Rainmaker Adds Development, Technology And Recruiting Executives
Rainmaker Ent. has promoted animation producer Jennifer Twiner-McCarron to Vice President of Production, Rainmaker Ent. Twiner-McCarron has been producer or exec producer on most of Rainmaker's films for the past eight years.
Warren Franklin, CEO of Rainmaker Ent. also announced that Kimberly Dennison has joined Rainmaker as Director of Development and Barbara Dawson has returned to the company as Director of Talent Relations and Recruiting, both newly-created positions. Tony Pelle has been promoted to Director of Technology, also a newly created post.
Paul Gertz, Exec VP of Business Development, will continue to be responsible for studio relationships, partnerships and business affairs. Gertz, Dennison, Dawson and Twiner-McCarron will report directly to CEO Franklin, with Pelle reporting to Twiner-McCarron.
"I am extremely pleased to promote Jennifer to head up our production team. She has more than proven her talent and judgment over the years and as we further position Rainmaker to develop and produce its own content, I have full confidence in Jennifer's ability to lead our team," Franklin said. "With the additions of Kimberly and Barbara, and Paul heading business development and Tony overseeing technology, our goal of producing our own projects is now more fully realized."
"After all the years watching this company grow and mature into one of the world's animation leaders, I'm very proud to have the opportunity to lead the production effort," Twiner-McCarron commented. "And with our new management team in place, I know we'll be breaking fresh ground, given our talented artists, innovative technicians and the level of projects we anticipate creating."
Twiner-McCarron, whose responsibilities will encompass the studio's overall production strategy for films, DVDs and games, began her career at Rainmaker (formerly Mainframe) in 1997 as a production assistant and animation tracker on BEAST WARS: TRANSFORMERS. She soon became production coordinator then line producer on SHADOW RAIDERS and ACTION MAN and eventually moved up to producer in 2001 with BARBIE IN THE NUTCRACKER. She went on to produce or exec produce four more films in the Mattel Barbie franchise, plus HOT WHEELS HIGHWAY 35 WORLD RACE, and a video game -- ENTER THE MATRIX. An award winner of several Leo's and an ELAN, Twiner-McCarron will serve as Exec Producer on all Mattel projects and will manage the company's operations and production technology.
Kimberly Dennison comes to Rainmaker after 13 years at The Walt Disney Company where she worked in a variety of capacities gathering experience in animation story development, production pipeline set-up, casting, voice direction and post-production supervision. Originally at DisneyToon Studios, Dennison was on the production management team responsible for their many DVDs and lower budget films. She then served as Associate Producer responsible for developing a program of animated short programs entitled Shorty McShorts' Shorts that aired on the Disney Channel. At Rainmaker, Dennison will act as the point person for pitches and potential projects.
Barbara Dawson, appointed Rainmaker's Director of Talent Relations and Recruiting, comes full circle having started her career at Mainframe 12 years ago. While there, she moved quickly from production assistant to producer on the first all-CG television series, REBOOT, and her skills led her to a production manager position at Industrial Light & Magic where she worked on such projects as AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, STAR WARS: EPISODE I -- THE PHANTOM MENACE, HULK, THE MUMMY, PEARL HARBOR and MEN IN BLACK II. After her return to Canada, she was hired at the Vancouver Film School to teach in their 3D Animation and Visual Effects Department. In addition to her teaching duties, she recruited for LucasArts and for Lucasfilm Animation and the new Lucasfilm Animation Singapore studio. This led to a position as studio recruiter at Vanguard Animation for their 3D animation feature SPACE CHIMPS. Dawson will oversee artist relations and training as well as managing the studio's talent requirements.
Warren Franklin, CEO of Rainmaker Ent. also announced that Kimberly Dennison has joined Rainmaker as Director of Development and Barbara Dawson has returned to the company as Director of Talent Relations and Recruiting, both newly-created positions. Tony Pelle has been promoted to Director of Technology, also a newly created post.
Paul Gertz, Exec VP of Business Development, will continue to be responsible for studio relationships, partnerships and business affairs. Gertz, Dennison, Dawson and Twiner-McCarron will report directly to CEO Franklin, with Pelle reporting to Twiner-McCarron.
"I am extremely pleased to promote Jennifer to head up our production team. She has more than proven her talent and judgment over the years and as we further position Rainmaker to develop and produce its own content, I have full confidence in Jennifer's ability to lead our team," Franklin said. "With the additions of Kimberly and Barbara, and Paul heading business development and Tony overseeing technology, our goal of producing our own projects is now more fully realized."
"After all the years watching this company grow and mature into one of the world's animation leaders, I'm very proud to have the opportunity to lead the production effort," Twiner-McCarron commented. "And with our new management team in place, I know we'll be breaking fresh ground, given our talented artists, innovative technicians and the level of projects we anticipate creating."
Twiner-McCarron, whose responsibilities will encompass the studio's overall production strategy for films, DVDs and games, began her career at Rainmaker (formerly Mainframe) in 1997 as a production assistant and animation tracker on BEAST WARS: TRANSFORMERS. She soon became production coordinator then line producer on SHADOW RAIDERS and ACTION MAN and eventually moved up to producer in 2001 with BARBIE IN THE NUTCRACKER. She went on to produce or exec produce four more films in the Mattel Barbie franchise, plus HOT WHEELS HIGHWAY 35 WORLD RACE, and a video game -- ENTER THE MATRIX. An award winner of several Leo's and an ELAN, Twiner-McCarron will serve as Exec Producer on all Mattel projects and will manage the company's operations and production technology.
Kimberly Dennison comes to Rainmaker after 13 years at The Walt Disney Company where she worked in a variety of capacities gathering experience in animation story development, production pipeline set-up, casting, voice direction and post-production supervision. Originally at DisneyToon Studios, Dennison was on the production management team responsible for their many DVDs and lower budget films. She then served as Associate Producer responsible for developing a program of animated short programs entitled Shorty McShorts' Shorts that aired on the Disney Channel. At Rainmaker, Dennison will act as the point person for pitches and potential projects.
Barbara Dawson, appointed Rainmaker's Director of Talent Relations and Recruiting, comes full circle having started her career at Mainframe 12 years ago. While there, she moved quickly from production assistant to producer on the first all-CG television series, REBOOT, and her skills led her to a production manager position at Industrial Light & Magic where she worked on such projects as AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, STAR WARS: EPISODE I -- THE PHANTOM MENACE, HULK, THE MUMMY, PEARL HARBOR and MEN IN BLACK II. After her return to Canada, she was hired at the Vancouver Film School to teach in their 3D Animation and Visual Effects Department. In addition to her teaching duties, she recruited for LucasArts and for Lucasfilm Animation and the new Lucasfilm Animation Singapore studio. This led to a position as studio recruiter at Vanguard Animation for their 3D animation feature SPACE CHIMPS. Dawson will oversee artist relations and training as well as managing the studio's talent requirements.
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