People

Film Roman Taps New Chief Technology Officer

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Film Roman has promoted Uriel Sigala to the position of chief technology officer. In his new post, he will be responsible for modernizing the company's technology so that it can be more efficient and cost-effective. Sigala is a five-year veteran of Film Roman as the head of the technology division, in which he helped establish Film Roman's entertainment Website Level13.net. Currently, he is spearheading the design and implementation of the forthcoming www.filmroman.com Website.

Saban Promotes Three Key Execs

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, Europe | Site Categories: People
Saban International, the distribution division of Fox Family Worldwide, has promoted Julie Wineberg to senior VP of international sales and management, Tony Howe to VP of international business and legal affairs and Maria Torregrosa to VP of sales. Wineberg will increase her work with international Fox Kids channels while continuing to oversee all aspects of the division's day-to-day television sales administration. Previously, she served as VP of international sales management. Howe will continue negotiating and spearheading co-productions and distribution deals across all media worldwide.

WB Production VP Leaves Post

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Warner Bros.' exec VP of production Robert Guralnick will leave his post after his contract expires at the end of November. Sources say that the executive is pursuing other offers at various media companies. Currently, Guralnick was overseeing the Arnold Schwartzenegger film, COLLATERAL DAMAGE and the live-action adaptation of SCOOBY-DOO. Guralnick is an 11-year vet of Warner Bros., who was hired in 1989 as a production VP. After Guralnick's exit Warner Bros.' will be left with only two executive VPs of production, Kevin McCormick and Jeff Robinov.

PDI/DreamWorks Names Teresa Cheng Head of Production

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
PDI/DreamWorks (formerly PDI), the animation and visual effects arm of DreamWorks SKG, has named Teresa Cheng as head of production. Cheng will oversee all of the global production efforts for PDI/DreamWorks. Previously, she has served as production manager for the DreamWorks animated feature film, SPIRIT, currently in production. Prior to DreamWorks, Cheng served as visual effects producer for Warner Bros.' BATMAN AND ROBIN.

BOXX Technologies Finds New Chairman & VP

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, North America | Site Categories: People
BOXX Technologies, a leading provider of digital content creation tools for the entertainment and digital film industries, announced that James H. Moore has joined the company as chairman. Moore recently served as president and COO at Crossroads Systems, a high-technology manufacturer of fibre channel storage routers for the computer networking industry. Prior to joining Crossroads Systems, Moore was vice president and general manager of Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic.

Disney Internet Adds Flannigan As Sr. VP Of Websites

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) (WDIG) has promoted Erik Flannigan to senior VP of non-Disney-branded entertainment Websites. Previously, Flannigan served as VP of MrShowbiz.com, Movies.com and Wall of Sound. In his new position, Flannigan will continue to be responsible for those three sites as well as ABC.com and Oscar.com. He will relocate to Los Angeles from Seattle. Flannigan joined MrShowbiz in 1995 as an associate editor. Before joining Mr.Showbiz, Flannigan was managing editor of the music publication ICE and senior editor at the Rocket, an independent music newspaper in Seattle.

Cinesite Finds Fink For Senior F/X Post

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Cinesite the visual effects arm of Kodak, has named Michael Fink as their senior visual effects supervisor. Fink's visual effects supervisor credits include WAR GAMES, THE SEVENTH SIGN, BRAVEHEART, LETHAL WEAPON 4 and X-MEN. He earned an Oscar nomination for BATMAN RETURNS in 1993. Fink led a start-up venture, Warner Digital Studios, for Warner Bros., in 1995. The full service visual effects shop had a 150 staff at its peak. They created visual effects for BATMAN AND ROBIN, ERASER, MARS ATTACKS, CONSPIRACY THEORY and CONTACT.

Cartoon Network Italy Appoints Three New Staff

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, Europe | Site Categories: People
Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has appointed three new staff members for its Rome Cartoon Network Italy office. Jaime Ondarza has been named marketing manager and will oversee the establishment of the Cartoon Network brand in Italy. Previous, Ondarza worked for international advertising agency Young & Rubicam. Andrea Castellari joins as sales director and will be in charge of the development of all commercial activities relating to Cartoon Network's channel and Website as well as work to strengthen the co-operation with Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

Film Roman Promotes Clifton

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Film Roman has promoted director of television development Sidney Clifton to vice president in charge of TV. In her new role, Clifton will oversee all television projects from development to sales as well as the acquisition of literary properties for live-action and animated productions. Clifton joined Film Roman as development coordinator and moved up to manager of television development before assuming the role of director of television development. Before Film Roman, she was a journalist for Exodus and Essence magazines and an executive assistant as Fox Sports Network.

Lucas Learning Lands New Director Of Development

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Lucas Learning Ltd., a developer of interactive entertainment and educational software, has named Craig Southard as their new director of development. Southard joins Lucas Learning from Mondo Media, an online content creator, where he served as executive producer. Previously, he spent 15 years as an applications developer for the New Media market.

Fox Family Finds New Head

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Veteran Fox Kids executive Maureen Smith has been named the new president of Fox Family Channel and Fox Kids Network. Smith had been serving as the interim president after Rich Cronin left the position in May. Previously, Smith served as executive vice president of Fox Family Channel and general manager of Fox Kids Network. "Maureen's background in programming, marketing research and promotions make her the perfect candidate to lead both networks into distinct and top performing entertainment outlets," said chairman and CEO of Fox Family Worldwide, Haim Saban.

Marvel Names Milo President Of New Media

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Marvel Enterprises, Inc. has named Steve Milo president of Marvel New Media. In his new role, he will oversee development, organization and implementation of Marvel.com's strategic direction. Previously, Milo spent 5 years in senior management positions at Fandom and AnotherUniverse.com, a leading e-commerce and content site for toys and collectibles, which he founded.

Cinar Names Rossi New CFO

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, North America | Site Categories: People
Cinar Corp. has named George Rossi senior VP and chief financial officer. Previously, he served as president of Astral Media subsidiary Omni Media USA. Before joining Omni Media, Rossi played a key role in the rebirth of Quebec radio and TV group Radiomutuel Inc., which was acquired by Astral in 1999. Rossi replaces former Cinar CFO Hasanan Panju, who was fired in March over unapproved investments made in offshore accounts.

PPM's Rodriguez To Head Filmax's Toon Division

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, Europe | Site Categories: People
Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez is closing down his animation production-distribution house PPM Multimedia to head up the animation arm of Madrid's burgeoning content creator Filmax. He will oversee the development of animated projects, international sales, coordinating co-productions and directing services at Filmax's animation studio Bren Entertainment. Rodriguez formed PPM Multimedia in 1990 and quickly transformed the small company into a major force in the Spanish market.

Cartoon Network Online Names New VP

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Cartoon Network Online has named Pola Changnon as its new vice president and executive producer. Based in Atlanta, she will oversee the producers and writers for CartoonNetwork.com. Previously, Changnon directed the redesign of the Cartoon Network Online Website.

ART Adds Self As CFO & Sims As VP Sales

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
ART (Advanced Rendering Technology), a leading producer of ray-tracing and graphics technology, announced the appointments of Thomas Self as CFO and John Sims as VP of sales. Previously, Self served as CFO of San Jose-based MediaGate, a multi-national Internet software and hardware manufacturer. "Tom is joining the company at a time of growth and tremendous market opportunity for ART," said company CEO George Merrick.

Ousted Levin Officially Leaves Sony

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, South America | Site Categories: People
On Friday, October 27, 2000, four-year Sony Pictures veteran Bob Levin officially settled out the remaining 1 1/2 years of his contract and left his post as president of worldwide marketing for Columbia TriStar Pictures Group. His resignation came one day after Sony restructured the executive arm and gave chief of worldwide distribution, Jeff Blake, Levin's duties. According to insiders, there were tensions between Blake and Levin. Levin is best known in the animation community for playing a key cog in the phoenix run of Walt Disney animation.

Blur Studios Adds 4 Animators To Its Roster

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Venice, California-based Blur Studio has added four artists to its creative staff -- character animator Noel McGinn, visual effects designer and 3D animator Ed Lee, animator Paul Taylor and animator Asier Hernaez. Previously, McGinn served as a character animator for Pacific Data Images. He has worked on ANTZ and the upcoming SHREK. "I wanted to join a company where I would have an opportunity to be involved in all facets of computer animation and work on a variety of projects," said McGinn.

Sari Rosen Joins ATTIK As Executive Producer

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All, Europe | Site Categories: People
Sari Rosen has joined new York-based ATTIK, a leading all-media creative solutions firm, as executive producer. Previously, Rosen worked at the broadcast design and media company Pittard Sullivan. Rosen started as a production coordinator and within a year was producing projects for ABC, VH1, Lifetime, TNN, The Netherlands' RTL4, Germany's DSF and Discovery Kids Latin America. ATTIK's New York managing director/group executive producer, Jim Moran, said, "I couldn't be any happier about Sari joining ATTIK.

Icebox Names Entertainment Veterans As COO & CMO

Posted In | News Categories: People | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: People
Icebox.com, an Internet animation content creator, has named entertainment industry veterans Cheryl Parnell as chief operating officer and Christos Garkinos as senior VP and chief marketing officer. Previously, Parnell served as executive VP and chief operating officer for Roger Corman's production company, Concorde-New Horizons, where she oversaw shows such as Showtime's ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS. "Cheryl is a passionate and talented entertainment executive who has a tremendous breadth of experience," said Icebox CEO Steve Stanford.