Cannes Lions has named Ted Sarandos, co-CEO, Netflix, as the 2022 Entertainment Person of the Year.
Presented in recognition of the vital role that entertainment plays in the marketing and communications landscape, the Cannes honor celebrates the creativity that inspires others to produce truly compelling, meaningful and entertaining content.
Sarandos will be presented with the award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, live Awards Show, on Thursday, June 23.
The Netflix exec will also speak on stage at Cannes Lions for the first time. Sarandos will join “Sway” podcast host and The New York Times Opinion writer Kara Swisher in the Lumiere Theatre (June 23, 11:30am-noon) to discuss creativity, the need for constant innovation and the future of entertainment with MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan. Hear how the global streaming platform intends to keep entertaining the world by betting big on TV series, documentaries, feature films and mobile games.
Philip Thomas, chairman of Cannes Lions, commented, “We’re delighted to honor Ted Sarandos with this year’s Entertainment Person of the Year accolade. He is a leading creative force, who has developed a body of truly compelling content at Netflix, transforming the creative landscape over the last decade.”
Founded in 1997, the Netflix subscription-based streaming service offers award-winning TV series, documentaries, feature films and mobile games across a wide variety of genres and languages to its members around the world.
Sarandos is the second entertainment luminary to collect the award, after Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels collected the inaugural accolade at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More