Riot Games. developer/creator of the hit League of Legends video games that inspired award-winning Netflix animated series Arcane, has appointed Cristina Fiumara as its first-ever Global Head of Animation Content Develop ment for Film & TV. She will be responsible for developing animated series and features for Riot Entertainment worldwide, working closely with a broad group of partners across franchise development, esports, game development and creative leaders, and reporting to Riot CCO Brian Wright.
Fiumara arrives at Riot from Walt Disney Animation Studios, where she was VP of Streaming Content, driving strategy, development, production and overall vision for Disney+’s animated slate, including its first long-form theatrical quality limited series Iwaju, Tiana and Moana, as well as its first short-form series, Olaf Presents, Zootopia+ and more. She was also part of the story trust for features, including Oscar winner Encanto.
Bringing 16 years of experience to her newly created role at Riot, Fiumara joined Disney in 2014 and held a variety of leadership roles, helping develop high-profile scripted and unscripted shows, spearheading collaborations with top gamers and producing animated pilots. Shewas instrumental in developing animated content for Disney+ across The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Television Animation, 20th Century Animation, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, etc., commissioning production of more than 45 titles, including the Emmy-winning series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Marvel’s Emmy-nominated What If…? and Star Wars: Visions. [Source: Deadline]
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has selected Nancy Ward as its new Executive Director, effective immediately. Ward, who joined the Society in 2014 as the organization’s Program and Development Director, was appointed Interim Executive Director upon the retirement of Eric Roth in September 2022, who had served as leader of the organization for nearly 20 years. The VES Board of Directors voted on the selection of Ward at the culmination of a comprehensive search process, under the leadership of VES Chair Lisa Cooke.
As VES Program & Development Director, Ward oversaw direct fundraising, partnerships, alliances and new programs. Her accomplishments include: driving annual sponsorship revenue; overseeing and directing the publishing team for VFX Voice, the Society’s award-winning magazine; spearheading initiatives around DEI, virtual production and women who lead VFX; overseeing the annual VES Honors Celebration, VES New York Awards Celebration and other VES and Section events; and leading the VES Archives initiative and development of the Society’s forthcoming VES digital museum.
Prior to joining the VES, Ward spent more than a decade in advertising, direct marketing, brand identity and business development, managing successful multi-million-dollar campaigns — as both a client and an ad agency account manager — for General Motors, Taco Bell, Mattel, office products, financial services companies and various nonprofits.
Atlanta-based creative studio Primal Screen has named a trio of new appointments:
After being at the helm of operations for over 20 years, Giulia Bundesmann will now lead Primal Screen as CEO. Bundesmann boasts career accomplishments in post-production management, studio management and corporate communications training.
Bundesmann succeeds Founder Doug Grimmett, who served as Primal Screen’s CEO since the company’s inception in 1995.
Daytime Emmy Award-winning producer David Trexler joins the agency as Director of Client Partnerships with over 25 years’ experience in the animation industry. After cutting his teeth at MTV Animation in the ’90s, Trexler moved to Scholastic Ent. to produce the Clifford’s Puppy Days series, then to its Soup2Nuts division where he supervised the animated series Time Warp Trio (WGBH/Discovery Kids/BBC/NBC), WordGirl (PBS), SciGirls (TPT/PBS) and Astroblast (Peacock Kids/NBCUniversal).
Trexler has also produced numerous award-winning animated book adaptations for Weston Woods, shorts for Sesame Street and Between The Lions, interactive websites, multiple commercials, explainer videos and web ads. He is based out of New Jersey and joins Primal Screen from Curious Media.
Primal Screen’s newly promoted Chief Creative Officer Rob Shepps has worked in the field of experience design for the last 25 years. Formerly an art director and production designer on films and commercials in L.A., where he worked as a PD on several award-winning projects for Pittard Sullivan, including main titles for The Wonderful World of Disney, NBC, CBS and SKY Network.
For the last 20 years, Shepps has worked as a live-action, interactive and creative director at Primal Screen. He has won numerous awards for working with such clients as Nickelodeon, PBS KIDS, Sprout, CNN and Cartoon Network. In his new role as CCO, he will oversee the creative output of the studio and continue Primal Screen’s commitment to high-quality content.
VFX and animation studio DNEG an nounced industry veteran Alaric McAusland as Managing Director of the company’s new VFX and animation studio in Sydney, Australia. McAusland will take up his new post with DNEG in January 2023, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry to the role.
McAusland has held significant entertainment industry leadership
roles in both Australia and the U.S. Most recently, he served as Executive Director for the Australian Directors’ Guild, and previously as Chief Operating Officer for the Emmy-winning L.A. production house, Grace: A Storytelling Company. McAusland has also served as Managing Director of Deluxe Entertainment Service Group Australia and is a past Chair of Ausfilm.
As MD of Deluxe Australia, McAusland was responsible for building its local VFX and post production presence, which included Iloura in Melbourne and Method Studios in Sydney. Earlier in his career, McAusland was a foundation team member, VFX Producer and General Manager of Australia’s DFILM, which won a VFX Oscar for its work on The Matrix.
McAusland is a former Chair of Ausfilm, the body for marketing Australia’s production capabilities and incentives to the Hollywood Studios and worldwide. He has also served as a Non-Executive Director of AACTA and a Councilor of Screen Producers Australia.
BlinkInk has signed on two unique animation talents to its roster:
Samuel Mason is a director and visual artist whose hyperrealistic work “blends the surreal with the cinematic”. He has received global recognition for his films: “Colors and Shapes” taken from the late Mac Miller’s mixtape Faces earned accolades from the Clios (Gold), D&AD (Graphite Pencil) and was awarded ‘Music Video of the Year’ by Shots last year. As well as music videos, Mason has created commercials for Honda, Spotify, Facebook and New York Times. BlinkInk represents Mason in the U.K. and Netherlands.
Isabel Garrett is a graduate of the National Film and Television School in London and formerly a resident artist at Alexander McQueen’s Sarabande Foundation whose films combine tactile stop-motion animation craft with her dark sense of humor. She joins BlinkInk for global representation.
Commissioned by Sarabande, Garrett’s upcoming short film Bod “celebrates flesh, nakedness and the human body,” making use of characters designed by sculptor and performance artist Daisy Collingridge. The film is set for online release January 19 with an event celebrating the launch at Sarabande Studios in London.
