“I’m over the moon to join Fred Rogers Productions, a company that is so well known and respected for quality programming that serves the needs of children and their families,” said Howard. “I’m excited to dive in and help build a programming slate of content that resonates with current fans and attracts many new ones, too.”
Prior to joining FRP, Howard was a media consultant and advisor on podcast development and social media strategy who developed original concepts for the web and television. She worked for The N (later TeenNick) from MTV Networks, where she developed live-action and animated properties with production companies including Endemol and Klasky Csupo. Howard started her career at Sesame Workshop, where she headed the children’s casting department for the Emmy-winning Sesame Street and later worked for J.P. Kids, producer of the hit series, The Famous Jett Jackson.
Howard holds a B.A. from the University of South Carolina and received a Podcast Certificate from The Made in NY Media Center by IFP.
In his time as Artistic Managing Director, Wegenast established the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) Open Air Cinema on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz (from 2006) together with his colleague, Dittmar Lumpp (Commercial Managing Director at the time). With former MIFA manager Vincent Ferri, he founded the Animation Production Days in 2006, which have since become the most important event for animation production in German-speaking countries and take place during ITFS.
On Wegenast’s initiative, the GameZone has been taking place as part of ITFS since 2013, exploring the intersection of computer games and animated film as well as bringing the subject of games in the classroom to the fore. During the coronavirus crisis, ITFS was the first animation festival in the world to be held exclusively on the internet, setting new standards in the online presence of film festivals. ITFS is one of the largest animation film festivals worldwide and one of four Oscar-qualifying festivals in Germany. It reaches an audience of up to 100,000 and receives over 2,000 (film and project) submissions per year.
“I would like to thank our Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Walter Rogg and my colleague, Commercial Managing Director Dieter Krauß, who was already given his farewell into retirement (starting in autumn) at ITFS 2022, for the good and trusting cooperation,” said Wegenast. “I owe a lot to the entire FMF team and at this point would like to make special mention of my colleague Andrea Bauer, Head of Program, who I worked with intensively for many years. My time at FMF was fascinating and successful, but also — especially during the time of the coronavirus — very challenging. The ITFS is a ‘jewel’ in the German festival scene with a high international reputation and charisma, and Raumwelten has developed into the most important event for scenography in the German-speaking regions over the last 10 years.”
Rodeo FX (rodeofx.com) has appointed Michel Fournier, CPA as Chief Financial Officer as it continues to create effects for some of the most lauded film and TV projects in the industry, including Stranger Things, the Fantastic Beasts saga and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Fournier formerly joined Framestore in 2013 as Head of Finance when the studio was just opening in Montreal. Building out from an original team of six, he helped its expansion to what it is today, securing resources for more than 900 employees. “I’ve known Rodeo for some time now. It’s great to see a studio with such a culture of pride at its core. That human aspect is crucial for me, it shows that we value who we are, and the people behind our craft above all,” said Fournier.
Rodeo FX, recently on the ballot for three Emmy Award-nominated shows and the recipient of the 2022 Mercuriade Award for Best Employer, continues its exponential growth with a new office opening in Toronto last month (along with Los Angeles, Quebec City, Munich and Montreal). Mr. Fournier will oversee a team of experts and will be focusing on creating strong tools to steer the studio forward and shift to a more proactive attitude in the long term.
Keeping with their tradition of finding young emerging artists, OKAY STUDIO (okaystudio.co.uk) announces the signing of in-demand editor Charles Gamble to its growing roster of talent. “As soon as I was introduced to the OKAY setup and ethos, I knew it was for me,” said Gamble. “It was great to feel the support and guidance from Nikolaj [Belzer, Founder & MD], Madeline and Josh from the very beginning of our first discussion. I look forward to working on many more creative projects with the OKAY family and further developing my craft.”
Since graduating from his studies of Film, Gamble has seized varied opportunities to develop his skills. With an impressive body of work already behind him, the creative has lent his talents to spots for Nike and New Balance, while showcasing his comedic timing for Old Spice’s 2022 Webby award winning ‘Curls Are Cool’, directed by PRETTYBIRD’s Yousef. In addition to his commercial portfolio, Gamble has worked on Kai Blamey’s short film FEEL and music videos for the likes of Aitch, Paloma Faith and Sam Fender.
As Director of Sales at Thinkbox Software, Phariss enabled clients across media and entertainment, engineering, architecture and design to make the most of their on-premises and cloud-based compute resources with Deadline render management solution, as well as equip artist with tools such as Krakatoa, Frost and Stoke. He started with the company in 2012, and remained an instrumental part of the team following its acquisition by AWS in 2017. His role then expanded to extend cloud-based solutions across the entire production cycle, including for high profile studios that work on billion-dollar franchises. Phariss began his career in creative technology with Universal Computer Systems and AMD, and has also held sales roles at PipelineFX and BOXX. He is based in Austin, Texas.
Conductor cloud platform supports most industry-standard creative applications, including Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya and Arnold; Blender; Maxon’s Cinema 4D and Redshift; Foundry’s NUKE, Cara VR, KATANA, MODO and Ocula; Chaos Group’s V-Ray; Pixar’s RenderMan; Isotropix’s Clarisse and others. It can be used with AWS or Google Cloud Platform.
