Bicoastal Hornet Animation has signed Michael Coronado to handle West Coast sales as part of the company’s spot expansion, which includes moving into a larger New York office. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Hornet develops, creates and produces computer animation, visual effects and motion graphics for commercials, promos, music videos, feature title sequences and logo treatments. With an extensive sports portfolio, Hornet, which is headed by CEO Jon Slusser, has clients that include the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, New York Rangers and Utah Jazz….Graphic Nature, a Glendale, Calif.-based animation/visual effects house, has hired Sarah Mahoney as its director of sales and new business…. Dattner and Associates, Los Angeles, has signed DPs Danny Ruhlmann, ASC; Simon Duggan, ASC; Mandy Walker, ASC; Ross Emery, ASC; and Geoff Hall, ASC, for spot representation.…DP Pat Darrin has joined Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials, features and television….
Gene Hackman’s Estate Asks Court To Block Release Of Death Investigation Records
A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports — especially photographs and police body-camera video — related to the recent deaths of Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home last month. Authorities last week announced that Hackman died at age 95 of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer's disease as much as a week after a rare, rodent-borne disease — hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — took the life of his 65-year-old wife. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity on Feb. 18, indicating an abnormal heart rhythm on the day he likely died. The couple's bodies weren't discovered until Feb. 26 when maintenance and security workers showed up at the Santa Fe home and alerted police — leaving a mystery for law enforcement and medical investigators to unravel. Julia Peters, a representative for the estate of Hackman and Arakawa, urged a state district court in Santa Fe to seal records in the cases to protect the family's right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — emphasizing the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media. The request, filed Tuesday, also described the couple's discrete lifestyle in Santa Fe since Hackman's retirement. The state capital city is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors. The couple "lived an exemplary private life for over thirty years in Santa Fe, New Mexico and did not showcase their lifestyle," said the petition. New Mexico's open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of people who are... Read More