People on the Move

Bicoastal Station Film has hired production veteran Michelle Towse as executive producer. Prior to joining Station’s staff, Towse was a freelance line producer there working with directors including David Gray, Scott Corbett and Mark Gilbert, and a production cost consultant for Bird Bonnette Stauderman where she worked with large, multi-national brands.

“I’m excited to finally be a regular commuter to Station!” Towse said. “I’ve always enjoyed working with Steve [Orent, Station’s managing partner, and Caroline [Gibney, EP/partner], and love the culture of the company. I look forward to working closely with the Station directors and continuing to create memorable and innovative work in commercials and branded content.”

Among Towse’s additional experience are several years as head of production for Slavin Schaffer Films, and 14 years line producing for a long list of esteemed commercial directors including David Shane, Harold Einstein and Jeffrey Fleisig through production companies such as HSI, MJZ and hungry man.

“I have been lucky to work with Michelle on many jobs when she was a line producer, and couldn’t be happier having her on staff as part of the Station family,” Orent said. “She is a smart, experienced producer who can deal with any production – that means big and small-sized jobs, integrated campaigns, at home or offshore. We know she will be a great resource for our clients, and continue her work as a collaborative producer for our talented roster of directors.”

Towse began her career in the dark room, working her way up to studio manager for Jamie Phillips, a high-end fashion photographer for clients such as Donna Karen, Liz Claiborne, Mikimoto and Macy’s, to note a few. As a freelance photo assistant, she garnered top-notch experience with esteemed rock photographer Danny Clinch, legendary Life Magazine photographer Gordon Parks, and advertising brand architect Peter Arnell. Towse worked for Annie Leibovitz, printing her photos from the Clinton Inauguration, coverage of Sarajevo and celebrity shoots, including Harrison Ford, Paul Michael Glaser and Evander Holyfield. And she also was a production coordinator on the documentary Unzipped, featuring Isaac Mizrahi.

Cutters Tokyo has promoted assistant editor Aika Miyake to the position of editor. The announcement was made by film editor and Cutters Tokyo managing director Ryan McGuire and studio EP Timo Otsuki.

As an assistant editor supporting McGuire, Miyake had as one of her first major commercial projects the Nike Baseball "The Pledge" spot for Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo, which went on to win the Grand Prix and the Craft Award for Best Editing at Japan's 2013 ACC Awards. Over time, the relationships with W+K, Beacon Communications and other agencies and directors have grown exponentially in Japan, Shanghai and well beyond.

Last year, Miyake joined McGuire to co-edit W+K Tokyo's Facebook campaign – the brand's first major advertising campaign in Japan. More recent campaigns she has edited include work for Uniqlo, Nike and Pampers. The Pampers "Mom's First Birthday" film produced for Beacon Communications earned AdFest, AD STARS, New York Festivals and One Show honors, and at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity recently held in Singapore, brought home one Bronze Spike in the Direction category, and more Bronze Spikes in the Digital, Film Craft and Media categories.

Miyake’s latest work is another partnership with W+K Tokyo, the first-ever campaign in Japan for Booking.com.

Digital studio Reel FX, Dallas/Santa Monica, has added Colin McGreal as creative director. McGreal is a versatile creative director and designer with over two decades of branded content experience working with such clients as Verizon, American Express, Ford, Samsung, Wendy’s, Goodyear, Toyota and Time Warner Cable.

McGreal most recently worked as creative director on Reel FX’s Hunger Games VR Experience for Lionsgate/Samsung, which launched during NY Comic-Con. His other Reel FX VR work includes the “You vs. Sharapova” Virtual Reality experience for American Express, which launched at the 2015 US Open, and the Pacific Rim Jaeger Pilot VR Experience for out of Legendary Pictures.

“As someone who has engaged with a diverse collection of studios, Reel FX has continuously grown more attractive as I’ve watched them aggressively embrace new platforms in the entertainment and commercial world,” notes McGreal. “It is this commitment to staying ahead of the curve that has drawn me to formalize our long-standing relationship.”

McGreal, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, cut his professional chops by toting cans of film for a film lab in Hell’s Kitchen on a midnight shift and not quitting after getting mugged his second night on the job. Tiring of the vampire shift, he moved to designing boards at R/GA, learning a whole new facet of the industry. After directing his first spots in Saigon, McGreal worked as creative director for studios such as Charlex, Shilo, Spontaneous, Suspect and HUGE, completing spots for agencies such as McCann-Erickson, Saatchi, Digitas, Publicis, JWT and BBDO.

Cross-cultural agency the community, part of SapientNitro, has appointed Tyler Witkin as a sr. strategic planner. In this newly created position, Witkin will be charged with integrating consumer insights and research into the agency’s brand stories. Based in Miami, she will report directly to Andrew Speyer, executive director of planning and strategy.

“The cultural fluidity and rapid evolution of today’s consumers brings new opportunities for us to create a competitive advantage for our clients,” said Speyer. “Tyler’s understanding of how culture and trends can escalate the relevance of brands will further help us deliver to our clients.”

Prior to joining the community, Witkin was at Cavalry Agency in Chicago, most recently as director of strategic planning. While there, she directed strategy for several of MillerCoors’ brands and its new product innovations pipeline. Before that, she was a strategic planner at FCB where she led development of strategy for Newell Rubbermaid brands including Sharpie, PaperMate and Expo, as well as Valspar Paint and Kmart.