Robert Wherry, managing director of bicoastal HKM Productions and head of sales on the East Coast for HKM and its satellites The Directors Bureau and Public Works, is leaving the roost on March 31. Wherry said the parting is amicable. After nearly five years as part of the HKM family, Wherry explained that he simply felt the need to pursue new challenges and opportunities for growth, having accomplished much of what he set out to do at HKM in concert with company founders, directors Graham Henman and Michael Karbelnikoff, and executive producer Tom Mickel. Wherry was instrumental in setting up HKM’s New York office….Jennifer Iverson, Jacquie Jones and Debra Roberts Sher have joined forces to launch Necessary Evil, a bicoastal entity designed to manage and represent commercial directors and production services. The new venture’s roster includes Los Angeles-based effects/ graphics house Fugitive and bicoastal WildLife Management… Lisa Cleff has been named director of new business develoment at bicoastal/international design and producton house Attik. She formerly headed San Francisco-based representation firm Lcleffilm, handling such shops as Red Sky Films, San Francisco….Independent rep Barbara Tripoli of Mixed Breed Reps, Dallas, is repping Cuppa Joe Music, Dallas, in Texas….Bicoastal New York Office has signed DP Patrick Duroux and production designer Bruno Hajdaj for national representation….Smith Gosnell Nicholson, Pacific Palisades, Calif., has signed DPs Chris Conway and Sergio Arguello for exclusive representation in spots and music videos….Rhinoceros Editorial and Post and Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design have hired Barbara Lamon to serve as an account executive. She previously served as an account exec. at MTI/The Image Group, most recently repping its visual effects and graphics division, Blink.fx, New York….Tom Greff has been appointed national sales manager at Audio Plus Video International which maintains facilities in Northvale, N.J. and Burbank, Calif…..
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More