Company Launches & Partnerships
Sony Pictures Television is launching the True Crime channel in the UK on Freeview. The new channel will be the platform’s only dedicated crime channel. True Crime’s shows will include Deadly Women, Crime 360, The Devil You Know and The 9/11 Faker as well as Dog the Bounty Hunter and Paternity Court.
Verizon and Hearst have joined together on a digital video initiative named Verizon Hearst Media Partners and will release two new video channels in the spring: RatedRed.com, a lifestyle brand aimed at red-state millennials, and Seriously.TV, a news-comedy channel. Content from the venture will be distributed over YouTube, Verizon’s Go90 mobile streaming service, and other platforms.
Jon Jashni is now the Principal of Raintree Ventures, a new investment and incubation fund for entertainment initiatives focusing on immersive content and location-based ventures. He was formerly the President/Chief Creative Officer at Legendary Entertainment. Legendary chairman/CEO Thomas Tull has said he will still collaborate with Jasni in this new venture.
Turner’s core intelligence platform for advertising sales, Turner Incite will now be powered by the ad sales technologies of the IBM Watson platform, and leverage predictive analytics from MarketShare, an advanced analytics tool from the cloud-based information services company Neustar. As part of that move, James Russo will now serve as SVP, Client Strategy & Development and make recommendations to clients based on an insight-driven selling approach. He was previously at Nielsen, where he served as SVP of Global Consumer Insights.
Sarah Adolphson, Michelynn Woodard, Regina Miller and Catherine Kimmel have Co-Founded The Artemis Agency, a firm dedicated to providing support for the philanthropic strategies of individual, corporate and nonprofit clients. Clients include Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, Geffen Playhouse and Al Gore’s The Climate Reality Project, among others. Adolphson was previously the Executive Director at WME Foundation. Kimmel was a Consultant to the ONE Campaign. Miller served as the Chief Development Officer of Geffen Playhouse and President & Founder at RSM Global. Woodard was previously the President & CEO at Dr. Phil Foundation.
Turner’s Super Deluxe team will launch Surf.co, a media aggregation site that will allow users to manually collect videos and GIFs from YouTube, Facebook, Giphy and elsewhere, organizing them into collections – or “boards.”
YouTube is funding over fifty videos, shot at YouTube Spaces studios around the world, showcasing women’s perspectives to empower female creators. The United Nations will partner with YouTube and have enlisted seven female YouTube creators to serve as “change ambassadors,” creating videos that promote gender equality and tolerance. YouTube has also joined forces with the actress Geena Davis and her Institute on Gender in Media, a nonprofit devoted to improving gender depictions onscreen and creating equal opportunities. The Institute provided consulting to creators as part of the program. Videos from the program began rolling out yesterday on the YouTube Spaces channel.
Film and TV studio Mance Media is launching 4KUniverse, an entertainment channel devoted to 4K Ultra HD programming. The service will be available through YouTube and Vimeo to cable, IPTV, and MSO subscribers and will debut internationally in April at $5.99 per month. Mance Media is actively seeking more 4K programming for the channel.
Bravo Media has launched Jet Set, a lifestyle destination vertical on BravoTV.com. It will focus on adventure and aspirational travel content. It will include The Tour Group Guide, a short-form video series showcasing exotic locations around the world, and featuring tips from travel experts.
Film
Kyle Davies is leaving his post as Distribution Head at Relativity/EuropaCorp and is rumored to be in talks with Paramount Pictures to help run distribution at that studio. The deal at Paramount is not yet completed and contracts are not signed. Previously he was EVP of Theatrical Distribution at Overture when Relativity acquired that company and then continued to hold that position.
Alex Godelman has been named the CTO at Cast & Crew Entertainment Services. He was formerly the CTO, SVP at Sony New Media Solution in New York.
Mary Parent has been named the Vice Chairman of Worldwide Production at Legendary Entertainment. In her role, she has oversight of all of the company’s operations, including TV and digital, calling the shots in television. Previously Parent founded Disruption Entertainment which had a deal at Paramount. Bruce Rosenblum is leaving his post as President of Legendary Television and Digital Media following Legendary Entertainment’s recent acquisition by China’s Dalian Wanda Group.
Robert Copple is now pursuing other opportunities He was formerly the President, Chief Operating Officer at Cinemark.
Melanie Miller has been named the EVP at Samuel Goldwyn Films. She was previously the VP of Acquisitions & Marketing at Gravitas Ventures.
Alex Saks has been named the President at June Pictures. He was formerly the Agent of International & Independent Department at ICM Partners.
Mike Viane is now pursuing other opportunities. He was formerly the Head Film Buyer at Regal Entertainment Group.
TV
Nancy Cotton has been named the U.S. President of Production at Heyday Television, the joint venture of feature producer David Heyman and NBCUniversal International Studios. She was previously the SVP of Creative Affairs at Fox 21 TV Studios.
Michael Lang has been named the EVP of International Development & Digital at Discovery Communications (as of April 2016) He was formerly the President of the Lang Media Group.
Luis Fernández has been named the EVP of Network News at Telemundo. Fernández will manage the network news operations and manage editorial direction, programming and production of all news properties. Fernandez previously was the President of Entertainment at Univision. Fernández replaces Luis Carlos Vélez who will shift to Telemundo News’ existing talent team as a News Anchor and Senior Correspondent.
Ken Gibbs has been named the VP of Social Media Marketing Strategy at BET Networks in New York. He was formerly the Senior Director of On TV Operations at BET Networks.
Peter Salmon has been named the Chief Creative Officer at Endemol Shine Group, which will take effect this summer. He will leave his post as BBC Studios Director on May 31. In his new post he will lead the creative direction of ESG’s worldwide network which includes 120 production companies in over 30 markets. Emma Moloney has been named General Counsel Endemol Shine Group. She was formerly the General Counsel to News UK. Boudewijn Beusmans has been named EVP, Endemol Shine Group in addition to Beusmans’ role as Co-CEO at Endemol Shine Netherlands in Amsterdam. Georg Ramme will be stepping down as Managing Director of Endemol Beyond Germany and as Global Managing Director of Endemol Beyond International. Michael Kollatschny will take over on May 1 as Managing Director. He is currently Head of TV and Talent for Twitter Germany.
Nathaniel Hargress has been named the Senior Counsel of Business & Legal Affairs at Viacom Media Networks. He was formerly the Associate Attorney of Business & Legal Affairs at Discovery Communications.
Eduardo Hauser has been named the Managing Director of Latin America and the Caribbean at Scripps Networks Interactive. He was formerly the Founder, Managing Partner at Hauser & Co. in Miami.
Dana Honor will leave her post as SVP of Comedy Development and Lisa Katz will leave her post as SVP of Drama Development at 20th Century Fox Television in July 2016 to pursue other opportunities.
Veronica Pottinen has been named the Head of Insight at all3media International in London. She was previously the Head of International Research at ITV Studios Global Entertainment.
David Shaye has been named the SVP of Development at Rogue Atlas Productions. He was formerly the VP of Development, U.S. Alternative Programming at eOne Television.
Alan Wieder has been named the VP of Series Development at MTV. He was formerly the SVP at Development at Maverick Television.
Management, PR, Agencies
Jeff Raymond has been named SVP at Rogers & Cowan. SVP Lindsay Galin will join him as Co-Managers of the Talent Department. The pair will manage initiatives in digital, content curating, and social media. Before Rogers & Cowan Raymond started his own agency, PYR PR and Galin ran Lantern PR.
Laura Brokaw has been named the Agent in Production at Gersh. She was previously the Agent in Production at The Skouras Agency. Stewart Cavanagh has been named the VP of Alternative TV at Gersh. He was formerly the VP of Alternative TV at Rebel Entertainment Partners.
Denise Durante has been upped from Co-Managing Director to the Chief Marketing Officer at Wasserman.
Richard Licata is now the Principal at Licata & Co., The Awards Agency. He was formerly the EVP of Communications at NBC Entertainment.
Stephanie Moy has been hired as a Talent Manager at Elevate Entertainment. She was previously a Talent Manager at Luber Roklin.
David Pahl has been named the Senior Counsel at DLA Piper Media in New York. He was formerly the Chief Counsel at ESPN.
Danielle Rossi is now a Coordinator at The Cartel. She was previously an Assistant at The Cartel.
Stephanie Rothman is now a Coordinator at The Rothman Brecher Agency. She was previously an Assistant at The Rothman Brecher Agency.
Brian Young is now a Manager/Producer at Three Six Zero. He was formerly the Principal of ArtForm.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Mark Connon has been named the Global Chief Mobile Officer for AOL platforms and advertising. He previously served as EVP of Platform Business at Millennial Media.
Tom Calderone has been named the Global Head of Content Partnerships at Spotify. He was formerly the President of VH1.
Ryan Horrigan is the new Chief Content Officer at virtual reality studio Felix & Paul and will oversee content development, strategy, and partnerships for the studio’s L.A. office. He previously served as a development and production executive at New Regency.
Corey Weiner will shift from COO to President of mobile video and branded content advertising platform Jun Group. He also currently serves as CEO of HyprMX, a Jun Group subsidiary.
Bonnie Pan has been named President of Endemol Beyond USA, the digital content arm of Endemol Shine North America. She was previously the EVP of Programming for Disney’s Maker Studios. Adrian Sexton, who was the Interim President of Endemol Beyond USA since August 2015, will resume his role as COO.
James Baker has been named the President at Red Arrow Entertainment Group, a company that produces TV, feature film and digital content for an array of global networks and platforms. He was formerly the Managing Director at Red Arrow UK and Global Scripted Strategy in London.
Sam Neswick has been upped from Chief Strategy Officer to the COO at Participant Media.
Stephanie Diehl has been hired as a TV Research Coordinator at Variety Insight. She was previously the Tracking Assistant at Variety Insight.
Jigar Mehta has been named the VP of Digital Operations at Fusion in Oakland. She was previously the Engagement Lead at AJ+.
Paul Rodriguez has been named the VP of Audio Services & Development at Roundabout Entertainment. He was formerly the VP and Director of Feature Sales at Todd-AO/Soundelux.