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…..
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More