Company Launches & Partnerships
Bravo Media and Mashable Studios will team up to co-produce four new short-form originals, rolling them out this year via Bravo Media’s and Mashable’s digital platforms. Bravo Media and Mashable Studios also recently worked on Real Thoughts with Real Housewives, a short-form digital series relating to the Real Housewives franchise. The first of the four new series to emerge from the new partnership will premiere this spring.
Viacom has signed a multi-year, cross-platform deal with comScore. Vantage, Viacom’s data platform for advertisers, will now leverage comScore’s measurement tools to help advertisers target specific consumers across multiple Viacom platforms and properties, including linear, VOD, and digital services.
Warner Bros. TV Group has reached a template agreement that grants ABC full in-season stacking rights to all episodes of new series, giving the network both the on-demand and streaming rights to all new episodes of series debuting next season, as well as from 2017-2018. Previously, Warner Bros. has only granted ABC a slate of five rolling episodes at a time to use across its platforms.
MCN Fullscreen has bought StageBloc, a fan-engagement startup that runs websites, marketing, and e-commerce operations for musicians and will rename it Fullscreen Direct. It will allow digital creators to engage with fans directly, whether through ticket-selling, exclusive content, or general discussion. StageBloc’s employees will stay on. A forthcoming SVOD service is also in the works from Fullscreen.
Plimsoll Productions now owns a minority stake in specialist distributor Magnify Media. Under the deal, Magnify will have exclusive rights to distribute Plimsoll’s catalogue. The company will also continue to work with third-party content. Plimsoll is a UK and U.S.-based factual entertainment and wildlife producer that currently producing 23 series and over 125 hours of programming for both domestic and international networks.
BAFTA is now accepting applications to the BAFTA Scholarship Programme, which enables talented British citizens, who are in need of financial support, to take a course in film, TV or games in the UK. The deadline for applications for the 2016-17 academic year is June 17. Recipients are granted up to £12K towards course fees, mentoring support, and access to BAFTA events.
Film
Naomi Kawase is now the President of the Cinéfondation and has been named to the Short Films Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Kawase was a previous Camera d’Or winner (1997’s Suzaku) and in 2015 opened Un Certain Regard with Sweet Bean.
Jameson Parker is now the Director of Development at Brightlight Pictures in Vancouver. Parker is an award-winning Canadian actor and producer, as well as a co-founder of Whiskaye Films. His credits include TV movie The Mechanics Of Love for Pixl, and sketch comedy pilot The Peter N’ Chris Show.
Christina Kounelias has been named the EVP of Worldwide Marketing & Communications at Participant Media (as of March 28th, 2016) She was previously the Chief Marketing Officer at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Terry Curtin has been hired on as the Head of Theatrical Publicity at DreamWorks Animation, to start on April 11. She was previously the Head of Strategic Marketing and Global Communications at STX Entertainment. She replaces Robin Chandler, who is leaving to start an independent consulting practice, with DreamWorks Animation as its first client.
Joe Aguilar has been named the CEO at Wink Animation in Shanghai. He was formerly the Chief Creative Officer at Oriental DreamWorks.
Christine Birch has been named the EVP of Domestic Creative Marketing Strategy at Sony Pictures Entertainment. She was previously the President of Marketing at Focus Features.
Steve Miller has been named the EVP of Creative Advertising at Broad Green Pictures. He was formerly the Head of Creative Services at A. Smith & Co. Productions.
Audrey Lee is now the EVP and Deputy General Counsel at Lionsgate. She was previously the SVP of Legal Affairs at Sony Pictures, overseeing legal work involving home entertainment and television distribution. In her new role, she will work on M&A and legal issues for SVOD channels, digital initiatives and location-based entertainment as well as marketing and promotions. James Marsh has been named the SVP of Investor Relations at Lionsgate. He was formerly the Managing Director at Piper Jaffray.
TV
David Eilenberg has been named the President of ITV Entertainment, ITV America’s in-house reality production company and will oversee content creation. He was previously the SVP Unscripted Development, Late Night and Specials, at TNT and TBS, overseeing unscripted shows Cold Justice and Conan among others.
Richard Freudenstein is leaving his post as CEO of Australian pay-TV giant Foxtel to pursue new opportunities. Peter Tonagh will be taking over as CEO. Tonagh was previously the CEO of News Corp Australia.
Pauline Bohm has been upped from SVP to the EVP of International Marketing & Communications at NBCUniversal International Marketing & Communications.
Daniel Coronell has been upped from EVP, Executive Director to the President of News at Univision Communications in Miami.
Chris Deaux has been named the President at Two Fifteen West Entertainment. He was formerly the SVP and an Executive Producer at Intuitive Entertainment. Joanne Yang has been named the Senior Director of Development at Two Fifteen West Entertainment. She was previously the Director of Development at Intuitive Entertainment.
Dawn Olmstead has renewed her contract and has expanded her role as in addition to being the EVP of Development at Universal Cable Prods. she will add oversight of development for Wilshire Studios, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment’s unscripted production abnner, while continuing to handle scripted development for UCP.
Jed Meyer has been named the EVP of Corporate Research at Univision Communications in New York. He was formerly the Global Research Director at Annalect.
Jonathan Abraham has been named the Director of International Sales & Acquisitions at Portfolio Entertainment in Toronto. He was formerly the Manager of International Sales & Marketing at Zuru.
Jonas Agin has been upped from Executive Director to the VP of Original Series at Disney Channel & Disney XD. Lauren Kisilevsky has been upped from Executive Director to the VP of Original Movies at Disney Channel.
Colin Devenish has been named the SVP, Development at Intuitive Entertainment. He was formerly the VP, Development at Peacock Productions.
Lisa Edwards has been named the Creative Director of Factual at Lion Television in London. She was previously the Director of Programmes at Twenty Twenty.
David Eilenberg has been named the President at ITV Entertainment. He was formerly the SVP of Unscripted Development at TNT and TBS.
Tim Hancock has been named the Commissioning Editor of Features & Daytime at Channel 4 in London. He was formerly the Head of Development at Naked Entertainment.
Brian Morewitz has been upped from VP to the SVP of Drama Development at ABC Entertainment.
Andrew Woodhead has been named the Managing Director at Working Title Television UK in London. He was formerly the Executive Producer at Kudos Film & Television.
Management, PR, Agencies
As previously announced last week, Michael Donkis and Joy Fehily have been named EVPs of Entertainment Strategy & Development at PMK-BNC. They Co-Founded Prime PR which has since been folded into PMK-BNC. As part of the move, Maria Herrera, Rebecca Taylor, Cassandra Vargas, Rachael Reiss and Caitlin Scott have been hired on as Publicists at PMK-BNC. There were previously Publicists at Prime PR.
Bill Gersh has been upped from Coordinator to an Alternative TV & Digital Packaging Agent at Gersh.
Adam R. Mehr has been named a Partner at Pryor Cashman LLP. He was formerly a Partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP.
Alec Shankman has been upped from VP to the SVP, Head of Alternative Programming, Digital Media, Licensing & Branding at Abrams Artists.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Tom Rothman has been appointed by President Obama to the National Council on the Arts. The council advises the National Endowment for the Arts chairman on agency policies and reviews grant applications, funding guidelines, and leadership initiatives. Rothman is currently the Chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.
Sam Barlow will now serve as the Executive Creative Director, conceiving and directing new interactive experiences at interactive tech and video firm Interlude. Barlow is a video game director and developer; his interactive movie Her Story won for Best Narrative at the 2015 Game Awards.
Katy Chen is leaving her post as VP of Unscripted Development at MCN Fullscreen to pursue other opportunities. In the interim, Lisa Anderson, Manager of Unscripted, and Taylor Paul, Coordinator of Unscripted, will fill her previous duties.
Gabriel Brakin is now the General Counsel at Participant Media in addition to his role as EVP of Business Affairs. He will handle film financing and investments, work on implementing strategic business initiatives and manage the Business Affairs team.
Zamora Dean has been named the Senior Manager of Licensing & Marketing at 4k Media Inc. in New York. She was previously the Licensing Manager at COPCorp/Knockout Licensing.