Blanche Frankel has been promoted from exec director to VP at SAA Public Relations. Based in the company’s New York office, Frankel will continue to oversee the Latin American division, in addition to seeking expansion opportunities and developing new business for SSA and manage its New York office operations. Frankel joined SSA in 2000 as director, and in 2002 she was named to head SSA’s newly-formed Latin American division representing Latin American entertainment companies Globo TV and Comarex S.A. de C.V., as well as provide media relations and marketing representation for U.S.

Abbe Daniel has joined Click 3x in New York City as executive producer for broadcast to oversee the studio’s broadcast department which provides brand development, design and production services for broadcast and cable entities. Daniel had been working with Click 3x on a freelance basis for several months, producing projects for iN DEMAND, Nickelodeon, Lifetime and Discovery. She worked for several years as coordinating producer for award-winning television journalist Bill Moyers on a series of acclaimed documentaries for PBS and helped launch NOW WITH BILL MOYERS.

Radium, with studios in San Francisco and Santa Monica, California, has hired three new people to bolster various areas of the growing visual effects company. Julie Luehrman is on board as VP marketing & sales, based in the company’s San Francisco location. Executive producer Matthew McManus and technical operations manager Michael Chizzo have joined the Los Angeles office.

Joseph Gilland, who headed up Walt Disney Feature Animation EFX department in Florida for LILO AND STITCH and TARZAN, has joined Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, Canada to be special effects supervisor on the SILVERWING animated series. "SILVERWING is just such a fantastic story. It is one of my son's favorite books and I absolutely jumped at the chance to be part of bringing SILVERWING'S story to life!" said Gilland.

Fox Kids Europe has promoted Benoit Runel from exec director of programming and acquisitions to SVP of programming. Runel will be responsible for sourcing programming not only for the FKE channels, but also for international distribution (currently serviced by Buena Vista International) and for FKE's consumer products division. FKE believes this operational expansion will also help development its online and interactive business. Runel reports to Bruce Steinberg, FKE's CEO, who is overseeing the programming strategy of FKE in coordination with majority shareholder The Walt Disney Co.

Gaspard de Chavagnac joins Fox Kids France as managing director, replacing Ronan Lunven who left the position in November. Prior to FKF, de Chavagnac worked for eight years at Canal+ Group. He also was EVP for the finance and development at Canalsatellite and project manger for Canal+ International Affairs. He reports to Paul Taylor, group managing director for Channel Europe and EVP of Fox Kids Europe.

European animation television vets Justin Hatfield and Cathy Laughton are teaming with Hungarian toon studio Varga to flex its international muscle. The two will handle presales across Europe, finance and distribution for Varga, as well as seek out co-production and partnering opportunities on new projects. Varga CEO, Andras Erkel, has set them upon securing int'l pre-sales for BJORN BEAR, a Varga, Happy Life (Sweden) and WDR (Germany) co-production.

Barry Diller has resigned as co-chairman/CEO of Vivendi Universal Entertainment to end investors' concerns about him also being head of USA Interactive. USA Interactive just unveiled plans to buy control of online service Expedia.com in a deal valued at $3.3 billion. Most of Diller's investments rest with USA Interactive where he is CEO/chairman. "My executive role was never intended to be permanent," Diller said in a statement.

Jerry Offsay will step down as president of programming for Showtime Networks at the end of the year. The search has begun for his successor at the cable net owned by Viacom. Offsay commented in a statement, "Last summer I announced to Matt [Matthew Bank, chairman/CEO of Showtime] that after my 50th birthday I intended to leave Showtime." He said they decided to make the announcement now, although his birthday is in December, to facilitate naming a successor and to make an orderly transition.

Independent animation studio Mike Young Productions (MYP) is expanding with key hires in areas of development and distribution. Regis Brown joins as VP of international sales, responsible for launching a new distribution arm for the company. His sales slate includes HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE in key international territories, JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS, a co-production with PBS WLIW and Entara Ltd., and PET ALIEN, a co-production with Antefilms Production, for TF1.

Visual effects artist Steve Meyer joins Zoic studios in Culver City, California to work on the television series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and TWILIGHT ZONE as well as commercial and broadcast projects. Meyer joins Zoic from Radium, where he collaborated with Andrew Orloff, Loni Peristere, Steve Schofield and Chris Jones who launched Zoic in the fall of 2002. At Radium, Meyer did visual effects for Re/Max, McDonald’s, Best Western, Chevy and Budweiser, as well as music videos for Sheryl Crow and Linkin Park. Meyer also worked on SMALLVILLE, BUFFY and HBO Films’ LIVE FROM BAGHDAD.

Veteran marketing exec Steve Sohmer has left the ABC network as its EVP of marketing, advertising and promotion according to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. No replacement has been announced and the executives in each department will report for now to ABC Entertainment Group chairman Lloyd Braun. The network declined to comment on his departure. Sohmer was hired last summer to promote ABC's fall schedule, including his successful campaign for new sitcoms like 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER.

Editor Robert Pennington joins Northern Lights Post's roster of talent at the company's recently launched visual effects/design division. Pennington recently finished editing two feature length independent films, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROBERT WILSON (working title), a documentary about the famed experimental theater director, and A TALE OF TWO PIZZAS, a romantic comedy directed by Vincent Sassone starring Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent and Patty D'Arbanville. Pennington's recent commercial assignments include a montage-driven, two-spot image campaign for Ford Motor Co.

Jan Nagel joined the jadooWorks marketing team as a consultant it was announced by CEO Rajiv Marwah. Along with Elizabeth Koshy, North American marketing director of jadooWorks, Nagel will provide business development and marketing services in Southern California. Since 1991, Nagel has done marketing and business development for production studios including Dream Quest Images, Calico Entertainment and VirtualMagic Animation. She also is president of Women In Animation.