Category: People

Santa Barbara, California-based SANTA BARBARA STUDIOS, a visual effectscompany that produces CGI for motion picture, commercial, television andspecial venue markets, has hired PETE TRAVERS as CGI supervisor and VIVIENMINTON as sales and marketing manager. Travers is returning to the studiowhere he previously worked on AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS, after which heleft to form his own company, ShadowCaster, through which he worked ascomputer graphics supervisor for Oscar winner WHAT DREAMS MAY COME. Minton

Hollywood, California-based CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO COMMERCIALS has signed TOMDECKER to direct spots for its commercial division. Decker is best knownfor his direction of the on-going Chuck E. Cheese campaign. From 1994-1997Decker was senior animator at Chuck Jones Productions where he worked ontheatrical shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other classiccharacters in such titles as SUPERIOR DUCK and FROM HARE TO ETERNITY.

Cartoon Network has promoted James Porges to vice president of off-channel commerce. Porges will manage the businessdevelopment of consumer products and off-channel presence of all CartoonNetwork-branded multi-character efforts, including publishing, music, homevideo, and theme parks. He will also manage all original Cartoon Networkcharacters such as The Powerpuff Girls and Johnny Bravo. Prior to becomingdirector of brand management, Porges was director of Cartoon Network Clubsat Turner Home Entertainment.

MARCI SELSBERG has returned to WILL VINTON STUDIOS, a Portland,Oregon-based production company, as their east coast producer. Selsberg wasmost recently the president and executive producer of her own smallbusiness, Peek-A-Boo Productions which represented animation productioncompanies such as Curious Pictures.

New York City-based commercial production company SHELTER FILMS has signeddirector TODD FACTOR. Factor has directed spots for Coca-Cola, Budweiser,and Nice Skate Shoes.

STEVE BLEVINS has joined New York-based TIS/MAGNET as seniordesigner/animator. Blevins' duties include designing and creating(primarily 2D) animation for broadcast and the web, art direction, creativedevelopment, and research. Besides free-lancing for Magnet, Blevins hasdone traditional 2D and 3D CGI art and animation for companies such as SanFrancisco-based Wild Brain, New York-based Blue Sky, and Connecticut-based,Ball&Chain.

DAVID MCFARLAND has been named to the newly created position of vicepresident of Affiliate Sales for FOX FAMILY CHANNELS. McFarland willoversee all aspects of affiliate advertising sales and play an integralrole in developing strategic direction for Fox Family Channels'distribution efforts. McFarland joins Fox from Comedy Central where heserved as director of Affiliate Advertising Sales. Previously he served asregional sales manager for Cox Communications where he was responsible forselling cable advertising.

CARTOON NETWORK ONLINE has promoted POLA CHANGNON to executive producer.Changnon will manage the Atlanta, Georgia-based team of producers, writers,and technical staff of CartoonNetwork.com, as well as New York-baseddevelopers Funny Garbage, and other developers. Changnon came to CartoonNetwork Online from San Francisco-based Colossal Pictures where she was aproducer. Prior to that she was a creative executive for Nickelodeon Movies.

DONNA TEGGART has joined ALIAS|WAVEFRONT as manager of the global marketingteam. Her primary responsibilities will be to act as the companyspokesperson and to manage the industry and public perception ofAlias|Wavefront and its brands. Teggart was formerly in the publicitydepartment at Side-Effects Software.