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Two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot is going to need more room in his trophy case.

The filmmaker is returning from Europe with multiple Cannes Lions for his documentary The Final Copy of Ilon Specht, a film about the woman who created the iconic L’Oréal Paris tagline, “Because I’m worth it.”

Those four words, penned in the early 1970s by Specht as a young copywriter for the ad agency McCann-Erickson (now McCann), “empowered generations of women globally,” McCann notes, “and helped to build L’Oréal Paris into the largest beauty brand in the world.”

The short film’s five honors at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity include the Grand Prix for Film; Gold for Entertainment, Silver for Entertainment, PR, and a Bronze for Film Craft – the latter award recognizing the work of editors Mónica Salazar and Tim Johnson. Proudfoot shot the film with Specht in the last months of her life.

Updated with link to full film. Exclusive: In the history of advertising, few if any taglines have rivaled the impact and enduring power of this one: “Because I’m worth it.”

That phrase, deceptively simple yet embedded with cultural meaning, became indelibly linked with L’Oréal Paris, the beauty brand which first embraced that line of copy more than 50 years ago. The words were the brainchild of Ilon Specht, who in the early 1970s worked as a young copywriter for the advertising firm McCann-Erickson (now McCann). Her story is told in The Final Copy of Ilon Specht, directed by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot.

The documentary began streaming for free today on the Ted YouTube channel, a day before International Women’s Day. The short film, a production of Traverse32, Proudfoot’s Breakwater Studios, and McCann, has been licensed by Ted for global distribution, “becoming the first film the platform has...

The documentary television program “Dear Santa, The Series” is set to return to Hulu on Nov. 29 and on the ABC-Owned Television Stations on Nov. 24 for its second season.

The series, which premiered in 2022, follows the U.S. Postal Service’s Usps Operation Santa program, which has been running for over a century. Traverse32 and Sweet World Films are behind the docuseries.

“Usps Operation Santa has captured the heart of the holiday season for more than 112 years, bringing people together through kindness and generosity,” said Sheila Holman, marketing vice president for Usps. “We’re excited for the new season of the Dear Santa docuseries to shine a light on this incredible American tradition, showing how small acts of goodwill can make a big difference.”

Series director and producer Dana Nachman will return to the show through Sweet World Films. Traverse32’s Brendan Gaul and Brett Henenberg will executive produce in addition to Chelsea Matter,...

Winners of the 2024 Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring outstanding achievements in Off-Broadway theater, were announced on Sunday, May 5, in a ceremony at NYU Skirball. The show was hosted by Rosalind Chao, Jen Colella, Michael Esper, 2024 Tony nominee Eden Espinosa (“Lempicka”), 2024 Tony nominee Nikki M. James (“Suffs”) and Bd Wong. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.

It was a banner evening for Ars Nova. Not only did the theater company receive an honorary award for Best Body of Work, their show “(pray)” was also the top winner of the night. This co-production with National Black Theatre took home three trophies including Best Musical, Best Director for NicHi douglas and Best Ensemble.

Four other productions earned multiple awards, with “Buena Vista Social Club,” “The Comeuppance,” “Stereophonic,” and “Wet Brain” each claiming two prizes.

“Stereophonic” is a frontrunner for Best...

A documentary about kids’ holiday letters to Santa that was originally created as a promotional effort for the United States Post Office is set to become a new miniseries aimed at inspiring consumers around holiday time.

“Dear Santa” was released in 2020 and put a spotlight on “Operation Santa,” a Usps initiative that has people “adopt” letters sent by kids to Santa Claus and help to fulfill their wishes. The film, directed by Dana Nachman, examined various “Operation Santa” centers around the U.S. some in big cities and others in small towns. A new six-episode series will continue the work, showing different letters from kids and people who step up in unexpected ways to create a happy ending. The miniseries is directed by Nachman and produced by her company, Sweet World Films, along with Chelsea Matter, Brendan Gaul and Brett Henenberg, and Christopher Karpenko.

The original documentary had a brief...