ImagineAsia Studios, the Manila, Philippines-based 3D animation studio, announced the hiring of two U.S.-based executives in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Chairman Jeffrey Harrison appointed JAMES MYHRE to the post of Director of Development & Marketing, and IVAN ROTH as the studio's new Creative Director. Myhre will oversee operations in ImagineAsia's corporate headquarters in San Francisco. Roth will divide his time between Los Angeles and the studio's main facility in Metro Manila.
Myhre, a development veteran, started his career with producers Howard Kazanjian and Steven Siebert on the Warner Bros. feature, THE ROOKIE, starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. Soon after he joined the Warners-based personal management/production firm of Somers-Teitelbaum-David, overseeing development of such projects as the Trimark feature, SAMANTHA, Disney Television's IN THE NICK OF TIME and Showtime's THE FEAR INSIDE. His next effort, GAUDI AFTERNOON, will start shooting in Barcelona in September with director Susan Seidelman (DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN). Myhre wrote the screenplay and will co-produce the $6 million feature alongside Oscar-winning producer Andres Vicente Gumez (BELLE EPOQUE).
Roth began his administrative career in the entertainment business as Assistant Theatre Manager and later Manager for Writers Guild of America West. In 1991, he accepted a position as Executive Assistant to Writer/Director/Producer Steven E. de Souza (DIE HARD 2, RICOCHET), during which time he established offices at Warner Bros. and 20th Century-Fox. In 1995, he became Coordinator of the Director's Office of the American Film Institute, where he worked on upgrading systems, and the Life Achievement Award to Steven Spielberg. He was then tapped by Sony Retail Entertainment for a two-year stint as Executive Assistant to the renowned author/illustrator, Maurice Sendak (WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE). He handled production coordination of the animation and illustrations for Sendak's Bell Atlantic advertising campaign, sets and costumes for the opera HANSEL UND GRETEL, and Nickelodeon's long-running series, LITTLE BEAR.
Founded in 1997 by Harrison and partners Michael Collinson and Maria Passion, ImagineAsia Studios specializes in 3D animation, Digital Ink & Paint, motion capture and digital puppets. After completing work on Cine Groupe's HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K.2, the studio will start production on its own 26-episode, 3D-animated series, THE QUEST: TALES FROM THE RAMAYANA.
