SONY FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP appoints five

SONY PICTURES FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP has appointed five key development
executives. BOB HIGGINS has been promoted to Senior Vice President of
Creative Affairs; STACEY ATTANASIO has been named Senior Vice President of
Production; JOE D'AMBROSIA has been named Executive Director of Creative
Affairs; TARA POLACIK has been promoted to Director of Creative Affairs and
GRACE BENN has been named Creative Executive. Prior to his new appointment,
BOB HIGGINS served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for Columbia
TriStar Television Children's Programming (CTTCP). Higgins will continue to
have creative supervision over all television programming development and
current production for the division's animated television series. His role
will also expand to include the development of features and direct-to-video
product, which are targeted to the family audience and aimed at creating
character and kid-oriented franchises. STACEY ATTANASIO will be responsible
for live-action, animated and CGI feature film development. She will focus
on creating product for underserved market segments, including the girl and
"tween" audiences. Attanasio will concentrate on developing properties with
franchise potential to be utilized across all of SPE's film and TV
divisions. Attanasio joins SPFE from The Meyers/Shyer Company, a Burbank,
California-based production company she founded with filmmakers Nancy
Meyers and Charles Shyer. JOE D'AMBROSIA will work with Attanasio and
Higgins on the development of the division's feature film slate. He comes
to SPFE from Nickelodeon Movies, where he served as Director of
Development, and was involved in the overall creative direction of
Nickelodeon's feature film division. TARA POLACIK, who joined Sony in 1997
as Manager of Creative Affairs, will continue to be involved in the
creation, development and direction of the division's animated and
live-action programming. GRACE BENN will be responsible for acquiring and
developing both feature film and television properties. She comes to SPFE
from Columbia Pictures, which she joined as a Creative Assistant in 1995,
moving up to Assistant Story Editor in 1996, and Story Editor a year later.
She began her career as an actress, appearing in national television
commercials, regional theater and feature films.