Robert Walston, president of Liberty Livewire Corp., Santa Monica-headquartered parent company to a host of post/effects facilities worldwide, has added the title of CEO. He had been serving as acting CEO since April, following the departure of David Beddow. Liberty Livewire’s primary hubs of operation are Los Angeles, New York and London. Before joining Liberty Livewire in June 2000 as president and COO, Walston was chairman/CEO of Four Media Co., which is part of the Liberty family of companies….Redtree Productions, based in New York and Boston, has signed feature filmmaker Brad Anderson and director Mat Kaufman for spot representation…Bicoastal HSI Productions has renewed its strategic alliance with Hollywood-based Bitmax for another year. Per the deal, Bitmax remains the exclusive provider of all digital convergence and distribution for HSI, encompassing such services as putting directors’ work on DVDs and streaming helmers’ reels over the Internet. Bitmax maintains BAM! (Bitmax Asset Manager), an online ordering service that via the Internet connects clients to their digitally archived video files (SHOOT, 4/20, p. 7). This enables clients to order customized reels via the Web. Over the past six months, Bitmax has produced more than 40 DVD runs between 100 and 300 discs each for HSI and its affiliated bicoastal shops, Mars Media and Venus Entertainment….Electra Lang has been named executive producer of Pictures In A Row, the Los Angeles shop featuring director Peter Lang….Sound designer/engineer Eric Pilhofer has joined VoiceWorks Recording Studios, Minneapolis. He was formerly with Minneapolis-based Hi-Wire….
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