Randy Lake, president of Oscar-winning VFX and animation studio Sony Pictures Imageworks, has announced four new hires for the Sony Pictures Ent. unit’s Vancouver headquarters: Senior VP of Production, Michelle Grady; VP of Artist Management, Ryan Pollreisz; veteran Visual Effects Supervisor Sue Rowe; and Art Director Daniel Cox.
As SVP of production, Michelle Grady will oversee Imageworks’ growing roster of over 600 vfx and animation artists. Grady has spent 23 years in the local VFX and post-production industry, growing her career in step with the city’s expanding film business. She joins Imageworks from MPC, where she served as head of film, managing projects including Batman v Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Godzilla, Maleficent and Life of Pi. Prior to MPC, she was GM at Technicolor. Grady steps in for current head of production Lydia Bottegoni, who is exiting the role this summer.
New artist management VP Ryan Pollreisz will manage crewing, recruiting and training for Imageworks. He comes to Imageworks from his previous post as managing director of production at Deluxe and Encore.
Sue Rowe, VFX supervisor, arrives from MPC in Vancouver. A talented artist in traditional animation, 3D animation and compositing, she brings nearly 20 years of experience including credits on The Maze Runner, John Carter, X-Men: The Last Stand, Troy and VFX Oscar winner The Golden Compass.
Daniel Cox comes into his role as VFX art director with substantial experience as an illustrator, storyboard artist and art director on projects including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Great Gatsby, The Wolverine and Gods of Egypt for studios including Animal Logic and Weta.
Sony Pictures Imageworks is currently in production on Warner Bros.’ live-action feature Suicide Squad; Sony Pictures Animation’s The Smurfs: The Lost Village and Emojimovie: Express Yourself; Kingsman: The Golden Circle for 20th Century Fox; and Storks for Warner Animation Group.
