Athena Studios, an Emeryville, CA-based company specializing in animation for film and multimedia clients, has named Vince De Quattro as the company's new Executive in Charge of Production. The announcement was made today by Jon V. Peters, Founder of Athena Studios.
In his new post, De Quattro will focus on putting together a production development package for Athena Studios, leveraging his success with collaborative projects he helped steer at Academy of Art University and 32TEN Studios.
Said Peters, "Vince is a terrific addition to our team here at Athena Studios. He is brimming with exciting new ideas of how to grow, not only the studio, but also the whole Bay Area film-making community. His previous experiences at Industrial Light and Magic and Warner Brothers add greatly to our talent pool. In addition, his past experience as a Director of Animation at Academy of Art is perhaps most appealing, as we now actively seek to grow local talent and expand our studio's activities into new arenas."
Adds De Quattro, "Athena's capacity for quality independent production, their close relationship with exceptional local talent, and Jon Peters' sustained market vision offered me the chance to join the next rising star in Bay Area filmmaking. Our proximity to other leading boutique production facilities offers us an exciting opportunity to build a collaborative and supportive film community, much like those relationships found between academic schools on a university campus. The synchronicity of the film community will help us weather the prevailing industry off-shoring, and will hopefully attract intellectual property and talent to the region."
About VINCE DE QUATTRO
Prior to joining Athena Studios as Executive in Charge of Production, Vince De Quattro had served Marin Country's 32TEN Studios as Director of Artist Development. Earlier, he was the Online Director of Animation and Visual Effects for the Academy of Art University (San Francisco) from 2005-2011. There, he was instrumental in building a world class post production program for both undergraduate and graduate tracks.
During De Quattro's tenure with the Academy of Art University, he developed several important programs, notably the Production Track, the influence of which helped garner a Student Academy Award for the AAU short subject animated film, "Dragon Boy," in 2011. By designing multi-disciplinary curricula, he built collaborative projects between the schools of Animation, Motion Pictures, Illustration and Advertising. Many of his former students now work for entertainment industry leaders like ILM, Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, Blue Sky, MPC, Double Negative, Laika and Tippett Studios.
De Quattro spent most of his visual effects career with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), joining that company as a Technical Director in l997. While there, he worked on five Academy Award-nominated feature films-films nominated for "Best Achievement in Visual Effects." These included "Mighty Joe Young," "Star Wars: Episodes I and II," "Pearl Harbor," and "Pirates of the Caribbean." As a Senior Technical Director, De Quattro was responsible for the design, development and implementation of visual effects for numerous feature films. During his career, he has worked with nine Academy Award winning VFX Supervisors.
Prior to his post with ILM, De Quattro had been a Technical Director and Animator for Warner Bros. Digital Studios, Robert Greenberg Studios (in LA), and the Sony High Definition Television Center in Culver City, CA. After leaving ILM in 2003, De Quattro worked with several other Bay Area-based visual effects houses, including Matte World, Inc., The Orphanage, and Tweak Films.
De Quattro is an active member of the Visual Effects Society and has served as an Academic Member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and SIGGRAPH Educator and Lecturer. He holds a BA Degree in Fine Arts/Studio Art from USC, and participated in the USC Film School Master's Program in Computer Animation in Film.
About ATHENA STUDIOS
Athena Studios was launched as a full service production facility for film and video. In 2013, Athena Studios also began to develop its own original content for motion pictures, television and the web, in addition to producing outside projects
Athena Studios is located in Emeryville, CA, in the heart of Northern California's "New Hollywood" — near Pixar, Tippett Studios and Ex'pression College for Digital Arts. For more information, please see: http://www.athenastudios.com/
