Company Launches & Partnerships
China-based YooZoo Pictures has joined Bliss Media to form a $100 million equity YooZoo Bliss Film Fund for use on Chinese co-productions and films designed for worldwide distribution. The fund’s managing directors are the LA-based co-founder and President of Bliss Meida Wei Han and CEO of YooZoo Pictures U.S. Lin Qi. CAA advised on the fund and will continue to represent it. YooZoo Pictures recently aquired the Chinese distribution rights to the IM Global feature, Hacksaw Ridge.
Indie producer-distributor Entertainment Studios has inked a deal with Verizon FiOS to carry its Justice Central.TV, a 24/7 legal and news cable network. This is the first major new carriage deal for the network, which began in 2012 on AT&T U-Verse. Justice Central.TV’s lineup includes Justice With Judge Mablean and America’s Court With Judge Ross.
Hyper, a new app with curated, short-form videos, has launched. The videos encompass tech, culture, style, and events around the world. Hyper was created with the assistance of a $1.1 million dollar seed round led by Advancit Capital, with participation by Lowercase Capital, Broadway Video Ventures, Freelance Ventures, and Mesa Ventures.
New Zealand-based Vista Entertainment Solutions, a global leader in cinema-management software, has joined forces with software provider VINX Corporation to enter the Japanese marketplace.
Channel Frederator Network has debuted 90+ new channels featuring content creators from 11 different countries to its digital animation network in the last month. It now has more than 27 million subscribers and 2.6 billion views of its content.
Film
Jeff Baker has been named the Creative Consultant of RatPac Entertainment. He was formerly the EVP and General Manager of Theatrical Catalog at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
Scott Coulter has been named the VP, Executive Producer of Visual Effects at MASTERSFX. He was formerly the Founder of VFX Executive Producer at Worldwide FX.
Tomas Jegeus has been named the President of Fox International Productions. He was formerly the Co-President of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing & Distribution at 20th Century Fox.
Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard Rose is now a Consultant at AMBI Distribution. She was previously the President of International Sales & Distribution at Voltage Pictures
Paul Hanson has been named the CEO of Covert Media. He was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of Annapurna Pictures.
Elisabeth Patte has been named the Director of Animated Custom Creative Content at Illumination Entertainment. She was previously the Director of Background Characters of Minions
Laura Sok is now the VP of Publicity at Cohen Media Group. She was previously an independent film publicity consultant in the Netherlands.
TV
Lynn Stepanian has been named the EVP of TV at Open Road Films. She will handle acquisitions and managing output deals and develop programming opportunities and TV series based on Open Road’s film library. Most recently she was the SVP Acquisitions and Scheduling at ABC Family where she oversaw the network’s off-network and feature acquisitions and linear, multi-platform and on-air media strategies.
Philip Matthys has joined Hulu as head of head business affairs for its original series. In his new role, he will handle biz affairs for all development and production deals related to Hulu Originals, including managing the business relationships with studio suppliers. He will report to Chadwick Ho, SVP & General Counsel at Hulu. Previously he spent 12 years at NBCU, most recently as SVP, Head of Business Affairs, at USA Network, Syfy Channel and Universal Cable Productions.
Gina Becconsall has been given the position of VP, Post-Production & Operations at 44 Blue Productions. She was previously the Director, Post-Production & Operations at 44 Blue Productions. PJ Donnelly has been named the VP, Post-Production & Technical Services. PJ was upped from Director, Post-Production & Technical Services at 44 Blue Productions. Mark Hamaguchi is now the VP, Production Management at 44 Blue. He was formerly the Director, Production Management at the company.
Nicholas Caprio has been upped to COO at Pilgrim Studios. He was formerly the EVP of Production & Current Programming at Pilgrim Studios. Johnny Gould has been named the Chief Creative Officer at the company. He was formerly the EVP, Development & Original Programming.
Eric Coleman has been promoted to the position of SVP, Original Programming and General Manager at Disney Television Animation. He was formerly the SVP of Original Series at Disney Television Animation. Aaron Simpson has been named the VP of Development at Disney Television Animation. He was formerly the Head of Development at Mondo Media. Jonathan Schneider has been named the VP of Strategy at Disney Television Animation. He was promoted from his title as Executive Director, Development at Disney Television Animation. Shane Prigmore has been named the VP, Creative Affairs at Disney Television Animation. Previously Shane was the Co-EP and Creative Director on their animated film, Tangled. Bonnie Lemon has been given the position of VP of Production at Disney Television Animation. She was formerly a Production Executive at DreamWorks Animation.
Lauren Eskelin has been given the position of EVP, Programming at True Entertainment. She was formerly the SVP, Programming at the company. Lorraine Haughton has been named the VP, Programming, True Entertainment and will stay on as EP of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Carol Klein has been named the VP, Production at True Entertainment. He was formerly the Executive in Charge of Production at Love, Lust, Or Run.
Kathleen Finch has been given the position of Chief Programming, Content & Brand Officer at Scripps Networks Interactive. She was formerly the President of HGTV, DIY Network and Great American Country. Burton Jablin has been named the Chief Operating Officer at Scripps Networks Interactive. He was formerly the President at Scripps Networks. Shannon O’Neill has been named the Managing Director, Finance & Operations at Scripps Networks Interactive. She was previously the President at Travel Channel.
Randy Lennox has been given the position of President, Entertainment Production & Broadcasting at Bell Media. He was formerly the President, CEO at Universal Music Canada.
Leonardo Ruiz has been given the position of VP, General Manager and Director, Sales at Univision Local Media (Salt Lake City) and General Manager at Univision Local Media (Bakersfield, CA). He was formerly the General Manager at Univision Local Media (Bakersfield, CA).
Jon Rutherford is now pursuing other opportunities. He was formerly the EVP of Distribution & Business Development at Tricon Films & Television. Karthiga Ratnasabapathy has been named the VP, Worldwide Sales & Acquisitions, Tricon Films & Television. She was previously the Director, Digital Sales & Acquisitions at Tricon Films & Television.
Francois Vallerian is now the Director of International Free TV Research at 20th Century Fox Television Distribution. He was formerly the VP of Market Research at Zodiak USA.
Management, PR, Agencies
David Gardner has gone over to The Lippin Group and will serve as their SVP. the firm’s chairman and CEO Dick Lippin announced today. Gardner is a veteran, with 20 years in L.A. and Atlanta working on public relations and publicity campaigns for more than 100 TV series, movies, specials and events.
Neil Warnock has been named the Head of Worldwide Music at UTA. He previously founded and was the President of The Agency Group that UTA recently acquired. Craig Bernstein has been named an Agent, Production at UTA. He was formerly an Agent in the Production department at ICM Partners.
Annie McDonough has been named the VP of Falco Ink. She was previously a Senior Account Executive at Falco Ink.
Gavin O’Reilly is now pursuing other opportunities after leaving his post as CEO of The Agency Group.
Tara Senior has been given the position of Co-Head of Unscripted Television at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. She was previously a Partner at Hansen Jacobson.
Steven Squillante has been named the Chief Operating Officer at Partner at Leeding Management. He was formerly the President of Physical Production at IM Global.
Grant Derkac has been named the Agent of International & Independent Film at ICM Partners. He was formerly a Coordinator of International & Independent Film at ICM Partners.
David Gross has been hired on as the SVP of International Division at Screen Engine/ASI. He previously founded Movie Review Intelligence. Mark Orne has been named the SVP of Digital Entertainment Division at Screen Engine/ASI. He was formerly the Executive Director of Global Consumer Insights Group at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Erica Lancaster is now a TV Agent at CAA. She was previously a Development Executive at Broadway Video.
Pattie Sueoka has moved to The Gersh Agency and will be an agent in their commercial production division, supporting below-the-line talent for spots, music videos and branded content. Gersh has also brought on Tara Kromer to oversee below-the-line talent for features and television in the New York office.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Anki named Mark Bradley as its Chief Revenue Officer. Bradley was formerly VP for Asia Pacific with Electronic Arts.
Rick Schiavinato has been named the VP of Sales and Business Development for ThinkAnalytics Latin America. He most recently worked in business development for Genesis Networks.
Endemol Shine Group has hired on Wim Ponnet as Group Director of Strategy + Commercial Development. Ponnet was previously at Yahoo EMEA, where he was the Senior Director, Strategy + Operations since 2011.
Ranker has just launched a video division and hired Inger Lund Carter as the VP, Content and Programming. Carter was previously the Yahoo! Front Page Editorial Director. Over in their advertising division, Ranker has hired David Cohn, formerly of Askmen and Crave Online.com, as the EVP of Sales.
Brad Globe, President of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will be leaving the studio after running the division for more than a decade. Diane Nelson will take over the division until she names Globe’s successor, adding it to her current responsibilities as President, DC Entertainment and President and CCO at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Erin McPherson was previously the CCO at Maker Studios, but has since left to pursue other opportunities. Jeremy Welt has also left his post as SVP of Marketing at Maker to pursue other opportunities.
Adrian Sexton has been hired as the Interim President of Endemol Beyond USA. He was previously the COO at Endemol Beyond USA. Will Keenan was formerly the President but has since left to pursue other opportunities.
Jeffrey Remedios has been named the President and CEO of Universal Music Canada. He was formerly the Co-Founder of Arts & Crafts.
Matt Wise has been given the position of Director of Publishing at Blumhouse Books. He was previously an Agent, Literary at Foundry Literary + Media.