Honors and Hires: Roger Deakins Named CBE in Queen's Recent Birthday Honors List

This column in THR’s Behind the Screen blog -- which runs on Fridays -- covers members of the crafts and technology community who have been honored, hired, signed, or have otherwise made news. See below for how to submit your news for consideration in future columns.

Honored:

Roger Deakins, one of Hollywood’s most respected cinematographers, was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Queen Elizabeth II’s recently released annual Birthday Honors List. He is the first cinematographer to receive the honor of Commander.

"Gobsmacked is a word that comes to mind. I am so extremely honored to be included in such an esteemed group,” said Deakins. “It's not something a country boy from Southwest England ever even dreams of."

A frequent collaborator with directors Joel and Ethan Coen and Sam Mendes, Deakins has won three BAFTA Film Awards, three ASC Awards and four BSC Awards. He has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards for films including Skyfall, True Grit, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Man Who Wasn’t There and The Shawshank Redemption.

Deakins is also a recipient of an ASC Lifetime Achievement Award and a Camerimage Special Award for outstanding achievement in the art of cinematography.

Hired:

Paradigm announced the following client news: Director of photography Lex du Pont has boarded NBC series Night Shift; Byron Shah will serve as director of photography on CBS’ The Crazy Ones. Production designer Kitty Doris-Bates has joined Sundance Channel series Red Road. Maher Ahmad will be the production designer on Marvel’s Avengers 2.

Company news:

Technicolor announced that it has delivered the 100 millionth set-top box for DirecTV, via a partnership that goes back more than two decades. “Technicolor is pleased and honored to support DirecTV, providing high-quality direct-to-home video services to so many customers throughout the U.S. and in Latin America, for more than 20 years,” said Barbara Bessolo, senior vp of Technicolor’s Connected Home Americas, in a statement.

SIM Digital has expanded its presence in Atlanta, moving the local operations into a new, nearly 7,000-square-foot facility. SIM Digital Atlanta houses both the company’s rental operations and its Bling Digital unit, which provides postproduction services.

West Virginia's Birthday Recalls A State Born Of Civil War

In a previous version of this story, the photo caption incorrectly identified West Virginia's capital as Wheeling instead of Charleston.

Lincoln Walks at Midnight
stands outside the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va. The statue depicts President Abraham Lincoln contemplating the prospect of statehood for West Virginia.Vicki Smith/AP  Lincoln Walks at Midnight stands outside the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va. The statue depicts President Abraham Lincoln contemplating the prospect of statehood for West Virginia.
Vicki Smith/AP
One hundred and fifty years ago this week, West Virginia became the 35th state in the union.

Born in in 1863, the middle of the Civil War, the state was created by patriots who didn't want to join the Confederacy — no mean feat considering the political climate of the time.

Western Virginians were fed up with their eastern-dominated government, says Joe Geiger, director of the West Virginia State Archives. He says they also felt they didn't get fair funding for education and infrastructure.

On top of that, western Virginians opposed slavery — only 4 percent of the state's slaves lived there.

"You would naturally assume that there was an opposition to slavery in western Virginia, and indeed there was," Geiger tells Weekend Edition Sunday
host Rachel Martin. "But this was largely due to economic and political reasons, not moral ones."
So when the easterners in Richmond seceded from the union, western Virginians seized the opportunity to organize.

"I firmly believe that without the Civil War, we wouldn't have a West Virginia," Geiger says.

How West Virginia became a state

"What these folks do in Wheeling, these folks who are so determined to remain loyal to the union ... the first thing they do is try to create a union government, a replacement government for Virginia. In the end this is going to be key to West Virginia statehood, because according to the constitution, in order for a new state to be created from an existing state, the existing state has to give its permission."

What kind of people are West Virginians?

"West Virginia is the kind of state where you walk down the street and you speak to every person you see. You make eye contact, you smile; and I understand if you did that in New York, you might be looked at a little strangely.

"People care about one another, they take care of each other. We've had certainly different disasters and tragedies in our history, and the first thing that you see in response is people banding together to help one another."