People on the Move

Framestore has promoted Karl Woolley to global head of immersive and hired executive producer Mandy Agderian.

Based in London, Woolley joined Framestore in 2005 and has been pivotal in the direction and growth of the Immersive team since its inception in 2013. His work includes the Kiyan Prince Foundation’s groundbreaking #LongLiveThePrince campaign which won the prestigious Cannes Lions Titanium Grand Prix last year, multi-award-winning VR experiences for Games of Thrones with HBO, Samsung’s “A Moon For All Mankind” and Lockheed Martin’s “Field Trip to Mars” to name a few. 

Woolley will be responsible for bringing the London and U.S. immersive teams together under his leadership, ensuring the most efficient approach to projects and growing the business globally. 

Lottie Cooper, global director of business operations, said, “Karl’s promotion recognizes the importance of this area of work for Framestore, as our industry and clients seek to find more ways to address their audiences and consumers through immersive platforms and experiences”.

Woolley said, “The award-winning projects that immersive have delivered are a testament to the hard-work, commitment, and innovation of our talented team. With an exciting year ahead, I look forward to leading us as we continue to push boundaries and further cement Framestore’s reputation in this space”. 

Bringing with her over 15 year’s experience across immersive, interactive and real time projects, EP Agderian joins from The Mill NY. Notable clients she has worked with include Meta, Facebook Gaming, Chanel, Showtime, HBO and NBCU. 

Agderian, who will be based in Framestore’s New York studio, said, “I’m looking forward to creating highly immersive experiences that explore technology in new ways, whilst contributing to the continued growth and success of Framestore’s immersive division”.

Framestore’s immersive team works with creative IP owners and brands to elevate the impact of their imagined worlds. Projects span virtual, physical and mixed realities, location-based entertainment and theme park rides and attractions.

The team recently received two VES Award nominations for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project for their work spanning theme park rides “Jumanji: The Adventure” for Merlin Entertainments and “Avengers: Quantum Encounter” for Disney, plus a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement: Attraction for “Jurassic World Adventure” for Universal Studios. 

Creative editorial house Final Cut has added Jasmine “Mac” McCullough as an editor at its L.A. location, as well as the promotion of Lucas Moesch to editor at the company’s New York office.

With over a decade of cutting her teeth as a film editor, McCullough came into the craft when she realized her passion for storytelling through fragments of footage in college. McCullough’s breadth of award-winning work includes the short film “You Can’t Stop Us” for Nike, which won the primetime commercial Emmy and the Film Grand Prix at Cannes in 2021. McCullough’s short film “Call it COVID” received a Silver Lion at the 2021 Cannes Lions Awards and a Gold Pencil from The One Club. Her additional brand work includes P&G, Coke, Verizon, and Google. 

Prior to joining Final Cut, McCullough was editing at Joint.

Moesch is a Brazilian film editor who has brought his vivid, intimate editing to a wide range of content mediums. The project he edited for São Paulo artist Nego Bala, “Sonho (Dream),” represents his editorial vision, blending music video format with short film gravitas. The film went on to win awards at Cannes, Ciclope Latino, and the Clio Awards. His short documentary edit on Malko was a Young Directors Award finalist and shortlisted for the Ciclope Festival. Moesch’s venture into commercial editorial has seen him collaborate with global brands such as Facebook and Budweiser. He becomes editor after honing his craft as Assistant Editor in Final Cut’s NYC office.

“I learned so much while on Final Cut’s New Blood roster, the mentorship from Final Cut senior editors was key for me to find my voice as an editor,” said Moesch. “I’m ready to take that into this exciting new role and continue growing side by side with some of the most respected editors in the business.”

“Lucas and Jasmine are immensely talented editors who are not only highly skilled and forward-thinking but who also each have a distinct and exciting point of view,” said Final Cut U.S. director of global business Justin Brukman.”

Final Cut maintains offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.

Post New York Alliance (PNYA) chair Yana Collins Lehman has been appointed to New York City’s Film and Television Council, which operates under the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Collins Lehman will join other industry professionals, representing labor unions, production companies, soundstages, studios and trade organizations, in promoting economic development programs and policies to support the film and television sector of the city’s economy. She will also serve on the Council’s Workforce Subcommittee, focused on expanding employment opportunities. The appointment was announced by Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development.

Collins Lehman said she will use her new role to advocate for the postproduction industry and build awareness for its contributions to the local economy. “I am delighted to join the Council and pursue initiatives that will benefit postproduction companies and the thousands of professionals who work in our segment of the industry.”

PNYA has been highly successful in supporting the post industry in New York City and statewide. It has been a consistent voice for the inclusion of postproduction and visual effects in the state’s Film and Television Tax Incentive Program. It has also played a lead role in promoting diversity in postproduction.

“The tax incentives have generated a lot of jobs and produced enormous revenue for businesses across the state,” Collins Lehman stated.  “Additionally, through our work with Reel Works, Made in New York’s PA Training Program and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, we’ve created an employment pipeline for groups that have often lacked access to jobs in our industry.”

Collins Lehman hopes her work with the Film and Television Council will draw attention to postproduction. “Postproduction doesn’t always generate the attention accorded to production, but we provide critical services to films and television shows every day,” she observed. “In part due to tax incentives, postproduction in New York has grown substantially and continues to add to the economic vitality of the city and state.”

The-Artery has brought executive producer Nick Haynes aboard its NYC studio. 

Formerly EP at Carbon NY and at MPC prior to that, Haynes throughout his career has focused on building facilities, growing and managing teams, and producing jobs for world-class brands including Johnson & Johnson, Guinness and Converse. His most notable work includes the Guinness “Basketball” and “Empty Chair” spots for director Noam Murro, Tiffany & Co.’s “Believe in Dreams” for The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, the Shadow of War game spot for director Neil Huxley, and most recently a spot for Samsung with director Henry Hobson entitled “Open up Your World.”

The-Artery’s campaign work includes a series of spots for Sodastream featuring Snoop Dogg, multiple recurring holiday campaigns for David Yurman, a brand campaign for Fiverr tallying up well over 1.1 million YouTube views, and multiple projects with longtime automobile partner Mercedes-Benz for Merkley. In addition, the studio most recently partnered with the Alliance of Safe Online Pharmacies to create the Danny Trejo led PSA titled “Bad Meds.”

Since its formation, The-Artery has evolved from a boutique to a comprehensive studio covering production, post, VFX, color, VR, sound design and more across advertising, film, TV, music videos, and gaming. Haynes brings over 20 years of experience to his new role, including his aforementioned work at Carbon as well as being the general manager/EP at Absolute Post, where he supervised sales and helped to grow its New York office. Prior to that, Haynes’ half a decade tenure at The Mill saw him holding a range of production and management positions as well as playing an instrumental role in launching its first U.S. office.

Haynes’ addition will help further balance The-Artery’s process of creating strong commercial work while it continues expanding its horizons further into the feature film space, underscored by its work on the current hit horror film Smile (director Parker Finn) which just surpassed $200 million in global box office.

Haynes has been a longtime admirer of The-Artery, its founder/CCO Vico Sharabini and EP/managing director Deborah Sullivan.

Sullivan said of Haynes, “We’ve been fortunate to have worked together in the past, so we have a good sense of shared work ethic, aspirational creative sensibilities, and a collaborative viewpoint as to the importance of developing and nurturing a strong creative environment. Nick’s background in VFX, design, experience, and tech-driven projects also sits quite comfortably within our current client collaborations, and his expertise across the board is unique in that he’s touched on all these categories and can provide immense insight and leadership to our growing team.”