Refinery29, a media and entertainment company for young women, has named Dana Stern as VP, talent relations & casting, branded & editorial. In this new role, Stern will be responsible for leading and building cross-company efforts to integrate talent across Refinery29’s editorial and sponsored initiatives, including video, experiential and industry tentpole events. Stern will work closely with Natasha Vaquer, VP of talent partnership & influencer strategy and head of Refinery29’s Talent Collective, and will report to Amy Emmerich, president, North America and chief content officer. A veteran in the media industry, Stern most recently served as president of DSS & Associates where she worked on clients such as A+E Networks, Viacom Digital and Group Nine Media. Prior, she spent more than a decade at Hearst Magazines, most recently serving as executive entertainment director for Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. Before that, Stern was the director of talent relations & events at Spike TV. She started her career at Nickelodeon….
Animation director Katy Wang has officially joined London-based studio Blinkink. Wang’s work includes the short film Contact which follows a lonely astronaut searching for human contact on a stranded planet. She was also behind the creative visuals for three poems by Atticus, Yrsa Daley-Ward and JM Storm for World Poetry Day. Her short film An Invisible Threat was created in partnership with the Girl Effect and Nutrition International, the global nutrition organization working to transform the lives of vulnerable people by improving their nutritional status. She has also created music videos for Toto Bona Lokua and Tom Rosenthal….
Technicolor is opening a studio in Los Angeles dedicated to creating a seamless pipeline for feature projects–from concept art and visualization through virtual production, production and into final VFX. The Technicolor Pre-Production studio provides the tools, the talent, and the space for creatives to collaborate from day one–from helping set the vision at the start of a project to ensuring that the vision carries through to production and VFX. The Technicolor Pre-Production studio is headed by Kerry Shea, an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience, holding executive positions at Method Studios, The Third Floor, Digital Domain, Jim Henson Company, DreamWorks Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Credited on more than 60 feature films including The Jungle Book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Shea has an extensive background in VFX and postproduction as well as live action, animatronics and creature effects. The Technicolor Pre-Production Studio will be comprised of key departments: The Business Development Department will work with clients, from project budgeting to consulting on VFX methodologies, to help plan and prepare projects for a smooth transition into VFX; The VFX Supervisors Department will offer creative leadership across all aspects of VFX on client projects, whether delivered by Technicolor’s industry-leading studios or third-party vendors; The Art Department will work intimately with clients to understand their vision–including characters, props, technologies, and environments–creating artwork that delivers on that vision and sets the tone for the rest of the project; The Virtual Production Department will partner with filmmakers to bridge the gap between filmmakers and VFX through the production pipeline. Working both on the ground and on-location, the department will deliver a fully integrated pipeline and shooting services with the flexibility of a small, manageable team–allowing critical players in the filmmaking process to collaborate, view, and manipulate media assets and scenes across multiple locations as the production process unfolds; and The Visualization Department will work closely with clients to deliver visualizations that will assist in achieving on screen exactly what they envisioned. Although the Pre-Production studio is standalone from Technicolor’s industry-leading visual effects brands–MPC Film, Mill Film, MR. X and Technicolor VFX–it can work seamlessly in conjunction with one or any combination of them, designing the perfect plan regardless of project size, format, creative aesthetic or budget….
