Rick Wagonheim and Michael Miller, former mainstays at commercial production, feature visual effects, broadcast design, CGI and digital post shop R/Greenberg Associates (R/ Greenberg), have been hired to head up New York-based Rhinoceros Visual Effects & Design as executive producers/ partners.
Wagonheim and Miller said that they have put wheels in motion to bring much of the talent core from the now defunct R/Greenberg together under the Rhinoceros Visual Effects & Design banner. R/Greenberg closed in January, after parent company R/GA Media Group decided to turn its full focus to interactive media.
At press time, Wagonheim and Miller werent yet at liberty to discuss which former R/ Greenberg colleagues would be coming on board Rhinoceros. They said that negotiations with artists are currently taking place, with an announcement on the new lineup and details on Rhinoceros expanded visual effects operation slated for July. The expansion represents a $2 million dollar investment by Rhinoceros parent company Multi-Video Group, New York, and Gravity, its Tel Aviv, Israel-based investment partner. The Multi-Video Group family of companies includes Rhinoceros Editorial, Cool Beans Digital Audio, Wax Music & Sound and Wall to Wall Productions, all in New York. Associated international companies are Gravity and Oberhaussen, Germany-based Digital Renaissance.
According to Wagonheim, when news came of the plan to shutter R/Greenberg (SHOOT, 11/26/99, p. 1), the studios artists approached him and Miller to start a new visual effects company, which would ultimately be a re-creation of R/ Greenberg. Wagonheim and Miller devised a business plan and looked at alternatives, including starting a visual effects company from scratch, opening the New York office of a West Coast operation or expanding within an existing company.
Wagonheim and Miller pursued several options, but increasingly the prospect of a deal with Rhinoceros proved to be the most attractive. Discussions started in December when Miller sent a letter to Multi-Video Groups and Rhinoceros CEO/ founding partner David Binstock. The deal was finalized by the end of March, with implementation to take place in the coming months. Wagonheim and Miller will be jointly running the visual effects division of Rhinoceros, with Wagonheim concentrating on marketing, sales and talent recruitment/ management, and Miller focusing on the production side.
We are building a bigger better Rhino; there is a certain level of work that Rhino wasnt doing because they didnt have the artists or the departments to handle it. There was a certain expediency-the expansion of the facility is a process they wanted anyway, so the timing was perfect, related Wagonheim.
A new floor to house the expanded operation is currently under construction in Rhinoceros midtown offices. There is a tremendous enthusiasm among the R/Greenberg artists to work together again, said Wagonheim. They will all be R/Greenberg alumni A If we build this, they will come.
Rhinoceros has been through several reincarnations since Binstock founded the company in 70. It initially started out as DMC Films, becoming the Multi-Video Group in 77, and in 89, it was re-named Rhinoceros with the Multi-Video Group remaining the parent company.
Conceptually, we are a growing visual effects company. Michael and Rick have so much to offer and were excited to have them as part of the team to help make Rhinoceros Visual Effects & Design everything it can be, said Binstock of the expansion plan. With all the changes in the visual effects industry right now, were striving to be the number one company. I think these guys are terrific and they are going to be a tremendous asset in making this evolution.
Both Miller and Wagonheim said they were surprised at the scope of the Rhinoceros operation, something they were unaware of before meeting with Binstock. I didnt realize what is available at Rhino, and a lot of people are surprised when they see what is actually here. They have more firepower than we had at R/Greenberg, including three Infernos, three online suites, nine Avid suites and a high-definition suite and a high-def film-to-tape suite. The timing is right in New York for a new visual effects company, so although Rhino is not new, it is an emerging company, and will fill the huge void left by R/ Greenberg, contended Wagonheim.
While Robert Greenberg, chairman/CEO of the overall R/GA, earlier cited dwindling margins as a factor in the decision to fold R/Greenberg, Wagonheim told SHOOT this past summer and fall was the busiest the studio had ever had. Miller said that Rhinoceros would operate under the same philosophies that were in place at R/ Greenberg, with an ensemble of freelancers supplementing a core team of staff whose focus will be high-end visual effects work.
Prior to R/Greenbergs closure, director Mark Voelpel ended his nearly nine-year tenure at the company to join New York-based Black Logic (SHOOT, 11/26/99, p. 1). In February, R/Greenbergs former senior digital effects editor/ Flame artist/effects supervisor David Elkins joined New York-based Spontaneous Combustion as a visual effects supervisor/ senior Inferno artist (SHOOT, 2/8, p. 8), and Kleiser-Walczak, a bicoastal and North Adams, Mass. visual effects/animation house, took on a team of ex-R/Greenberg artists. These included visual effects supervisor Arman Matin, CG artist Natasha Saenko, animators Jeff Guerrero and Patrick Porter, as well as producer Bennett Lieber (SHOOT, 2/25, p.1).
Wagonheim was at R/ Greenberg for three-and-a-half years in the capacity of executive producer. Prior to that, he was a president/partner in the now defunct Full Blue, from 87-96, and in 93, he was a founding partner in digital effects studio Click3X, New York, a sister company to Full Blue.
Miller has worked as a producer in live action and visual effects for over 20 years. He spent four years at R/Greenberg as head of production/director of operations. Prior to that, he was executive producer/president of M&M Productions, a New York-based live action and digital postproduction service company, from 91 to 96. During this time, he also freelanced for facilities in New York and Los Angeles, producing visual effects, commercials, broadcast design, independent films and music videos.
