a great update

Friday has come round again and have we got loads of news for you! 

We've had a busy couple of weeks at Great Guns. The prep for Cannes has well and truly started (a mere 34 days until the GG crew touch down in the French Riviera) we've revamped one of our offices, made a big announcement, launched an exhibition, changed a website... and we're about to tell you all about it! 

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Announcements should come first and ours is a good'un. Jonathon Ker, former Partner and EP at Paydirt has joined the family as Partner and CEO of Great Guns USA. Joining Ker at GG USA will be Executive Producer Annie Hanlon, who's focus will be on digital and new media work. 

Ker and Hanlon will work closely with Laura and her team of Great Guns EP's and Producers in London. 

You can read all about it on LBB: HERE

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With big announcements comes office revamps and the LA office has undergone a beautiful one. The lovely Nanna who transformed our UK office a few years ago jetted out to LA to work her interior design magic. 

Vaudeville's sound suite is up and running after their successful LA launch a few weeks ago.

The revamped space is now effortlessly cool and more like a gorgeous home than an office. Check out the amazing grassy balcony (we even have a BBQ!)

View of our LA home from Soho House LA! 

We're very happy with our LA home! 

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With a new home comes a new look and we've done just that on the Great Guns website. With loads of new features there's lots to see!

Go on... go explore it www.greatguns.com 

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Moving on to events, we've had a few recently. We headed into central last week to watch the launch of the D&AD Next Director Awards. Laura is Foreman on the Jury. 

The event was held at Google just off Tottenham Court Road.

Like all great events it started with canapés and excited chatter. 

Then the speeches got underway and the 2014 jury was introduced by Laura. 

The Next Director Award is a brand new award which aims to expose the best new directorial talent (directors with 2 years or less professional experience). The winner and nominees will get amazing exposure at international screenings, the D&AD platform and YouTube as well as mentoring from top production companies. 

You can still enter your work now if you're interested CLICK HERE

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We ended this week with an event for Timothy Allen at Glassworks in Soho. It was an evening to launch his new exhibition 'Travels Around Our Human Planet'. 

The exhibition features 20 of Tim's favourite prints from his travels around the world. The exhibition will remain in London for a month before traveling to Glassworks in Amsterdam.

2 Timothy Allen fans all the way from St. Albans!

Tim spent a few minutes talking about his favourite prints to a lovely crowd. We then enjoyed nibbles and wine, while admiring the amazing photographs. The evening was a big success and everyone had a great time. 

Don't worry if you missed it as the exhibition will return to London for a closing party towards the end of the summer. Watch this space! 

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No restaurant suggestions this week but we'll come back with a killer one next time... On that note, have a fantastic weekend wherever you are. 

The Gunners x 

lots of food and a bit of culture

We're writing this after our fantastic first Directors Lunch of 2014. We had a brilliant time at The York & Albany but more on that later... 

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We'll pick up from where we left off in the last blog post. We were talking about Klaus Thymann teaming up with BBH London to shoot a short film on Brazil's street kids. 

Well the film went live last week and has already racked up over 4000 youtube views.

The film is part of the joint initiative with BBH and The International Exchange (TIE) 'A leadership development programme that combines the expertise of corporate communications and the needs of NGO's to create positive sustainable change'. In this case it was for Ruas E Praças. 

If you're interested in helping out you can visit their website and get involved. 

You can read the official press release HERE

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Andy Morahan spent last Sunday filming Benjamin Britten's 'Peter Grimes' live from the London Coliseum to over 200 cinema screens nation wide. 

Lucky audience members got the chance to see the whole production from different cinemas across the UK. 

Have a read of the review on the ENO website

Did you see it? if YES let us know what you thought on twitter or in a comment on this post.  

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We finished off the week with a lovely get-together at the York & Albany at the top of Parkway in Camden. 

We like to get a group of our directors together with producers and creatives from advertising agencies for good food and great company a few times a year, and this thursday was our first one of 2014. 

Hendricks & cucumber 

Andy Morahan & Michelle from Leo Burnett's 

There was lots of great food and plenty of 'try this!' and 'shall we share?' going on 

chilli salami and olive pizza 

herb crusted cornish cod with leeks and a shellfish bisque 

The York & Albany burger 

Classic Caesar salad 

We spent the afternoon catching up with old friends, meeting new ones and laughing. a lot. 

the team photo. 

Thanks to all who came - we're looking forward to the next one!

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Up and coming things to look out for from the Gunners is a new spot for The Fabelists that Olivier Venturini shot a few weeks ago. It's currently in post-production so watch this space for updates on that very soon! 

Just to tick you over until its release, here's a behind the scenes picture from the shoot. 

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We realise this post has been very food-indulgent so we might as well stick to the foodie theme. We've got a brilliant pub to recommend for one of the best roasts going. 

It's actually apparently not raining in London all weekend - which at the moment is a bit of a miracle. 

Get yourself out of bed and cure that foggy Sunday head with lunch at The Princess of Shoreditch. 

photo credit

nestled on the corner of Paul Street just off from Hoxton Square and a stones throw from the City and Old Street, the pub boasts both a lively downstairs bar and a more relaxed upstairs eatery. Despite being over 200 years old it manages to escape that old man pub feel, while keeping it cosy. 

Gloriously simple british pub food at its best. 

Try booking a table downstairs as there's a bit more atmosphere, and definitely make a reservation and it gets busy. 

You can find all the info you need HERE.

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We've gone a bit old school in the London office today and have had Billy Joel blasting out all day so our weekend tune has to be Everybody Loves You Now

Happy weekend folks! 

The Gunners x 

london is cooling down but great guns is heating up

For many the lead up to the festive period is a time to wind down, tie up those loose ends and gear up for the New Year - not for the Gunners, we're steaming ahead and are busier than ever! 

GG director Jonty Toosey has been even busier since the last blog post. He's just directed a gorgeous spot for Alpro Soya Yoghurt.

Shot in Slovenia this heart-warming advert focuses on the mantra 'stay curious', and follows a woman's rediscovery of her love of photography. 

You can watch it HERE. 

As promised here is the link to his advert featuring Antonio Banderas - Kaspi Bank 

Jonty is currently in full on production mode at Great Guns with an exciting shoot confirmed for next week - we can't wait for you to see it so check back soon! 

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Our mammoth project with Russian Standard Vodka officially launched this month and some of the team spent an evening sipping on Russian Standard Moscow Mules and watching the amazing new advert at the British Science Museum in South Kensington.

GG director Calum Macdiarmid teamed up with My Agency and Jason Silva (a filmmaker and performance philosopher) for the shoot. It was partly filmed on location in Russia and partly in a west London studio. 

Edited in house by GG editor James Demetriou the spot is slick and utterly fascinating, with one viewer stating on youtube  'what in THE WORLD is a vodka scientist? I want that job.'

The launch was a huge success and you can actually watch how the event unfolded here and of course please have a look at the spot HERE. 

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Steven Boyle just filmed a lovely promo for the singing duo Elephant titled 'Shapeshifter'. Described on Davids Reviews as 'blissed out wonder' Shapeshifter seems to be about appreciating the return of a love that was lost. 

Backed by the sparse and stretched out Snowday, as icily cool as it sounds, full of chiaroscuro contrasts and flickering atmospherics, it's a release that suggests their debut album is set to be one of the standout albums of 2014.

Have a watch of the video HERE

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We've been sending out LOADS of Turn DVD's as we continue the festival rounds. 

And we've just been accepted into another festival - The London Short Film Festival which is another Oscar and Bafta booster! 

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Our beautiful Gold LIA award for Best Music Video arrived in the post this week and has taken prime place in the London office. 

Other exciting post includes our Shots Tickets - we can't wait for next thursday night and are crossing our fingers! 

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Our directors are busier than ever with some really exciting work coming up towards the end of the year and some great stuff to kick off 2014. 

Ron Scalpello continues to cut his film at Great Guns and has just shot an action-packed spot due to air in January. 

Andy Morahan has just jetted over to LA to shoot in both downtown LA and Vegas.

Paul Shearer has shot a brilliant spot for a well known sports brand featuring some familiar faces so watch this space for a link in the coming weeks. 

And Klaus Thymann has just been featured on i-D online talking about his five top extreme locations to shoot. 

Extreme locations include The Blue Lake in New Zealand and the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda. 

You can have a read of that article HERE 

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We polished of the week as all weeks should be polished off - with a lunch at The York and Albany in Camden. We headed down with the lovely folk at McCann Health and GG director Olly Blackburn and gorged ourselves on spicy wings, calamari, pizzas and burgers. 

Sorry to disappoint but the food was so delicious and the company so brilliant we totally forgot to take some snaps. Anyway, we wouldn't want to make you jealous. 

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As always have a wonderful weekend wherever you are & check back soon for more updates. 

For more regular updates follow us on twitter @greatgunstv