Mike Nichols has been named Adorama Rental Company's vice president of sales and marketing. In this role, Nichols will be responsible for building a five-year strategy with a focus on growth and expansion of the company. He will identify new areas of revenue which look beyond the transactional rental business as well as develop services for ARC's high-end digital cinema market with a customer service mindset.
The Motion Picture Sound Editors association has elected Mark Lanza to a two-year term as president. Additionally, David Barber has been elected to a two-year term as secretary, a position he has held on an interim basis for the past year.
The Producers Guild of America and Google have announced up to two $50,000 grants as part of The Short Film Project presented by the Producers Guild and Google. This opportunity is offered exclusively to PGA Create Fellows from its recent scripted lab for emerging and mid-career creative producers from backgrounds underrepresented in the industry. This new opportunity extends Google’s previously announced lead sponsorship of the PGA Create lab.
The UK-based career planning service My First Job in Film, which is focused on aspiring film and television industry professionals, has launched in North America. It helps students and others get a foot in the door in the entertainment industry through a wealth of career planning tools and access to short- and long-term employment opportunities and internships across a range of production and post-production roles. Begun in 2011, the company’s UK program has successfully helped hundreds of aspirants embark on industry career paths.
Rising Sun Pictures has added two post-doctoral researchers from the Australian Institute for Machine Learning to lead a new initiative centered on the application of artificial intelligence to its visual effects pipeline. Dr. John Bastian and Dr. Ben Ward will develop pipeline tools based on machine learning and other AI applications as a means of streamlining visual effects production and creating visuals that look more photorealistic.
The winners of this year’s Young Animator of the Year UK award have been announced by Access:VFX, the ScreenSkills Animation Fund and #Dami. Through its awards program, YAY UK aims to provide aspiring animators from a range of backgrounds with access to and advice from professionals and studios in the animation, games and visual effects industry. The winning work will premiere at the Manchester Animation Festival, which runs November 14-19.
The Hollywood Professional Association has opened the call for applications for its 2022 Young Entertainment Professionals program. Since its inception in 2015, the growing YEP program has supported the careers of talented creative, technical, project management and administrative professionals between the ages of 21 and 32 through mentorship, community building and educational offerings. Applications are due Monday, November 8 and applicants will be notified of their status in early December.
SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today announced that Barbara Lange will step down as the Society's executive director at the close of 2021, which marks the end of her current contract. Lange has served in this role for 12 years, guiding SMPTE through a dynamic period of growth, extending the Society's leadership as a global standards organization, and working closely with staff, volunteers, members, and the SMPTE Board of Governors to make SMPTE a more inclusive organization that brings value to individuals and organizations across the media and entertainment industry.
A 15-year veteran of the film and TV business, freelance re-recording mixer Alexandra Fehrman loves to get creative with her projects. Nominated for a 2021 Sound Mixing Emmy for her work on Amazon’s drama The Boys, Fehrman works with Formosa Group, a post-production facility in Los Angeles, as well as from her home studio. Fehrman, like many audio pros, started her career in music as a teenager and has been pursuing sound mixing ever since. Her specialties include streaming and TV series, as well as feature and independent films.
Chicago audio post house Another Country has promoted executive producer Tim Konn to the position of managing director.
