Moves this week at JWT South Africa, Partizan, Moxie London, A Band Apart, Streetlight, Nola Pictures, Sandwick Films, Mendoza, All Films, Colourmovie, The Mill, Pure, Golden Square
JWT South Africa has appointed Modise Makhene as new group CEO. He has previously worked for Coca-Cola USA, Tiger Brands South Africa and, most recently, as managing director for Primedia @ Home. Makhene's appointment completes the new management group for JWT South Africa. His move follows Rob McLennan's recent appointment as executive creative director for the group, as well as those of Eric Fologwe and Conn Bertish as managing director and creative director of JWT Cape Town, respectively. In addition, Judy van Dam will become managing director of JWT Johannesburg, replacing Alan Bolon who is retiring.
Partizan has signed directing team Frater, aka Benji Davies and Jim Field. The pair, who studied at college together, started out making short films and animated documentarie. Their promo Out of the Water for Welsh four-piece Camera piqued the interest of Island Records, who commissioned them to shoot four mini viral promos for up-and-coming band The Fratellis. The pair continue to work as illustrators for children's books.
Channel 4's creative director for E4 Neil Gorringe has signed to Moxie Pictures for commercials and music videos. Previously at MTV UK, Gorringe joined E4 when it launched and has written as well as directed idents, promos and spots for the channel.
Director Marcel Langenegger has signed with A Band Apart for exclusive US representation. Swiss-born Langenegger, winner of a gold Clio and a Cannes gold lion for his 2001 Doctors Without Frontiers spot, was previously with Biscuit Filmworks. He is set to shoot his first feature, a Wall Street thriller called The Tourist, for Fox this autumn. Langenegger is repped by Circle Productions in Canada and Chocolate Films in Europe.
Streetlight Films' new promo division has signed Bille Woodruff for music video representation for the UK and Europe. Woodruff's work includes videos for artists including Britney Spears, Lil' Kim, Christina Milian and R Kelly. He has also shot features Honey and Beauty Shop. He is repped by Form in the US.
Nola Pictures has signed director Xandy Smith for commercials representation. Smith was previously at Headquarters where he assisted David Cornell. Since joining Nola he has shot a three-spot campaign for Orthodontic Centers of America
Sandwick Films has signed animation director Simon Blake. Blake joins Sandwick from Chelsea Pictures with longtime producer Marcello Bue. He has shot for a variety of brands, most notably the metrosexual-gone-mad spot World Gone Pretty for Levi's through McCann-Erickson San Francisco.
Mendoza Film Productions has signed director Jamie Lane. Lane has been directing for five years and has shot commercials for a variety of international clients including Fiat, The Carphone Warehouse, Wrigley's, PlayStation, Telecom Italia and Fuji.
All Films has signed Simon Stock for UK commercials representation. As well as a respected stills photographer, Stock has shot spots for Jaguar, Mercedes and Kia and has just completed a series of commercials for the National Geographic Channel. He is represented by Uber Content in the US.
Design and live-action studio Colourmovie has promoted former staff producer John McGinnis to executive producer. McGinnis brings production, development and technical experience working on music videos from his five years as director's rep and executive producer of the music video department at Bonfire Films of America.
After the success of Doctor Who, The Mill's TV VFX producer Will Cohen has boosted his team by hiring film VFX producer Natalie Stopford and VFX production co-ordinator Marie Jones. Stopford was until recently the technical VFX coordinator on the Da Vinci Code feature for Rainmaker Productions. Previous to that she was a VFX coordinator on the new Captain Scarlet series. Jones previously worked for Oktobor in New Zealand on long-form and commercial projects, including The World's Fastest Indian feature.
Creative design studio Pure has taken on Wendy Brovetto as executive producer. She moves from Saucer Attack where she held the same title. She was previously executive producer and CEO of design and effects house Fish Media and has worked on brands including Motorola, Pizza Hut, ESPN, Scripps Network and Bausch & Lomb.
Golden Square Post Production has taken on Jasper Kidd as a computer graphics animator. He recently graduated from Sheridan College in New York majoring in classical animation.
Chicago-based post-production house Filmworkers Club had hired colorist Fred Keller. Keller joins from Company 3 where he has been since 2002. His recent credits include spots for GMC, Budweiser, adidas, Samuel Adams and MTV and promos for artists including P. Diddy, Eminem, Jesse McCartney and We Are Scientists.
