Tag: production

Singapore – CNN’s head of Asia Pacific, Ellana Lee, has been elevated to the newly created global role of group senior vice president, general manager for APAC, and global head of productions, overseeing a brand-new team at CNN that will handle all aspects of multi-platform sponsored content at the network alongside her existing editorial responsibilities.

Effective immediately, Lee’s expanded role will see her guide a new global productions team, focused on developing and producing sponsored content across all platforms, and see the creation of new roles in the United States to strengthen and expand the existing Features team, currently based across Atlanta, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and London.

In a CNN career spanning 25 years, most recently as SVP, Managing Editor Asia Pacific, & Global Head of Features Content, Lee has pioneered its highly successful approach to feature content, including major initiatives such as ‘Call to Earth’.

Lee, as the most senior executive outside the United States, will continue to be based at CNN’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. As head of the Asia-Pacific region, she will also continue to shape CNN’s editorial output there, with overall responsibility for its slate of award-winning programming as well as its roster of correspondents and newsgathering teams across eight editorial operations.

Mike McCarthy, managing editor at CNN Worldwide, said, “Under Ellana’s leadership, our Features team has consistently innovated, delivering award-winning, multi-platform, editorially robust and engaging feature content that has attracted commercial partnerships with some of the world’s most dynamic and successful brands.  She will now bring that experience, creativity and skill to bear across the network, working in tandem with our digital, TV, product, programming, marketing, communications, and commercial teams globally.”

Thailand – Production house electriclime° has appointed Jason Heller as its executive producer for Asia amidst the company’s expansion to Thailand.

In his new role, Heller is set to oversee projects across Asia from its office in Singapore. He previously led the boutique production house Society. Prior to that, he also worked with 72andSunny, Droga5, Grey, and Johannes Leonardo.

Throughout his production experience, including in Los Angeles and New York, Heller has worked with major brands such as Google, Amazon, and Uber.

With the expansion, electriclime° is extending its production solutions to Bangkok, recognising it as a growing production hub in Asia.

electriclime°’s client portfolio includes Kia, Sony, Marriott, and Hyundai.

Heller commented, “I am thrilled to be joining electriclime°. It’s an honour to work alongside such an incredible team of filmmakers, artists, and talented individuals who consistently strive for excellence and push creative boundaries.”

“We’re thrilled to have Jason join the electriclime° team as we continue to expand and solidify our presence in the Asian market. His expertise will be invaluable in driving our vision forward,” Michael Ahmadzadeh, electriclime° co-founder, said.

“The opening of a Bangkok office adds to our strategic expansion to complement our existing global presence. This move strengthens our global network but also allows us to better serve international brands and creative agencies. Having shot several high-profile projects in Thailand, by being on the ground in Bangkok it gives us the opportunity to provide even more top-quality production services to global markets and continue to bring artistic expression and commercial storytelling to a broader audience,” Ahmadzadeh added.

Singapore – Kasagi Labo, a local-based anime venture studio, has announced a $10 million commitment towards anime productions. This investment aims to strengthen Kasagi Labo’s role in connecting Japanese creativity with global audiences, starting with “Special Kid Factory,” the first of several anime productions under Kasagi Labo’s expanding portfolio.

The studio’s recent $12 million fundraising round, led by Burda Principal Investments and other strategic partners, will support the development, marketing, and global amplification of these projects. This investment indicates growing interest in comprehensive approaches to anime creation, promotion, and IP maximisation. 

Leading Kasagi Labo’s slate of upcoming productions is “Special Kid Factory,” an ambitious sci-fi adventure series that delves into compelling themes of identity and mystery. The anime’s debut trailer, showcased at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July 2024.

“Special Kid Factory” follows the journey of Genpei, an ordinary boy who discovers he is a clone of Denshiin, a seasoned detective. Together, they embark on a galactic quest, solving mysteries and fighting for survival in a universe populated by “Special Kids”. This flagship project will be joined by several other diverse productions currently in development, each designed to appeal to different segments of the global anime audience. 

“Special Kid Factory” is being co-produced with NAZ Studio, renowned for anime titles such as “ID: INVADED,” “Good Night World,” and “Sabikui Bisco.” This collaboration sets a high standard for Kasagi Labo’s content and underscores the studio’s commitment to blending Japanese creativity with global storytelling. 

Kendrick Wong, founder of Kasagi Labo, said, “Our goal is to contribute to the evolving landscape of anime production and distribution for a global era. Our projects will not only push the boundaries of storytelling but also introduce new ways for fans and business partners around the world to interact with and experience anime.”

Australia – Amplify, the creator economy agency, is expanding its Australian staff. They have promoted Sonja Stindl to the new position of general manager and appointed Ben Somers as partnerships director, among other new personnel. 

In order to further the goal within the Australian team, Stindl will work closely with co-founders Alex Reid and Tom Maynard to supervise people, finances, and legal matters.

After holding the role of head of talent, Stindl is now general manager for Australia. She joins Amplify with three years of experience, having held senior talent management positions at MaxConnectors before.

Somers will now oversee the newly formed partnerships division, focusing on generating new business prospects and building strong relationships with clients across many business teams. 

Somers, who was briefly employed at TikTok, has returned to Amplify in the role of partnerships director. He brings with him previous campaign team knowledge from his stint at Amplify. 

To further strengthen the expanding Australian office, Jess Hill, a longtime Universal Music employee who formerly worked across Jean Paul Gaultier and Carolina Herrera at Puig, has joined as senior campaign manager. Ryan Paturzo, a Buzzfeed employee of six years, has been named account director for the production group. The last of the recent hires, Jyothi Krithivasan, assumes the position of coordinator for partnerships and marketing. 

Speaking about her appointment, Stindl expressed, “It’s truly an exciting time to be part of the creator industry, and Amplify is leading the charge with the best content creators and clients in the business as well as our passionate team driving it all behind the scenes. I look forward to working with Alex and Tom to solidify our offering in Australia and prepare for our next growth phase.”

Meanwhile, Somers stated, “Returning to Amplify and leading this new Partnerships division is a really exciting move for me. As a business we’re growing from strength to strength and the aim of this new team is to drive connections – internally and externally – to meet the needs of our clients beyond traditional campaign structures.”

Furthermore, Alex Reid, co-founder of Amplify, said, “It’s taken a while, but we are starting to see mass adoption of creators into existing marketing mixes, using creators’ audiences to connect with relevant brands and their messages. With that comes the need for a bigger team and our approach has always been to hire people smarter than us, which hasn’t been difficult.” 

He added, “Amplify’s growth is also demonstrated with our expanding talent pool. We’ve grown from having eight creators and producing live shows when we started the business in 2015, to having a roster of 50 creators and a team of over 80 across Australia, Southeast Asia and all the way north to Japan and Korea. We’re proud of the business’s growth and our ability to promote internally. Cultivating a thriving culture and fostering growth are important to us as business owners and we strive to ensure that our team feels this positive impact, even if we’ve run out of desks in the office.”

Sydney, Australia – Bastion’s production house Bastion Films has rebranded as Bastion Make to reflect its newly expanded production capabilities, including an in-house production studio with more than 30 on-site craft specialists offering clients cost-effective, 360-degree content and campaign delivery.

The creation of Bastion Make further cements Bastion’s new world agency model – one business with many services, deep expertise in each one, and wide thinking across the breadth of the communications spectrum providing clients with a ‘one-stop’ streamlined offering.

With this, in-house craft experts with deep expertise in motion, digital, studio and print will be working in tandem across all production disciplines to deliver integrated, end-to-end campaigns, and content delivery for Bastion and direct clients. The upgraded studio also allows all editing, grading, and VFX to be done internally in Bastion Make’s post-house, creating efficiencies for clients.

The in-house team includes two editors/shooters, two digital producers, a supervising producer, EP of digital, a print producer, a finished artist, animators, production company producers, traditional agency producers, and animation producers.

Further boosting the new 360 model, Bastion Make has also announced the senior appointment of Galadriel Roussos as executive producer for Sydney. A seasoned EP, Roussos brings deep expertise gained through over 20 years of experience working in broadcast, networks, and events, including four years at Foxtel.

As part of the national model rollout, Bastion Make has also built a team in Melbourne, with an EP – Kaelene Morton leading the charge, editor – Dave Wade, and producer – Ravenna Bouckaert, accessing the centralised production and post studios and craft experts to deliver 360 campaigns for Melbourne-based clients.

Jacqueline Archer, Bastion Make’s managing director, shared that the team is now big enough to execute 360 campaign solutions in-house while retaining the fluidity and agility to still work as a collaborative delivery group.

“Best in class craft and quality execution is at the heart of what we do. Because our experts are in-house, we can deliver integrated solutions that are insight-driven, impactful and cost-effective with ease. Clients don’t need to talk to ten different departments. They talk to one, whatever their content and production needs,” said Archer.

Meanwhile, Jack Watts, group CEO of Bastion, said, “Out of the wide range of services we provide to our clients, content production in all its forms is the one thing every client responds saying they need more of, and delivered in a faster, better model. This is what has driven our significant investment in people and both physical and digital infrastructure to rapidly expand our capabilities.”

Bastion Make is also currently expanding into the other Bastion markets of New Zealand and the USA.

Sydney, Australia – This is probably what one would call a “plot twist” – everyone’s beloved stock images and videos collection Shutterstock has now extended its brand to launch an end-to-end custom creative services for brands called Shutterstock Studios. 

The new creative division will offer brands custom, high-quality content matched with production tools and services at scale. Services will provide data-driven content strategy, full-scale production, brand storytelling, and amplification. 

With Shutterstock’s network boasting of over 1 million contributors in photography, cinematography, and production across 100 countries, the new studios aims to provide custom content across various creative storytelling measures, from brand storytelling, full production services, creative ideation, storyboarding, script writing as well as talent booking, influencer management and post-production.

“The launch of Shutterstock Studios is a milestone moment for our company. Through our talented global network of photographers, cinematographers, and contributors who provide an unending catalog of premium content, we’re able to build this global production studio and expand our services,” said Shutterstock CRO Jamie Elden.

Alongside the service launch, Shutterstock also announced the service’s head of global production, Aiden Darné. Prior to his new appointment, he was senior vice president of production at Vice Media Group and vice president of production at Viacom, a mass media conglomerate.

“I’m thrilled to join Shutterstock at such an exciting time for the company, since now more than ever, there is huge demand for a global production infrastructure that’s underpinned by a hyper local point of view. Shutterstock Studios is uniquely positioned to succeed within this marketplace with it’s vast and varying global network of contributors and creatives. It has a bright future and I’m honored to have been brought on to build out Shutterstock’s best in class production offering,” Darné said. 

Elden commented, “Under the helm of our new Head of Global Production, Aiden Darné, we’re looking forward to creating innovative content to all of our valued partners, brands, agencies and entertainment industry.”