Senior designer John O’Callaghan and producer Danielle Amaral have joined the in-house creative team at New York-based digital effects and production house Charlex. Both were most recently with ATTIK NY, where O’Callaghan served as a lead designer and Amaral supervised production and post-production. O’Callaghan was a senior designer and studio manager at ATTIK NY, where he created conceptual designs for broadcast as well as directing live-action.

Design, animation and visual effects studio Hornet, Inc., has added veteran director and visual effects supervisor Christopher Scollard to its New York commercial roster. Scollard's current work for Hornet includes directing spots for Mattel via Foote Cone & Belding Worldwide, as well as two game openers that the New York Jets will use during the upcoming football season. Scollard noted, "Because Hornet is a small company that is growing, it provides a unique opportunity for me. I had that opportunity once at Blue Sky.

Sony Pictures Animation heads Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox have made the first executive hire for the newly created division. Nate Hopper, former VP of production at Twentieth Century Fox, has been named vice-president of creative affairs for Sony Pictures Animation. In his new position, Hopper will work closely with writers and directors in developing the company’s CG animated features.

Fox Kids Europe (FKE) has announced that chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz will leave FKE at the end of his employment agreement on November 23, 2002. In the remaining period, Kreiz will continue supporting the integration of certain FKE operations into majority shareholder The Walt Disney Company. Kreiz has successfully managed FKE since its inception in 1997. He led the expansion of FKE across Europe and the Middle East and during his tenure FKE initiated a successful IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

Pow Wow Productions recently added five new animation directors to its roster: illustrator Sheila Aldridge; Tim Biskup, art director/designer for Cartoon Network's TIME SQUAD, and creator of his own short FREDDY SEYMORE'S AMAZING LIFE for Nickelodeon; David Brewster, supervising animator for feature films including OSMOSIS JONES, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT; John Corbitt, illustrator and cartoonist whose work has appeared in TIME Magazine and the Chicago Tribune; and Miles Thompson an illustrator and painter who has worked on the animated series DEXTER'S LABORATORY and JOHNNY

Design studio B1 Media has added producer Dudley Johnson to its recently launched production division. Johnson, a former assistant producer, technical writer and product specialist at Disney Interactive, will be writing and producing for B1. While at Disney Interactive he helped produce the CD-Roms CINDERELLA’S DOLLHOUSE, YOU CAN FLY! WITH TINKER BELL and PRINCESS MAGICAL DRESS UP. Johnson previously wrote for the NBC sitcom DIFFERENT STROKES, and was a co-producer, executive story editor and writer for the ABC series WEBSTER.

Ken Olshansky has joined Scholastic Entertainment as the senior vice president of television programming. Formerly, Olshansky was senior vice president of creative affairs for TV-Loonland/Sunbow Entertainment, where he developed and produced GENERATION O for Kids WB!, THE CRAMP TWINS for Cartoon Network and DONNER for ABC Family. In his new position, Olshansky will oversee the development and production of various Scholastic Entertainment television projects, including international co-productions and the Soup2Nuts production group in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Portland,
Oregon-based Happy Hour Entertainment has signed animation and comedy
director Mike Wellins for commercial representation. Wellins,
formerly a commercial and entertainment director at Vinton Studios,
brings many years of award-winning filmmaking experience to Happy
Hour Entertainment. While at Vinton Studios, Mike directed the Annie
Award-winning spot "Genie" for Mirinda Soda, and his commercial for
the Sony Playstation game LEGEND OF DRAGOON was voted Best Animated

LEGO Media International
has tapped Vanessa Chapman to take over as head of its television and
film arm following the promotion of Conny Kalcher to a newly created
senior position within the LEGO Company's core business. Chapman
takes up the role of global controller of programming and strategy in
August 2002, when Kalcher becomes vice president, global brand
marketing for Stories, one of the LEGO Company's new brand portals.
The Stories division encompasses LEGO-themed product lines aimed at

After five years as executive vice president and general
manager, Tim Sarnoff has been promoted to president of Sony Pictures
Imageworks. The promotion recognizes Sarnoff's tenure as executive
VP, during which time he is credited with transforming Imageworks
into a leading visual effects and digital character animation
company. Ken Ralston, who has served as Imageworks creative leader
since his arrival at the company in 1995, extends his relationship
with Imageworks as senior visual effects supervisor. Ralston is