Company Launches, Partnerships & Deals
Producer Sam Laybourne has inked a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios and will oversee and develop new projects for the studio. He previously served as EP on NBC’s The Michael J. Fox Show and other credits include ABC’s Cougar Town and Fox’s Arrested Development.
Radiant Films International and Cargo Entertainment have entered into a strategic partnership to expand their production, finance and sales abilities. To facilitate the partnership, Radiant president Mimi Steinbauer will also serve as Cargo’s distribution president while Radiant SVP John Short will oversee foreign sales for all Cargo titles. They are looking to produce 5 features per year. At Cannes, Radiant is selling romantic comedy Carrie Pilby starring Hailee Steinfeld and Tom Wilkinson.
Reality production house 44 Blue launched a virtual reality content studio named Ovrture. The company was founded by Mike Drachkovitch and will operate jointly with 44 Blue, providing immersive content across multiple VR platforms to accompany the company’s programs Lockup and Nightwatch. The company also plans to extend beyond producing unscripted television accompanying content to sports and entertainment. David Holecheck will serve as head of production and Dan Holecheck will be oversee post-production and technology. The duo founded the graphics and effects company Duality Filmworks. Rasha and Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch have been named company directors.
Josh Bycel and Jonathan Fener have inked a two-year overall deal with Universal TV and will serve as exec producers on Eva Longoria comedy Telenovela, which NBC gave a straight to series order. The duo served as EPs on ABC’s Happy Endings and co-EPs on Fox’s American Dad. Fener and Bycel are represented by UTA and Morris Yorn.
Empire EP and showrunner Ilene Chaiken has signed a two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV. Under the seven-figure deal, Chaiken will continue to run Empire while developing new series.
Entertainment studio IM Global and talent managers Carlos Bobadilla and Brandon Guzmán have teamed up to launch a joint venture management and production company, Valor Entertainment Group with the goal to build upon their already extensive Latino talent base and expand into the multicultural market. Principals Bobadilla and Guzmán will oversee the Literary division and Talent division respectively. It is also expected the Valor partners will work closely with Mundial, IM Global’s Latino film sales and financing joint venture with Canana Films.
Film
FilmNation Entertainment has upped Jennifer Fradlin, who has been with the company since 2009 to VP Business and Legal Affairs, Patrick Chu to VP Productions and Acquisitions and Selena Saldana to VP of Publicity. Chu’s new role will include developing and supervising in-house productions. In Cannes he will find new titles for production, financing and worldwide distribution. Saldana has been running PR for the company since 2013, this role will expand her position and she’ll oversee the company’s public profile and all publicity on production and sales projects.
Xavier Marchand is now the President at Entertainment One Features in London, he previously served as the company’s President of Film Production.
Dylan Wiley is the new President, Specialty Releasing at Broad Green Pictures. He previously served as SVP, general manager at eOne Film U.S.
The Weinstein Company has upped Ennis Hensley to President of International Sales & Distribution from EVP of the department and will continue working on international film sales of TWC and Dimension titles as well as develop new business opportunities. At Cannes and other markets and festivals he will serve as a rep for the company. Joe Pirro is the new head of production for Symbolic Exchange. He was previously a CE at The Weinstein Company. Lily Spottiswoode has been promoted to development coordinator, upped from executive assistant at the company.
Miramax has tapped independent producer David Thwaites to be their VP of film, a newly created position. He will report to Zanne Devine, executive VP of film and TV and will head Miramax’s burgeoning film production and development activities as the studio continues to expand their content areas.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has named Robert Lawson as their new corporate spokesman with the title Executive Vice President, Chief Communications Officer. Previously he was a PR exec at Rubenstein where he advised Michael Lynton during the Sony hack. He will to report Lynton and Nicole Seligman.
Film distribution company Alchemy, previously known as Millennium Entertainment, has centralized their IT and operations under three new executives. They hired Jerry McGlynn who will be the new Chief Technology Officer. Jim Jenkins has also been promoted to EVP Operations. Daniel Quantz will serves as VP Operations. Together they will work to develop its existing digital platform and lead strategic operational growth.
TV
Turner Broadcasting announced Doug Shapiro will be the EVP and Chief Strategy Officer upped from his current position as SVP, International and Corporate Strategy for Turner’s parent company, Time Warner, Inc. Starting in July he will be responsible for furthering Turner’s global corporate strategy and identifing business models and growth as well as overseeing their domestic Research and Consumer Insights team and its Media group.
Al Anstey has been tapped as the CEO of Al Jazeera America where he was the managing director at the company previously.
ESPN has tapped Justin Connolly as their executive vice president, Disney & ESPN Affiliate Sales and Marketing following Sean Bratches and David Preschlack’s plans to leave at year's end. Connolly launched the SEC Network and spent a decade in ESPN affiliate sales. The network also promoted Ed Erhardt to president, global sales & marketing, extending his reach across consumer marketing, ad sales and research.
Francisco J. Lopez-Balboa is the new CFO at Univision Communications Inc. in New York. He was previously the Managing Director, Head, Telecom, Media and Technology Investment Grade Financing at Goldman Sachs. Peter Lori is now the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Finance & Chief Accounting Officer there and previously he served as Interim CFO, EVP.
Ben Caudell is the new head of entertainment for Channel 4 in London, he was formerly head of comedy for Objective Productions.
David Diederich is the new VP of Ad Sales & Brand Partnerships, Western Region at WGN America, he was previously VP of Sales at the cabler. Tim Russell will also join WGN America as VP of brand partnerships. He was previously the Senior Managing Director, Head, Sales at Meredith Video Studios.
Polly Hill has been promoted to controller of drama commissioning at the BBC, up from head of independent drama. Patrick Holland will join BBC has head of documentaries. He was tapped from Boundless Productions where he served as their managing director.
Michael J. Cavanagh has been named the EVP and CFO of the Comcast Corporation. He was formerly the Co-President, Co-Chief Operating Officer at The Carlyle Group.
Management, PR, Agencies
Agent Meredith Wechter, who recently left ICM Partners has moved to WME. She brings clients Josh Gad and Gal Gadot, Brittany Snow, Bryce Dallas Howard, Lucy Hale, Katharine McPhee, Abigail Spencer, Jeremy Strong and Seth Gabel.
Marketing firm Ignition Creative has hired Michael Brittain as a creative director. He will handle print advertising campaigns for films and TV shows. He formerly was Director of Print Design at FX Networks, where he worked on series such as Sons Of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Fargo and Louie.
WME has tapped Peter Schwartz and James Rubin to be music agents in their New York office. Both hailed from The Agency Group where Schwartz served as VP and head of urban music while Rubin headed up the International Division for Urban Touring and specialized in breaking artists in international markets. Their clients include Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Cypress Hill, Jordan Bratton, Method Man, Redman, Bronson, Vic Mensa, Ilovemakonnen, and many more.
Tara Levine is the new CMO at Deutsch New York. Levine previously served as the managing director of global marketing and business development at OMD and also worked at Euro RSCG and Arnold Worldwide. In her new post she will report to CEO Val DiFebo. Levine replaces Michael Goldberg, who became CEO at Zimmerman in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last September.
Michael Wall has been tapped by independent ad agency Mother as their global CEO. He was previously the global CEO of Lowe and Partners. Mother was named the Creativity Agency of the Year in 2009. In his new post he will lead the company’s efforts to expand into more markets and sectors of growth.
Management company Grandview has promoted Zac Frognowski to manager. It marks the first internal promotion for the company since its start. Frognowski was previously at Fourth Floor Productions.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Nathalie Moar is the new SVP and head of communications for Combs Enterprises. She was previously an executive at NKM Consultants in New York.
Richard Beckman has been named Chief Revenue Officer at Vice Media in New York in the first ever appointment for the position. He was an executive at Conde Nast for twenty years+ where he produced Fashion Rocks. After which he became CEO of Prometheus Global Media, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek and then left to form Three Lions Entertainment with billionaire investor Ron Burkle.
Cedric Foster is the new SVP of Brand Marketing, Digital & Fan Engagement Strategy at Spike TV upped from VP of Spike Digital.
Disney has upped Leslie Ferraro to President of Consumer Products up from EVP Global Marketing, Sales and Travel Operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The 16-year company veteran will oversee the global operation that covers products ranging from toys and apparel to books and fine art through the company’s Licensing, Publishing and Disney Store businesses.
Steve King has been promoted to VP of U.S. Creative Services at Imagem, up from Senior Director.
Abbey Thomas has been promoted to SVP of Entertainment and Auto at Tremor Video, up from VP of Entertainment.
Tal Fiala is the new President of Illuminate. Fiala was previously SVP of Business Development at Modern VideoFilm.
Rick McKinney is the new VP, secondary post production at Deluxe AdServices. He was formerly VP at McCann Erickson.