred tool to destroy our brains. more