• Academy Award nominated animator PES has signed on to Blinkink following recent spots for Honda and Android. Known for his ability to reimagine everyday objects in wholly new ways for his stop-motion masterpieces like Fresh Guacamole, Roof Sex, KaBoom! and Human Skateboard, PES’s videos have racked up over 200 million views on YouTube — not to mention on the festival circuit and in commercials for brands including Orange Telecom, Kinder Surprise, PlayStation, Sprint, Samsung and Bacardi. Most recently, he earned an Emmy nomination for “Paper” for Honda this year. Check out his reel online.
• Disney/ABC Television Group is bolstering its digital programming services division by hiring on technology executives John Solaro and Roger Tsai, who will both report to EVP of digital media strategy & business John Frelinghuysen. Formerly at Microsoft, Solaro is now head of user experience and product innovation for D/ABC TV’s Digital Media group and will lead a team integrating visual, interactive and motion design and innovation across multi-platform products, as well as spearheading incorporation of non-linear, mobile, DTC and cloud products. d hails from media tech company Gracenote, where he led connected car projects, and is now VP of digital strategy, business planning and operations for the Digital Media division. He will head a team tasked with identifying, developing and executing new digital business strategies.
• FuseFX continues to grow its Vancouver operation with the hire of Shawn Hillier as Senior VFX Supervisor and Maya Roza as Compositing Supervisor. Hillier joins after a 15-year stint at ILM, where he contributed to blockbusters including Jurassic World, Pacific Rim, Star Trek, Transformers, Star Wars: Episode III and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. He will now supervise vfx production for TV projects including Syfy series The Magicians and Dark Matter. Roza arrives from a similar position at Double Negative, bringing over 10 years of experience in vfx, with credits including The Huntsman, The Fifth Wave, Jurassic World, Chappie, Elysium and Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1. A Vancouver native, Roza has also held staff positions at Image Engine Design, Prime Focus World and Atomic Cartoons.
• Canadian production company marblemedia has appointed Donna MacNeil to the newly created position of VP of Marketing and Strategic Development. MacNeil will create brand marketing initiatives to grow business and drive new revenue for the company and its subsidiaries Distribution360 and marblemedia Interactive — especially DTC video, games and apps. She most recently held the same position at Mark Media in Toronto, and was previously the youth marketing consultant for Youth Lab, as well as holding senior executive positions at Spin Master and Kidscreen.
• Post Factory, a SIM Group company, has tapped Liam Ford as CTO, charged with overseeing planned expansion of the studio’s color grading and finishing services. Bringing over a decade of post-production engineering and IT experience — most recently as Vice President of Technology at Company 3 in New York –Ford will assume the lead role in technology operations, strategy and planning.
• Post Factory has also appointed David Feldman as SVP for Features and Television. Previously director of feature sales for Company 3 and Deluxe, Feldman will lead sales and customer relations for newly-expanded features and TV finishing services at Post Factory New York. He will also liaise with other SIM companies to provide film and TV producers with packaged services covering multiple aspects of production and post. Feldman brings 20 years of post experience in executive level roles, and spent his early career as an assistant editor with credits on films for Fox, Sony, Universal, Disney, et al. Post Factory’s current projects include Collateral Beauty, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Gifted and The Wall.
• ZDF Enterprises has promoted Tanja Meier-Sieden to the leadership of its newly created Portfolio Management department. The 35-year old holds a degree in business administration and has been with the company since 2007, most recently managing the Business Development and Affiliates unit, assigned to the Executive Board. Meier-Sieden will report directly to President and CEO Alexander Coridass. ZDF Enterprises has direct participation in 12 associated companies, producing fiction, documentaries and children’s programs.
