Modern VideoFilm overhauled its management, replacing CEO Moshe Barkat and CFO Hugh Miller with three new executives: CEO Scott Avila and President Cooper Crouse, who are turnaround specialists at Deloitte Corporate Restructuring group, and CFO Roxanna Sassanian. The trio had previously been working together at independent Culver City production facility The Culver Studios. Remaining on board and taking on new responsibilities at Modern are President of Digital Media Services Bill Watt, President of Creative Services Mark Smirnoff, and EVP of Sales Jon Johnson. "Bill, Mark and Jon each have been in leadership positions with the company for more than 20 years, as have many other people on our team. They remain the backbone of the company," said Avila in a prepared statement. Avila told The Hollywood Reporter that there is "no plan to sell" the company.
ARRI named Wilson Zeferino (right) director of sales for Latin American Markets. Zeferino will be in charge of strategy and business development in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Zeferino makes the move to ARRI from Fujifilm, where he was a regional sales and marketing manager in the optical devices division. Zeferino will be representing ARRI at this week's CAPER trade show in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trixster Film is opening a new studio in Toronto led by CFO Michael Gianfriddo and COO/Chief Executive of Business Development Ken Mandeville. Gianfriddo and Mandeville are becoming co-owners with Trixter Film principals Michael Coldewey and Simone Kraus as they create a new entertainment holding company, Trixter Inc. The new "hybrid company" will offer animation and VFX services and develop and produce original content, the company said. "Partnering with Ken and Michael is strategically the best choice because now we will [be] closer to our U.S. clients and also offer the advantages Ontario provides to our international co-productions," Coldewey said in a prepared statement.
Melissa Thornley (left) has been named head of new business development for the Midwest by Chicago commercial production company Story and its Santa Monica sister company Accomplice Media. Thornley will represent creatives from both companies to clients in Midwestern markets. She will stay on in her current bus-dev capacity with Santa Monica's Hum Music alongside her new position at Story and Accomplice. Thornley was previously managing director of Beast, Method, and Company 3, as well as of The White House Post.
Chris Steele has been named managing director of Marquis Broadcast, replacing Peter Davies, who is becoming chair of Marquis Broadcast. "There will be many opportunities as we move into the brave new world of IP production," Steele said in a prepared statement. Steele was the co-founder and director of Parallax Software and CEO of 2D3, which created the automated camera tracker Boujou that's now offered by Vicon. Davies spent the last 15 months as senior product manager at Quantel, Marquis said.
Jurgen Kantenwein joined Codex as head of technical marketing. Kantenwein's digital filmmaking experience includes his work as founder, CTO and director of The Posthouse, where he oversaw the development of early DI systems for the Lord of the Rings trilogy that later became Autodesk Lustre. "It will be my task to focus on providing new and improved workflow solutions that meet the needs of customers in a dynamic marketplace, today and tomorrow," Kantenwein said in a statement.
