ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE
3.7 - October 1998
People
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| Bill Dennis has been named CEO of UTVI Animation and RM/USL Studios. Photo courtesy of Bill Dennis. |
Musical Chairs. Bill Dennis has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mumbai, India-based UTVI Animation and RM/USL Studios, the largest animation studio in India. Dennis will be responsible for overseeing and growing the operations of the companies' studios in Singapore and Bombay and for developing new animation studios around the region. He will also oversee all in-house development and co-production deals. Dennis, now based in Los Angeles, was previously president of Fil-Cartoons in Manila, a studio which serviced Hanna-Barbera and Turner Broadcasting before they merged with Time/Warner. Prior to that, he was on the executive production teams for Disney's Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Animation World Magazine's August 1998 issue features a profile of RM/USL Studios. . . . San Rafael, California-based Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has expanded its executive ranks with several internal promotions. Gail Currey has been upped to the newly-created position of vice president and chief operating officer, from her previous position as director of digital production operations. Jeff Mann has been promoted to executive in charge of creative operations, up from his previous post as director of production operations. Alan Keith has been named vice president/chief administrative officer, up from a position as director of business operations and finance at Lucas Digital . . . . London-based distributor Link Entertainment has promoted Genvieve Dexter from sales manager to head of sales and acquisitions. She joined Link in 1997, leaving a post as sales manager at Eva Entertainment. Link also promoted Annika Bluhm from script development executive to head of script development. She joined Link in 1996 and previously worked in development and as a script editor at BBC. . . . U.K.-headquartered Cambridge Animation Systems, creators of Animo 2D animation software, named Tom Carrigan director of international sales. He will be based in the U.K. Carrigan has previously held sales positions with Softimage and Toon Boom Technologies. . . . Mediapegs, creators of PEGS 2D animation software, has named France Létang director of sales & marketing for Europe. She will be based in Paris and report to vice president Paul Marcot in Los Angeles. Létang previously worked at Saban International Services. . .
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| Dutch director, Jerry van de Beek. Photo courtesy of Curious Pictures. |
Curious Pictures has signed Dutch director Jerry Van de Beek to its roster. Van de Beek has worked with (Colossal) Pictures (San Francisco), Condor Video (Amsterdam) and The Moving Picture Company (London). He specializes in combining CG and cel animation. In 1996, he co-founded, with Betsy de Fries, the animation and design firm, Little Fluffy Clouds, which will continue operating in San Francisco. . . . New York-based animation/live-action studio Pitch, Inc. signed London-based director/animator David Freedman to its new commercial division. His background includes directing, writing, agency work and stand-up comedy. Plus, with his writing partner, Alan Gilbey, he is currently writing an animated series, The Foxbusters. Pitch's commercial division is represented by Kelly Flint, who joined the new company from Curious Pictures, where she worked with Pitch co-founders Russ Dube, Chris Gilligan and Steve Katz. . . . . Greg Pair has completed an eight-month stint as animation supervisor on MTV's stop-motion show Celebrity Death Match. He is returning to the studio he is a partner in, AMPnyc, to direct and produce stop-motion commercial work. . . . Blue Sky | VIFX's Harrison, New York studio has promoted John Donkin to managing technical director. He joined the company as senior technical director earlier this year after serving as a director of animation/studio manager for Lamb & Company (Minneapolis, MN). . . . Palo Alto, California-based Pacific Data Images (PDI) has hired Paul Cook as corporate controller, a role in which he will report to CFO John Batter and be responsible for implementing internal financial controls. Cook was previously corporate accounting manager at Adobe Systems. . . . Cartoon Network has promoted Dea Connick Perez to vice president of programming and production, a role in which she will direct all aspects of programming, including scheduling, acquisitions and program operations. She joined the Atlanta-based company in 1997 as program director, and was previously director of acquisitions at Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite/TV Land. . . . Nelvana Limited has promoted Emmanuèle Pétry to director of co-productions. She was previously director of the company's Paris office, where she will remain. Pétry has been responsible for securing co-production partners for Nelvana, including Neurones, Marathon and Ellipse. Also at Nelvana's Paris office, Marie-Laure Marchand has been promoted to director of international sales. . . . Jon Vein has been promoted from senior to executive vice president at Film Roman, a role in which he will continue to oversee the company's reach into feature films, including There Goes the Neighborhood, a live-action/animation film in development with Universal. . . . Mike Darnell has been promoted to executive vice president of specials and alternative programming for Fox Broadcasting, where he will oversee new projects including the animated series Family Guy, The PJs and Futurama. Darnell joined the network in 1994 as director of specials. . . .
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| Sam Register. Photo by M. Hill. © 1998 Cartoon Network. |
Sam Register has been promoted to vice president of Cartoon Network Online. He was previously creative director for the division, and has overseen the development and recent launch of the network's web site, www.cartoonnetwork.com. Prior to joining Cartoon Network in Atlanta, Register worked in San Francisco at (Colossal) Pictures as creative director and at Turner New Media, where, as creative director, he created the Cartoon Network World section of America Online. . . . Jim Keeshen has joined Film Roman as a director on the animated series, Family Guy. This spring, his company Jim Keeshen Productions produced the show's pilot with creator Seth MacFarlane. . . . Craig Allen has been named general manager of Jim Henson Interactive. He was formerly a senior producer at Disney Interactive. . . . Jeff Williams has joined Animation World Network as webmaster, replacing Ged Bauer, who has left to pursue further education. . . . UCLA's School Of Theater, Film And Television has appointed Robert Rosen dean, replacing Gil Cates, who stepped down from the post last year but remains a member of the faculty. Rosen was promoted internally from the position of dean of the Film and Television School, a division of the Theater, Film and Television School (including the Animation Workshop). He has worked at UCLA since 1975. . . . Filmmaker James Cameron and effects master Stan Winston have resigned from the board of directors of the Venice, California-based effects studio they co-founded five years ago, Digital Domain. They will retain their financial stakes in the company. A Digital Domain spokesperson said the resignations were an administrative move to avoid conflicts of interest for the two former board members who have exclusive deals with studios. . . . Digital Domain's vice president-creative director Price Pethel recently left to take on the same position at Dream Quest Images, Disney's effects division. . . . Santa Monica, California-based POP Television has hired visual effects supervisor Alex Frisch, visual effects artist Chris Staves, visual effects producer Nesya Horsburgh and director of technology Andreas Wacker, all formerly of neighboring studio 525 Post, with the intent to launch a new, internal visual effects boutique. . . .
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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