Manne Öhrström has been named global head of film software at Framestore. The new role will have him refining current software development practices, while also more fully integrating innovative new and emerging tech such as AI, machine learning and game engine technology into Framestore’s established film pipeline. Reporting directly to Fiona Walkinshaw, who’s global managing director, film, and executive director Matt Fox, Öhrström will work closely with global head of CG Mark Wilson and global tech director, Engine, Danny Lepage.
Öhrström has a storied career working across film, games and tech. He obtained a masters thesis in physics while working for EA. For the past few years he has worked at the intersection of art and technology, forging a successful career for the likes of Autodesk and Shotgun. He is also no stranger to Framestore, having worked for the company from 2007-08 and served as one of the key developers on 2008 animated feature The Tale of Despereaux.
Now in his second tour of duty at Framestore, Öhrström will manage a range of software development groups (including rendering, R&D, core software and AI/ML) while also scanning the horizon for partnership opportunities and innovative new software development funds.
“I feel like I’m returning to VFX and production at a really pivotal time,” said Öhrström. “The industry is undergoing significant changes thanks to advances in real-time, virtual production, machine learning and a rapidly-evolving open source culture. This is really exciting for someone who’s made a career helping align art with cutting-edge tech, and it seems like the perfect time to be back at Framestore given the global reputation for work that is both creatively and technically challenging.”
Writers of “Conclave,” “Say Nothing” Win Scripter Awards
The authors and screenwriters behind the film “Conclave” and the series “Say Nothing” won the 37th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards during a black-tie ceremony at USC’s Town and Gown ballroom on Saturday evening (2/22).
The Scripter Awards recognize the year’s most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen, including both feature-length films and episodic series.
Novelist Robert Harris and screenwriter Peter Straughan took home the award for “Conclave.”
In accepting the award, Straughan said, “Adaptation is a really strange process, you’re very much the servant of two masters. In a way it’s an act of betrayal of one master for the other.” He joked that “You start off with a book that you love, you read it again and again, and then you end up throwing it over your shoulder,” crediting author Robert Harris for being “so kind, so generous, so open throughout.”
In the episodic series category, Joshua Zetumer and Patrick Radden Keefe won for the episode “The People in the Dirt” from the limited series “Say Nothing,” which Zetumer adapted from Keefe’s nonfiction book about the Troubles in Ireland.
Zetumer referenced this year’s extraordinary group of Scripter finalists, saying “projects like these reminded me of why I wanted to become a writer when I was sitting in USC’s Leavey Library dreaming of becoming a screenwriter. If you fell in love with movies, or fell in love with TV, chances are you fell in love with something dangerous.”
Special guest for the evening, actress and producer Jennifer Beals, shared her thoughts on the impact of libraries. “If ever you are at a loss wondering if there is good in the world,” she said, “you have only to go to a... Read More