Jon Silk has joined Benderspink as director of development
August 28, 2006
Jon Silk has joined Benderspink as director of development. He was creative executive at Gold Circle Films, where he helped develop "The Puritan" and "White Noise 2."
Concrete Pictures has named Laura Gillespie broadcast producer, Mike Yoon art director and Tom Schiro designer-animator. Schiro was a designer-animator at NBC, Unisys Corp. and Modern Video Prods. Yoon has held executive positions at Telenium, Element, Film-East and WPHL-TV.
Jimi Simmons has joined Brickyard VFX in compositing and visual effects. He has worked for Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and at creative studios including Western Images, where he was vp and director of visual effects.
Music
Stephanie Lopez has been promoted to vp urban adult promotion at J/Arista Records. She joined J upon its inception in 2001 as a national director and was promoted to senior national director in 2003.
Angelo Bruno has been tapped as vp treasurer and financial planning at BMI. He was vp financial planning and audit.
Allied
Priority Public Relations has promoted Melissa Ford to senior account executive. She was an advertising production assistant at the Disneyland Resort.
Shoolery has launched its first New York office, led by Athan Stephanopoulos as vp new business development and head of East Coast operations. He was an independent business development executive in the nonprofit arena.
Rose Marie Vega has added U.S. sales to her duties as vp sales, U.S. and Latin America, international content distribution, at Alliance Atlantis Content Distribution. She has headed Latin American sales for six years.
Ryan Nord has joined Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof + Fishman. He most recently worked in the legal department at NBC Universal Television Group.
Jonathan Finn joins Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products as vp communications. He was senior director of public relations at Old Navy.
Mike Weetman has been tapped as head of operations, finance, at Yahoo! Media Group. He was head of finance and business development at DreamWorks Worldwide Home Entertainment.
Shauna Krikorian has been named Los Angeles music director at 615 Music. She founded the music management company SLK Entertainment.
Television
Current TV has tapped Madeleine Smithberg as a creative consultant and executive producer. She was a producer and showrunner of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," winning Peabody and Emmy awards for the show in 2001.
Slate of Eight has named Robin Green vp television. She headed the TV division at 40 Acres and a Mule.
Deborah London-Harrington has been named director of production management at Discovery Communications' networks in the U.K., Europe and Asia. She was with National Geographic Channels International for the past four years.
Court TV has tapped Chris Goveia as vp network graphic design. He was senior director. Court TV also has brought aboard Rich Williams as vp creative services. He was creator director of promotion and marketing at ABC Sports.
CMT has upped Lewis Bogach to vp program development and production. He was senior director.
ReelzChannel has hired Ian Valentine as senior vp, Michelle Holt as vp production and Paul Haddad as director of development and acquisitions. Valentine was senior vp programming at GSN. Holt was executive in charge of production at E! Entertainment. Haddad was executive producer of new media at E! Entertainment.
Shaink named senior development executive at HQ Pictures
August 01, 2006
HQ Pictures has hired Rock Shaink Jr. as senior development executive and Omar Shamout as director of development. Shaink is a writer-director working on the thriller "Alter Ego" for Beltran Prods. Shamout was development executive at Catchphrase Entertainment.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has promoted Todd Rowan to senior vp brand marketing, Jennifer Chai to vp brand marketing and Sven Davison to vp worldwide DVD production. Rowan has spearheaded marketing for Fox's film catalog and TV-DVD since joining the studio in 2000. Chai, who also joined the company in 2000, has led DVD campaigns including "Star Wars Trilogy" and "Walk the Line." Davison has overseen production on DVD releases including "Fight Club" and "24."
Monika Wagenberg has been named senior programr, Ibero-American programming, for the Miami International Film Festival. She is director of programming and acquisitions at Cinema Tropical, which she co-founded and co-manages.
Music
Eleanor Grier has been promoted to executive director of writer administration and research at BMI. She was senior director.
MySpace Records has tapped Jon Pikus as director of A and R. He handled A and R for bands including the Ataris and Kill Radio at Columbia Records and was an A and R scout at Interscope Records.
Allied
Classic Media has tapped Andrew Perlman as vp digital media. He was a consultant for the firm in its launch with Google Video and MobiTV.
Mayo Communications vp George McQuade has been elected president of the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society, replacing Scott Pansky. Other Los Angeles-based elected board members include Henri Bollinger of Henri Bollinger Associates as vp and president-elect; Sandy Padnos of Scoop Seminars as vp; publicist Bob Werden as treasurer and Sue Procko of Sue Procko Public Relations as secretary.
David Reid has joined GameTap as vp marketing. He was director of Xbox worldwide platform marketing at Microsoft.
Ron Harris has been named general manager of video postproduction at Manhattan Center Studios. He was director of sales at Image Group Post/Blink.fx.
Television
Norsemen Television Prods. has named Cindie Zimmerman director of development. She was director of current programming and talent relations at SoapNet.
Playboy Enterprises Inc. has appointed Steve Smith as managing director of Playboy Television International. He was managing director of Comcast's International Networks/AZN.
Thanda Belker has been promoted to senior vp pay television at Sony Pictures Television. She was vp licensing domestic hotel and residential pay-per-view and video-on-demand at Buena Vista Television.
A and E Television Network has hired Mary Heed as vp sales research and Jason Villar as director of ad sales research. It also promoted Matt Stueland to director of programming and marketing research. Heed was vp ad sales research at E! Networks. Villar was, senior manager of ad sales research for VH1, MTV and MTV2. Stueland joined AETN in 2002 as manager of programming research.
CableReady has named Boni Osmani director of program development and sales. She was a production coordinator at Actuality Prods.
Discovery Channel has named Daniel Bragg vp creative at Discovery Channel, Discovery Times Channel and the Science Channel. He ran Bragg Creative, working on brand development and program campaign development for FX, Court TV, Scripps Networks and Discovery Channel.
Kessler joins New Films International
October 11, 2006
film/video
Craig Kessler has joined New Films International as vp business and legal affairs. He most recently was at Doug Liman's Hypnotic.
Exodus Film Group has promoted Delbert Whetter to chief operating officer. He was senior vp business affairs.
Zachary Pennington has been named Platinum Studios vp creative in the new media group. The designer/art director has more than 100 videos and promotions to his credit.
music
Mark Flaherty has been named vp marketing at J/Arista Records. Flaherty previously owned Flaherty Consulting.
Gary Cannizzo has been named vp and controller at BMI. He was vp financial accounting and imaging technology.
Tom Hoppa has joined TKO as an agent. He has worked for WMA, CAA, House of Blues Concerts, Motorhead and Slayer.
allied
ABC Radio Networks has appointed James Hunter Kelly as country producer for its ePrep morning prep services and Stacey Goldfaden as senior director of Western sales. Kelly was a producer at Premiere Radio Networks' Country Today. Goldfaden was an account executive. Also, Christopher "Kato" Watson has returned as senior producer of ePrep Services.
Leslie Grand has been tapped as vp and director of Print Trade. She was vp print media director at Active International.
Natasha Fishman has been named vp retail development at Hit Entertainment. She was director of retail strategy at Sesame Workshop.
Rebecca Baldwin has been tapped as general manager of Zap2it. She was entertainment editor of the Chicago Tribune and director of product development at Tribune Interactive.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has appointed Richard Claflin vp programming and broadcasting and Jill Boulet-Gercourt vp marketing and broadcasting. Claflin was vp comedy series development at ABC. Boulet-Gercourt was director of synergy at ABC Television Network.
Roger Posacki has joinedCarson-Dellosa Publishing Co. as president. He was general manager of the Canadian division of Binney and Smith.
The Beverly Hills Bar Assn. has tapped entertainment lawyer David Helfant for the Board of Governors Award for outstanding service.
television
Chris Goveia has been named vp network graphic design at Court TV. Goveia was senior director of network design.
Eric Shiu and Karen Toal-Anderson have been named vp worldwide television creative services at Warner Bros. Television Group. Shiu was vp marketing and creative advertising at FX Networks. Toal-Anderson joins Warner Bros. from the Illusion Factory.
Lucia Folk has been upped to director of public affairs at CMT. She was a consumer marketing supervisor.
Laura Galietta-Cotter has joined Scripps Networks as vp ad sales marketing at Food Network and Fine Living TV Network. She was vp consumer marketing at the National Geographic Channel.
WE tv has tapped Steve Cheskin as vp programming and Gena McCarthy as vp development and production. Cheskin was a programming consultant, and McCarthy was an executive producer at the Discovery Channel.
Alan Klein has been upped to senior vp partnerships and licensing at IFC. He was vp integrated partnerships.
Brendan Zauner has been promoted to vp sales, Asia, at 20th Century Fox Television Distribution. He was director of sales.
Patricia Armstrong has joined Cablevision as senior vp investor relations. She was senior vp new product management at Time Warner Cable.
Compiled by Karen Nicoletti