European fashion company Lindex has hired Martin Cedergren as global creative director. Cedergren has extensive experience in global brands and has worked at leading agencies in both Sweden and the Netherlands. Among his roles was executive creative director and founding partner at M&C Saatchi, Stockholm. Over the years he has collaborated with global clients such as PepsiCo, Volvo Cars, adidas, Nike, Google and IKEA….
Laragh Gallagher has been promoted to executive creative director of The Marketing Arm (TMA). She was previously SVP of creative and is the first senior creative appointment announced by the Dallas agency’s newly named chief creative officer Harris Wilkinson. Since joining TMA in 2007, Gallagher has led creative for new business, most recently helping to onboard one of the agency’s newest clients Pernod Ricard during the pandemic. She’s created award-winning work such as Wendy’s “Scare Thru” and been a key contributor to many other agency clients including Frito-Lay, American Airlines, Goodyear, Hilton, and Hasbro. In her spare time, Gallagher is a painter and contemporary artist. Gallagher’s promotion reflects TMA’s commitment to cultivating its own talent in order to deliver on its agency promise of creating cultural resonance for brands via creativity that matters. This commitment was also on full display in July when the agency promoted Wilkinson from SVP creative to become its first ever CCO….
Los Angeles-based SixTwentySix Productions has hired Jacki Sextro as executive producer. Sextro will collaborate with the company’s team of partners, producers, and roster of directors to further strengthen strategic growth while overseeing all projects, bringing on new talent, and handling clientele. Sextro brings over a decade of experience in advertising to SixTwentySix. Prior to founding her own shop, she spent time being a part of teams at companies including Hungry Man, Biscuit and The Directors Bureau. Working on projects such as Team Galaxy with Millie Bobby Brown, Crocs with Drew Barrymore, and Tommy John with Kevin Hart, Sextro brings expertise from a wide range of clients, agencies, production genres and directors. SixTwentySix has produced and directed 95 projects since the pandemic. Currently it has work out for Miller Lite and Chevy, and recently received an MTV Video Music Awards nomination in the Best Alternative category for the Miles & AJ-directed Twenty One Pilots “Shy Away” video. Upcoming, SixTwentySix is in production for clients including SweeTarts for Duncan Channon, promo trailer work for Marvel Studios, and Alec Benjamin for Elektra Records….
Cinematographer Ari Wegner will be honored with the TIFF Variety Artisan Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Awards. The award recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Academy Award–winning cinematographer Roger Deakins and Academy Award–nominated and six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard are previous recipients of the award. Wegner’s career began to take off with Night Shift by Zia Mandviwalla, which went to Cannes in 2012. Wegner has worked both on television and film projects, including The Girlfriend Experience, True History of the Kelly Gang, In Fabric, Stray, Ruin, and Lady Macbeth. She recently worked on Janicza Bravo’s Zola, which was released by A24 this summer. Wegner’s work will next be seen in Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, directed by Jane Campion and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (a fellow TIFF Tribute honoree) and Kirsten Dunst, which will screen at TIFF….
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