Moves at Arnold, Mother, JWT Paris, Fever Films, Moon, Lost In Space, The Hive, Rhinoedit, Guava, Golden Square, Big Lawn, BBC Motion Gallery and R!OT
Alan Pafenbach, executive creative director and managing partner of Arnold Worldwide, has announced he will be leaving his job at the end of this year. Pafenbach spent some 18 years at the agency, most of them working on VW creating some of the most memorable ads for the brand including Bubble Boy by Mike Mills, and the new Passat short films that feature on shots 92.
Thea Slevin, senior TV producer at Clemmow Hornby Inge has resigned to join Mother. Slevin, who has worked on Talk Talk, The One Account, The Telegraph and Tango while at CHI, will join Mother in January. Prior to CHI, Slevin worked as a producer for Lowe.
In a reshuffle of the JWT Paris office, Frederic Winckler becomes president of the agency, with Andrea Stillacci, executive creative director since 2004, promoted to the position of vice-president in charge of the creative department, alongside Pascal Manry. Emmanuel Chambon has been named vice-president of the JWT Group, France where he had been chief operating officer since 2001.
Canadian production company Fever Films has signed director Maxime Giroux to its roster. In just two years of directing commercials, Giroux has already directed spots for clients including Volkswagen, Burger King and Fido, as well as music videos for Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts and Pilate. His short film Le Rouge du Sol has also been accepted to next year's Sundance and a host of other festivals including RESfest Canada and the Toronto International Film Festival. He is represented by Bikini in the UK, Labase in France, Jet Films in Toronto and Nu Films for music videos.
Director Laurie Castelli is joining Moon. Castelli, who previously worked for McCann Erickson and BMP DDB, started directing in 1999. He has worked on campaigns for the Daily Telegraph, AOL, Vodafone and PlayStation. The move follows recent news of the signing of promo director Phil Griffin for commercials.
Lost In Space has signed audio/video artists Addictive TV to its roster. As well as AV work including a video mash up of Blondie Vs The Doors for EMI, the company has also worked on commercials for Channel 4, BT, ITV1, Agnes B and Wella Shockwaves.
The Hive, part of the VTR Group, has appointed Tony Bradley as business development director. Bradley has worked for the group for eight years, most recently at TMR, as business development director.
Rhinoedit in New York has signed two new editors, Sven Herrmann and Daniel Rezende, for exclusive US representation. Herrmann has landed at the company running and is already working on his first projects for Wendy's, Verizon, Kraft and Miller Lite, all for the Hispanic market. Rezende, who recently completed a Burger King project through Crispin Porter + Bogusky, received an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA Award, and the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for his work on Fernando Meirelles' City of God, his first feature as an editor. He also cut director Walter Salles's Motorcycle Diaries, and the director's latest feature, Dark Water, and is currently working on a new, Meirelles-produced film.
New York visual effects studio Guava, has expanded its 3D animation department hiring veteran 3D animator Steve Talkowski as its director of animation. Talkowski brings over a decade of experience, most recently with New York's Hornet, where he also served as animation director. Prior to joining Guava, Talkowski had collaborated closely with them on several projects. Guava has also taken on David Bernkopf, a specialist in onsite effects supervision, motion tracking, and product animation and Adrian Graham, who joins as head technical director.
VFX producer, Sean Feeney, has joined Golden Square Post Production as a senior producer. Feeney joined Jim Henson's creature shop, first as a freelancer, before moving up to head of animation and post production. He then moved into commercials, freelancing for Golden Square in 2004, helping to set up their 3D department. In other Golden Square news, the post house is calling for entries for the Square Art exhibition to be held on February 9, so please check out the website for more details and how to submit work Square Art
Santa Monica-based production company Big Lawn Films has hired Andrea Marcucci of Agent 99 to represent the company on the East Coast.
BBC Motion Gallery, a division of BBC Worldwide Limited, has appointed Kristy Manning to the position of director, West Coast sales.
R!OT Santa Monica has taken on Marie Soto as West Coast business development rep. Soto previously served as West Coast sales representative for @radicalmedia as well as a freelance producer for TV and commercials, including the acclaimed series Nip/Tuck.