The Napoleon Group has promoted three long-time staff members to new leadership positions as it prepares to launch several new lines of business later in the fourth quarter of 2016. The promotions were announced by Marty Napoleon, founder/chief creative officer of Napoleon, which earlier this year expanded its operations to the West Coast with the opening of a live action production arm in Los Angeles.
Annabel Salmon has been promoted to VP, executive director of operations. In her new post Salmon is responsible for leading the bustling production hub that comprises Napoleon’s New York studio. Encompassing 14,500 square feet on two floors in the Chelsea neighborhood, the facility houses 34 full-time artists, designers, editors, producers and directors, along with creative and support staff.
In addition, Perry Morton, formerly head of production, has been named executive producer. He now oversees three key areas of growth: business leadership for volume sales opportunities; content development/production; and partner relationship management.
Rounding out the senior promotions is Angela Gianforcaro, who succeeds Morton in the head of production role. Formerly sr. producer, Gianforcaro is a popular fixture at the studio, is deeply engrained in its culture and has played an major role in its growth and success. She now oversees the project management team and their work in areas including pre-visualization, test production, audio post, VFX, motion capture, editorial and finishing.
“This is a company that engenders a high degree of loyalty on the part of its staff, and it’s a feeling that’s routinely mutual,” said Napoleon. “We have many people who’ve spent the better parts of their professional lives here, and the career histories of Annabel, Perry and Angela are perfect examples. Collectively they have close to sixty years’ experience at Napoleon. The knowledge, insight, experience and intuition they bring to our company, our clients and our talent is invaluable. In their new roles they’ll help lay the foundation as we reorganize in anticipation of the new divisions we’ll be unveiling later this year. ”
A London native, Salmon studied graphic design at Central/St. Martins before traveling to New York in the early ‘80s. After working for a small animation studio she landed at a New York test commercial studio, where she quickly mastered the latest digital retouching equipment from Quantel. In 1985 she joined Napoleon Group founder Marty Napoleon’s newly launched Napoleon Videographics, where her knack for solving business problems, married to a DP, with an understanding of working with creative people, led her to take on day-to-day operations of the company. She led the studio’s relocation in the late 1990s to the East Side of Manhattan from its Theatre District location, and performed successfully again when they moved to their current Chelsea home in 2013.
Morton is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design who got his start in the industry as a digital artist. He joined Napoleon early in his career and quickly progressed to editorial, compositing and finishing work for some of the studio’s most demanding ad agency clients. He was tapped by Marty Napoleon to launch the studio’s first 3D department in 2010, and has continued to lead the company into new areas of production and post, such as its growth into live action and motion capture.
A graduate of the communications program at Boston University, Gianforcaro started at Napoleon in 2000, initially working in client service, and rose steadily through the ranks to her current post at head of production. Along the way she’s served as an assistant producer and post producer before being named a sr. producer in 2010. She’s led teams on many of the studio’s biggest and most complex projects.
People on the Move
- Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2016
- Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2016
Russell Schaller has been hired by Cheil London to serve as creative director, film. He joins the agency from Havas Worldwide London where he was creative director.
He will work across all accounts and leads the film specialism at Cheil London, working closely with Georgia Barretta, creative director, design, and Nick Craske, creative director, UX, to ensure collaboration and integration across all disciplines. Schaller reports to executive creative director Caitlin Ryan.
Schaller has worked at Havas Worldwide London for the past four years. During his time there he created award-winning work for Chivas Regal, including the short films Here’s to Big Bear and Here’s to Twinkle, the award-winning “The Joke Appeal” campaign for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and, most recently, he brought Captain Birdseye back to British screens with the “Boy with a Tail” campaign.
Schaller’s short film One of The Gang for CLIC Sargent’s “The Joke Appeal” campaign won several international awards, including Gold in Film Craft at the Kinsale Shark Awards and First Prize at the New York Festival of International Advertising.
Prior to Havas, Schaller was creative partner at Drugstore for two-and-a-half years and, prior to that, he was creative partner at Tom Dick & Harry. Earlier in his career he worked at 4Creative and Mother.
ECD Ryan said, “This is the final hire in our search to find the best-in-breed specialists to collaboratively lead our creative department. Russell completes our trio of design, UX and brand story specialists.”
Schaller said, “Caitlin has assembled a perfectly balanced team of specialists - a wonderful combination of technology, storytelling and design. I’m enormously proud to be added to the lineup. Right now, we have an opportunity to engage audiences with our craft in more places, more deeply and more innovatively than ever before.”
- Tuesday, Sep. 20, 2016
In a further strengthening of its Los Angeles production staff, FuseFX has added three veteran visual effects producers. They include Sean Tompkins, a two-time Emmy nominee who previously served as associate head of production at Zoic Studios.
Tompkins, who received his Emmy nominations for Falling Skies and Hemlock Grove, has also produced visual effects for such shows as Homeland, True Blood, Mad Men and Fringe. He began his career with the CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation before joining Zoic in 2007. At FuseFX, Tompkins is producing effects for the CBS series Sleepy Hollow, Rush Hour and Limitless, among other projects.
“Delivering great effects on time and on budget is at the core of what we do,” said FuseFX president David Altenau. “Sean’s wealth of experience in managing large teams and complex project will help us continue to deliver the results our clients expect. We are thrilled to have him on our team.”
Tompkins said that he was attracted to FuseFX by its reputation in the visual effects industry. “I saw the quality of their work and wanted to be part of it,” he explained. “I saw it an opportunity to work on great shows and create fantastic effects.”
Also new to FuseFX are VFX producers Danielle Bemis and Miles DeLong. Bemis brings 10 years of experience in 3D animation, visual effects and postproduction. She has led large teams on complex projects for such clients as HBO, ABC, Yahoo and Universal Pictures.
A graduate of Emerson College, Bemis began her career with DreamWorks Animation where she worked on such projects as The Croods and Kung Fu Panda 2. Prior to joining FuseFX in 2015, she spent two years as a freelance VFX producer with credits including White Collar, Once Upon a Time, Resurrection and Other Space.
Miles began his VFX career with DreamWorks Animation on the animated features Shark Tale and Bee Movie. He spent six years at Modern VideoFilm, where he was VFX producer on a number of series, including Modern Family, Sons of Anarchy and Pretty Little Liars. He also produced and supervised the visual effects for the Blu-ray edition of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4. His background includes a post with Flash FilmWorks, where he worked on the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and a year at Entity FX where he was the VFX producer on The Vampire Diaries.
At FuseFX, he is working on shows such as Mercy Street, American Crime Story and The Outsiders.
- Sunday, Sep. 18, 2016
Dagger, a content-centric digital agency, has added Jason Corbin as creative director. Corbin joins Dagger from CSE where he was creative director and led projects for national and global clients including Coca-Cola, Aaron’s, Southern Company, Atlanta Hawks, AT&T and Holiday Inn.
Corbin, who began his career as a copywriter, has worked with teams at Grey, Ogilvy & Mather, Razorfish, Havas Worldwide and mcgarrybowen.
- Friday, Sep. 16, 2016
BBDO New York announced that Susan Golkin has been promoted to executive creative director on Campbell’s Soup, Dove Chocolate, American Family Insurance and Quaker Oats. In addition, Doug Fallon and Steven Fogel have joined the agency as executive creative directors on AT&T, overseeing the DIRECTV/entertainment portion of its business, and Blake Kidder has joined as a sr. creative director on Visa. The moves go into effect this month.
Golkin has been with BBDO NY for nearly a decade. Her most recent work for Dove Chocolate and American Family Insurance was well-received by the media and her Campbell’s Soup’s “Real, Real Life” campaign won kudos and awards, especially for its Star Wars “Your Father” spot. The real-life dads were subsequently included in People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” list.
Fallon and Fogel arrive from Grey New York where they created award-winning work for DIRECTV. That work, including the famous “Lowe vs Lowe” and “Cable Effects” campaigns, drove business, won multiple Gold Lions at Cannes, and played an enormous role in the agency’s creative turnaround.
And Kidder boasts experience at such creative shops as Wieden & Kennedy (Amsterdam and Sao Paulo), TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, David & Goliath and Mullen. She’s won Lions, Clios, Andys, Beldings, Sharks and Pencils for work spanning Nike to Heineken, Gatorade, Activision and Hardee’s.
Fallon, Fogel and Kidder are the latest senior creative leaders to join BBDO. Earlier this year, it was announced that Robin Fitzgerald would join BBDO Atlanta as its chief creative officer. She also begins this month.
- Friday, Sep. 16, 2016
B-Reel Films London has signed director Alma Har’el for representation in the U.K. She continues to be handled by Epoch Films for spots and branded content in the U.S.
Har’el’s latest feature film LoveTrue premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2016, and won Best Documentary at Karlovy Vary. Har’el made a name for herself with a unique aesthetic evident in her debut film Bombay Beach, which won top prize at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Her commercial work reinforces her effortless grasp of narrative, in particular her iconic Stella Artois spot, making her the first female director to direct a commercial for the Belgian Beer in its 20 year history of advertising.
LoveTrue will have its London premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 8. The film has been selected for the Grierson Award and is part of the official program. The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognizes cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance. LoveTrue is a non-fiction film offering a unique exploration of the challenges presented by love, and examining how our past and present experiences shape the decisions we make when the fantasy of true love is shattered. For LoveTrue Har’el collaborated with Shia LaBeouf, an early supporter of her work since starring in the music video promo she directed for Sigur Ros, "Fjoger Piano." LaBeouf is executive producer of LoveTrue.
The B-Reel group began operations in 1999 in Stockholm Sweden and currently has offices in the London, L.A., NY, Stockholm, Barcelona and Berlin. In January 2016, Margo Mars joined the London office of B-Reel Films as managing director and partner, and has been focused on growing its business and director roster ever since.
While she has made strides as an individual filmmaker, Har’el is also looking to help benefit the collective body of women directors by launching Free The Bid (see separate story), an initiative designed to put female directors more consistently in the running for commercials and branded content projects. A Free The Bid website (click here) has been activated with information on the program which calls for agencies to bid a woman director on every ad assignment. Several agencies have already pledged to do just that, including FCB Global, DDB North America, BBDO North America, McCann New York, JWT, Leo Burnett, Pereira & O’Dell, Mother, Joan, Phenomenon and 180LA.
- Thursday, Sep. 15, 2016
Hooligan, a creative postproduction boutique that specializes in offline editing and visual effects, has added editor Alejandro Delgado to its roster. A bilingual talent from Spain, Delgado brings nearly two decades of experience editing film, television and commercial content for markets across Europe and the Americas. His signing marks Hooligan’s commitment to serving the needs of its agency and brand clients in both the general and U.S. Hispanic market.
“It’s an asset to have an editor like Alejandro who can translate different cultural and lingual nuances through visual storytelling and dialogue,” remarked Hooligan president/editor Kane Platt. “He brings a rare combination of artistry, technical skill, and work ethic to his craft.”
Delgado previously worked with Hooligan as a freelancer, including a project for Apple with Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Sam Green, as well as campaigns for the NYC Langone Institute and Invokana.
Born and raised in Madrid, Delgado made his first career mark in his native city as a senior editor and visual effects director at Delirium* Post, cutting campaigns for Audi, McDonald’s, Fiat and Sony, among many other prominent brands in Spain. In 2003, he embarked on a lengthy freelance career working with some of the top production and post facilities in Europe, as well as Bluerock in New York City. Notable on his reel from this period is a Bronze Cannes Lion-honored campaign for Renault and spots for McDonald’s and Mercedes.
Tenures at New Art Miami and 2150 Editorial solidified Delgado’s status as a coveted bilingual editor in the emerging U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, with award-winning campaigns for AT&T, Wendy’s DirecTv Latinamerica.
“It’s an interesting time right now as U.S. Hispanics continue to redefine the consumer silos--and how marketing and advertising strategies react,” said Delgado. “This has led to a greater demand for the production of bilingual content in the States, as we’re already seeing more and more campaigns shot in Spanish and English, rather than two different campaigns.”
- Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2016
Sr. editor Cristina Rackoff has joined the roster of Moondog Edit. The editor spent the last year and half freelancing for a number of top New York postproduction companies. Prior to that she was with Big Sky Editorial for over a decade.
A self-taught editing enthusiast, Rackoff mastered Final Cut Pro even before entering the School of Visual Arts’ editing program. “I always knew I wanted to be an editor,” she said, adding that she became so fluent with the program that she worked for Apple Computer while attending SVA, teaching Final Cut at their SoHo store, giving presentations, and doing private tutoring.
After graduating from SVA, she landed a job at Big Sky Editorial, quickly becoming an assistant to editor Chris Franklin. Over the next 10 years she worked her way up to a sr. editor role, handling a wide range of projects for some of New York’s biggest agencies and clients.
It was at Big Sky that she edited “Your First Time” for the 2012 Obama for America re-election campaign. Starring Lena Dunham, it coyly confuses your first time voting with your first carnal encounter. In it, Dunham talks in a rapid, quick-cut patter about how, for your first time, you should want to do it with a guy who can provide you with health insurance and, who got the troops out of Iraq. It made the shortlist for the HPA Awards and has nearly three million views on YouTube.
The comic timing of “First Time” reveals one of a number of Rackoff’s skills as a storyteller. Whether dealing with personal care and beauty brands, lifestyle brands, even alcoholic beverages, her ability to hone in on the subtle nuance of performance and visuals while supporting the script and the agency’s creative vision is seen in spots for Cigna, Post, Clairol, Cover Girl, Wild Turkey, Garnier, Gerber, and Victoria’s Secret Sport apparel.
In addition to her work with advertising clients, Rackoff also contributes to projects in a range of other media forms. She edited the audio for actor Matthew Modine’s award-winning iPad app, “Full Metal Jacket Diary,” which recounts his experiences taking photos during production of the Stanley Kubrick classic.
She also teamed with filmmaker Tessa Blake, who came out of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, to edit her short film, “Election Night.” The dramedy about a political candidate and his family has been a favorite of festivals around the world and was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in 2015. Rackoff also worked for the political advocacy consulting firm Siegel Strategies, working on fast-paced public issue campaigns and even editing content on location at rallies.
Like many editors, Rackoff chose to go freelance for a period of time to get a better sense of the current state of the postproduction industry and to broaden her roster of contacts and assignments. It was during this time that she met Moondog Edit EP Courtney Ryan Law, who brought her in to work on a handful of projects. She also met Moondog owners Bernadette Quinn and Pete Kasko and felt the pull of the company’s distinct atmosphere and culture.
“I immediately felt like part of the family at Moondog,” said Rackoff. “The vibe is very positive, and there’s always so much happening. There’s lots of creative talent here, and I wanted to be a part of it. I love the work we do--people are shooting, editing, doing effects, and music--it just drew me in.”
- Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2016
Dave Mellott has been promoted to sr. creative director at creative agency, commercial and branded content production company Stun Creative. In his expanded role, he will help lead creative work across Stun for all network, studio and consumer brand clients. Stun founders/principals Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth announced the news.
Mellott joined Stun in 2012 as a creative director, bringing a wealth of experience from both the agency and network side. He honed his craft at agencies like FCB Chicago/LA and Dentsu in Los Angeles, working on a wide range of brands including Coors, SC Johnson, Canon and Universal Studios. On the network side he held creative leadership roles for Fox Sports, Current TV, Harpo Productions and Discovery Communications. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Mellott created and directed the award winning MLB Postseason campaign “You Can’t Script October” for Fox Sports.
- Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2016
Content agency and production studio Los York has hired Paul Abatemarco as managing director to lead the bicoastal company’s production efforts.
Abatemarco will help lead Los York Studios and its day-to-day operations as co-founders Dexton Deboree and Seth Epstein focus their efforts on evolving creative roles across the company’s content and studio sides.
Abatemarco previously served as executive producer at Brand New School, MPC Creative, and Los York’s predecessor Stardust. Throughout his career he has worked on campaigns for a variety of brands such as Apple, Google, Honda, Ford, Ebay, T-Mobile, and Oreo.