•AGENCY PRODUCERS GO BACK TO SCHOOL AT BOARDS U>

Nearly 200 young agency producers and creatives got crash-courses in most aspects of production on Monday at the second annual Boards U. As a prelude to the larger Boards Summit event, 12 companies set up classrooms at the Marquis Marriott in New York for intensive workshops on live production, stop-motion animation, sound design, music licensing, visual effects and editing. Students heard practical advice from industry veterans such as Curious Pictures director, and former Pee Wee's Playhouse creative director, Steve Oakes, JSM's Joel Simon, Believe Media executive producer Liz Silver and editorial house Lost Planet senior producer Sue Romweber.
http://www.boardsu.com

•MTV, ONEDOTZERO LOOKING FOR BLOOMING GOOD WORK>

MTV Networks International, in collaboration with onedotzero, has created a new talent contest dubbed Bloom, geared at finding top new talent in filmmaking, animation and directing. Entries require a proposal for a one-minute film based on the themes of country and community, with the winning projects to be screened during onedotzero's traveling road show and possibly on MTV networks worldwide.
http://www.mtvonedotzero.com

•JAY-Z BECOMES BRAND DIRECTOR FOR BUD>

Rapper and Def Jam CEO Jay-Z has teamed up with Anheuser-Busch to cross-promote Budweiser Select and his forthcoming new album, Kingdom Come. The hip-hop mogul will also sit in on brand planning sessions to advise on the company's beer brands and provide direction for print and TV campaigns. The partnership kicked off with a 60-second TV spot incorporating Jay-Z's new video that aired during Monday Night Football last week.
http://www.anheuser-busch.com

•CHELSEA AND CAMPFIRE SPLIT UP>

Chelsea Pictures and its affiliate Campfire will go seperate ways in order to better grow and evolve, company execs announced this week. Chelsea founder Steve Wax will hand over management duties to partners Alison Amon and Lisa Mehling and concentrate on operating Campfire along with partners and The Blair Witch Project directors Mike Monello and Greg Hale.
http://www.chelsea.com; http://www.campfiremedia.com

•POSTWORKS MERGES WITH ORBIT DITIGAL>

New York post house Postworks has merged with mobile post production equipment provider Orbit Digital. Orbit's employees will continue to work out of the company's Los Angeles, New York and London offices and the firm's key partners will join Postworks' management team.
http://www.pwny.com
http://www.orbitdigital.com

•WPP BRANCHES OUT INTO TV PRODUCTION>

Holding company WPP is getting involved in producing television shows through its media investment management firm, Group M. The company recently announced a deal with ABC and Touchstone to produce six episodes of October Road, a new series starring Tom Berenger to air on ABC.
http://www.wpp.com

•SHORTLIST FOR AWARD AWARDS ANNOUNCED>

With 20 nominations, George Patterson Y&R Melbourne led the pack of finalists short-listed for the annual Australian Writers and Art Directors Awards. The number of TV spots nominated was up slightly this year. A total of 308 finalists were announced this week in a variety of categories, including TV, radio, interactive, print and outdoor. Saatchi & Saatchi's New Zealand, Singapore and Sydney offices also have a strong presence on the shortlist. The winners will be announced on Nov. 8 during a ceremony at the Sydney Opera House.
http://www.awardonline.com

Fallon London's founding partner and co-ECD, Andy MacLeod, has left the company in order to pursue directing full-time via Danny Kleinman's production company, Rattling Stick.
http://www.rattlingstick.com

JWT has appointed Guy Murphy as the firm's new global planning director. Murphy spent the past 14 years at BBH, working in London and the Asia-Pacific region. He gradually moved up the ranks to the position of deputy chairman in 2004.
http://www.jwt.com

L.A. agency davidandgoliath has promoted associate creative directors Ben Purcell and Simon Tuplin to creative director positions. Purcell first joined the firm in 2000 as a copywriter and Tuplin, a Torontonian, joined in 2005 as an art director.
http://www.dngla.com

Zoic Studios has hired veteran VFX art director and supervisor Jim Lima as visual effects supervisor. Lima has worked high-profile projects such as the film Total Recall and the TV shows Seaquest DSV and House.
http://www.zoicstudios.com

Rude Rossouw joined Cape Town-based The Asylum as executive producer.
http://www.theasylum.co.za

Paris' Chased By Cowboys has signed Amsterdam-based directing collective/animation wizards Postpanic.
http://www.chasedbycowboys.com

Dallas-based independent agency TM Advertising has hired Will Clarke and Bernard Park as creative directors.
http://www.tm.com

Kansas City-based agency Bernstein Rein recruited Venice, CA-based editor Richard Cooperman from The Mission for a joint Wal-Mart/Xbox campaign for the game Madden '07.
http://www.bernstein-rein.com

London-based creative studio Not to Scale has signed director Matt Smithson, aka Man vs. Magnet.
http://www.nottoscale.tv

After six years at M&C Saatchi, most recently as a TV producer, Sharon Young has joined London's Golden Square Post Production as a senior producer.
http://www.goldensq.com

Beate Chelette is Seattle-based Corbis' new senior director of photography, entertainment. Chetlette, who founded Beateworks in 1993 and worked as Elle Germany's photo editor, will expand the company's library of celebrity portraits.
http://www.corbis.com

Buzz Management's Delores Hively and Dawn Goodburn are the new east coast reps for bicoastal Transistor Studios.
http://www.transistorstudios.com

Veteran music video director Mike Harris has signed with New York's Freestyle Collective for Stateside representation and is available for commercial work. He's previously worked with Madonna, Blur, Run DMC and Pink Floyd.
http://www.freestylecollective.com