Emmy- and Annie award-winning VFX and animation company Jellyfish Pictures has restructured its leadership team and made key appointments to support further growth across existing and new sectors. The announcement follows Key Capital Partners’ minority investment in the company earlier in the year and the ongoing global expansion of the company’s operations, powered by its virtual studio infrastructure.
David Patton, former Global President of Brand Experience and Advertising at Technicolor Creative Studios (where he led The Mill and MPC Advertising) has joined as Chief Executive Officer. In this newly created role, Patton will work closely with Jellyfish Pictures’ Founder Phil Dobree to spearhead long-term growth across the business. Their focus will be to broaden the studio’s product offering, build-out operational efficiencies, expand into new markets and nurture the company’s world-class creative talent.
Also joining is Mark Warburg as Chief Operating Officer. Previously Global Head of Talent at Technicolor Creative Studios, Warburg will be responsible for all aspects of operational and talent excellence ensuring that Jellyfish Pictures continues to deliver cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art production platforms to service the demands of the very best film and animation studios from across the globe.
Phil Greenlow, formerly the Global Managing Director for Film at MPC, joins as Managing Director of VFX across Film and Episodic content. Greenlow will leverage his 16 years of industry experience to build upon the impressive portfolio of work delivered on a diverse range of content, ranging from major feature films to the ever-expanding high-end TV market.
Natalie Llewellyn expands her role as Managing Director of Animation & Originals, overseeing all of Jellyfish Pictures’ animation production output and driving business development, client relationships and partner initiatives.
Former Global Head of Talent at MPC, Sharn Gondal, has been appointed as Head of People, responsible for the development and expansion of Jellyfish Pictures’ world-class globally located talent base.
Existing CFO Michelle David and Director VFX and Animation Luke Dodd will support the leadership team and work closely with new CEO David Patton on delivering the company’s ambitions and managing sustained growth.
MPC (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix, HBO’s House of the Dragon, Disney’s Pinocchio, Hocus Pocus 2, Disenchanted), a Technicolor Creative Studio, has announced a restructuring of its global leadership team, appointing several new key hires. Following the spin-off of Technicolor Creative Studios in September, listing on the Paris Euronext stock exchange, this is a strategic move to strengthen the studio presence across the entertainment VFX industry globally. The new team will focus on building MPC’s creative offering, to facilitate commercial success, and creative excellence into 2023 and beyond.
MPC’s executive leadership will be led by Global President Jean-Paul (JP) Burge, whose career to date has specifically focused on connecting the world’s top creative talent with AAA brands. Burge brings proven experience scaling creative service businesses worldwide, with a deep knowledge of the international business landscape, after several years as the Head of BBDO Asia. His focus will be client and operations oriented, ensuring MPC retains its respected and trusted reputation as one of the world’s top creative partners for entertainment studios, streaming brands and Hollywood directors. He reports to CEO Christian Roberton.
Burge will be supported by Executive in Charge – Client Services Stephanie Allen, who joins from Paramount Pictures where she was Head of VFX. Allen has a legacy of working with MPC as a client, a perspective that enables her to focus on MPC’s client service, in addition to bringing unparalleled VFX industry expertise to this pivotal new role.
The delivery of MPC’s film and episodic will be led by newly appointed Global Head of Production Chris Burn, a VFX industry veteran with over two decades of experience in delivering large-scale productions. Burn joins the MPC team after 18 years at DNEG, with creative credits including Alien vs Predator, Batman Begins and The Matrix Reloaded.
Mediawan Kids & Family announced the arrival of Katell France as Managing Director and Chief Content Officer of Method Animation. France will design and implement the editorial strategy of the group’s founding label. Camille Oesch, Head of Originals (Petronix Defenders, Karters), Olivier Pérouze, Head of Classics (Robin Hood – Mischief in Sherwood, The Enchanted Village of Pinocchio, The Three Musketeers) and Raphaël Séjourné, Head of Adult animation and Special projects (The Jungle, Ki & Hi) are now reporting to her.
Within this new organization, Julien Borde is promoted President of Mediawan Kids & Family and Aton Soumache takes on the Honorary Presidency of the division.
France began her career at Gaumont in 1995. After numerous assignments as head of production and line producer for various animation studios across TV series and feature films), she joined Xilam in 2007 as Deputy Managing Director. In 2010, she became Managing Director and Executive Producer of Studio 100 Animation, producing more than 250 half hours of animation programs. In 2020, France created Onikiri, a production company through which she participated as an independent producer in several project developments for Media Participations and Passion Paris Production.
More Moves:
- Oscar-nominated French studio Xilam Animation has appointed Jérôme Lacarrière as VP, Digital Business Development. The company currently boasts 40B views and 63M subscribers on YouTube, two Diamond Play Buttons (Zig & Sharko and Oggy and the Cockroaches channels), four brand accounts on TikTok (4M subs, 27M likes), five Facebook pages (2B views, 2.7B min. viewed in the last 365 days) and two FAST channels in France and Brazil.
- Hunter Gorinson has been named President & Publisher of Portland, Ore.’s multi-Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comics label Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group.
- DNEG announced the appointment of multiple Oscar and BAFTA winner Guillaume Rocheron (Nope, 1917, Ghost in the Shell) as Visual Effects Supervisor, based at the VFX/animation outfit’s Los Angeles studio.
- Toho International, the Japanese studio’s U.S.-based subsidiary, welcomes former Crunchyroll execs Kirstin Parcell as General Manager and Stacy Burt as Director of Marketing to lead its American expansion, with a focus on building a scalable e-commerce experience in 2023, catered to the iconic Godzilla property and Toho’s anime franchises. Parcell will also lead licensing efforts for the company.
