Light Iron–a leading postproduction solutions provider and member of the Panavision family of companies–has appointed veteran post professional Josh Haynie to the newly created role of VP of U.S. Operations. Based in Light Iron’s flagship Hollywood facility, Haynie will be responsible for leveraging the company’s resources across Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, and future locations.
“Light Iron has experienced significant growth since being acquired by Panavision,” said Peter Cioni, the company’s CFO. “To continue on this trajectory, we’re bringing in a leader to assist us with navigating the complexities that commonly impact larger businesses. Josh’s experience is unmatched: he has strong operational and managerial skills, as well as deep client relationships, which will enable Light Iron to continue to grow and be a leader in the industry.”
Haynie joins Light Iron after 13 years at EFILM, where, as managing director, he maintained direct responsibility for all aspects of the company’s operations including EC3 (on-location services), facility dailies, trailers, digital intermediate, home video, and restoration. Haynie managed a team of 100+ employees, and more than 650 digital intermediates were completed under his watch. Previously, Haynie held positions at Sunset Digital, Octane/Lightning Dubs, Sunset Post, and other production and post companies. Haynie is an Associate Member of the ASC, and is also actively involved in the HPA, SMPTE, and VES.
Haynie noted that it is an exciting time to join Light Iron: “From the expansion of Light Iron’s episodic services and NY facilities to the development of the color science in the new Millennium DXL camera, it is clear that the integration of Panavision and Light Iron brings significant benefits to clients. I look forward to working with the entire team to further elevate a level of service that is unprecedented in our industry.”
Panavision CEO Kim Snyder added, “The addition of Josh Haynie comes at a key moment in the overall growth of Panavision. We are committed to providing a full portfolio of innovative, creative solutions throughout the production and post process.”
Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky
Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.
The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.
But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.
The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.
Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.
"They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More