Bicoastal HSI Productions has added executive producer Maddi Carlton, who spent the past seven years in the same capacity at Chelsea Pictures, a New York-headquartered shop thats just gone bicoastal.
Carlton is based at HSIs New York office, where she will work with fellow HSI executive producer Bill Sandwick; HSIs two West Coast-based executive producers are Kirsten Emhoff and Steve Ross.
Carlton said that Chelseas deal with Childrens Broadcasting Corporation (see separate story, page 1) was one of the factors behind her decision to leave.It was clear to me, said Carlton, that Chelsea was going to be undergoing some reorganization. And Id been with [Chelsea president] Steve Wax for a very long time, and certainly, learned a lot and enjoyed it. But change was in the air and it was clear to me that this was an opportunity for change on my part.
The move to HSI was facilitated by Carltons long standing friendship with Sandwick, which dates back to the days when they both worked at the now-defunct production house Griner, Cuesta & Schrom, New York. Ive known Bill for a very long time, said Carlton, who spent more than 15 years at GC&S, where she was a partner/executive producer. I was kind of looking around, thinking about leaving Chelsea, and it sort of happened by accident. He and I had a conversation in which he said, AYou wouldnt think about coming here? And I said, Ayeah, maybe I would.
As it happened, Carlton discovered, HSI was in the midst of a bit of reorganization with regard to building the companys production team. She noted that Steve Ross, a former freelance line producer, is a fairly recent addition to the staff. In some respects its a new team, but its great, said Carlton. Everybody is really strong in their own way.
She added that aside from working with Sandwick, another attraction was the number of high caliber directors at HSI and at sister divisions, Mars Media and Venus Entertainment. Its a different sense of scale than what I was accustomed to at Chelsea, she said, and thats one thing that makes it really interesting. HSI is a quantum leap up, in terms of the volume of the work. But what attracted me was the level of the work. I think in this market these days, the talent of the directors and the level of the work are probably the single most important thing.
New York-based Melanie McEvoy continues in her role as head of sales for the company, which is repped by L.A.-based Esther Gonzales on the West Coast and Chicago-based Donna Daguanno in the Midwest.
