Full-service visual effects studio Bot VFX today announced the appointments of Marco Maldonado as visual effects supervisor and Katie Adams Wells as executive producer, strengthening its team as the facility continues to grow its slate of feature film and episodic work.
Based in Los Angeles, both join Bot’s executive sales team alongside VP of revenue management Christina Wise, supporting the studio’s creative pitches and client partnerships. Maldonado’s credits include Rodrigo Prieto’s Pedro Páramo (2024) for Netflix, which earned him the Ariel Award for best visual effects.
He also supervised VFX on Extraction 2 (2023) and David Fincher’s Gone Girl (2014), served as on-set supervisor on Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma (2018), and was second unit VFX supervisor on Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate (2019).
“What drew me to Bot is the team’s craftsmanship and its appetite to keep pushing what’s possible,” said Bot VFX visual effects supervisor Maldonado. “Technology doesn’t decide the stories we tell; it expands what filmmakers and artists can achieve, and that’s exactly what I want to help build here.”
Maldonado’s four-decade career began in 1985 as a model maker at R/Greenberg Associates in New York, where an early opportunity on Predator (1987) sparked a lasting fascination with the intersection of photography, technology and storytelling.
After years as a camera assistant and motion control operator, he joined Digital Domain (a LA-based visual effects, computer animation, and digital production company), working on Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), TRON: Legacy (2010) and The Social Network (2010). That work increasingly took him on location, leading into on-set and visual effects supervision.
Wells is a senior VFX executive and producer with decades of experience in live-action production and visual effects across commercials, television and feature films.
“I’ve spent my career helping filmmakers navigate complex productions with more flexibility and creative control, and that’s exactly the kind of reputation Bot brings to the table. I’m looking forward to bringing that experience to our clients,” said Bot VFX executive producer Wells.
Her early commercial work included producing for directors Ridley Scott, David Lynch, and Joe Pytka. As Propaganda Films’ executive producer, she represented David Kellogg, Michael Bay, and Antoine Fuqua. She went on to serve as director of commercial production at Digital Domain before founding Creo Collective, where, as managing director, she built a VFX boutique designed for fast-moving production environments.
At FX Cartel, where she served as executive producer, she pioneered a boutique vendor model leveraging Canadian tax incentives to deliver cost-effective VFX on films including Stay (2005), Cursed (2005), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), Across the Universe (2007) and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (2007). She later VFX produced Immortals (2011), Jesus Henry Christ (2011) and Riddick (2013), and consulted on Sony’s The Smurfs (2011).
“Marco and Katie bring decades of production experience and a deep understanding of both traditional and emerging VFX tools,” said Bot VFX founder & chairman Hitesh Shah. “They know the craft behind great visual effects and what filmmakers need from a creative partner. Having leaders of their calibre guiding our artists and productions raises the bar for every project we take on.”
