Randy Lake, president of Sony Pictures Imageworks, the Academy Award-winning visual effects and animation unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment, today announced four new hires at the studio’s Vancouver headquarters: senior VP, production, Michelle Grady, VP, artist management, Ryan Pollreisz, veteran visual effects supervisor Sue Rowe, and art director Daniel Cox.
Michelle Grady, senior VP, production, will oversee Imageworks’ growing roster of more than 600 visual effects and animation artists. Grady has spent 23 years in the visual effects and post-production industry in Vancouver. She will join Imageworks from visual effects studio MPC, where she served as head of film, managing projects including Batman v Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Godzilla, Maleficent, and Life of Pi. Prior to MPC, Grady was VP and general manager at Technicolor. She will be taking over for Lydia Bottegoni, who currently heads production for Imageworks, and will be stepping down later this summer.
As VP, artist management, Ryan Pollreisz will manage crewing, recruiting and training for Imageworks. Pollreisz will join the company from his previous position as managing director of production at Deluxe and Encore.
Visual effects supervisor Sue Rowe will join Imageworks from MPC in Vancouver. Talented in traditional animation, 3D animation and compositing, she has nearly 20 years of experience in the industry on projects including The Maze Runner, John Carter, X-Men: The Last Stand, Troy, and visual effects Oscar-winner, The Golden Compass.
Daniel Cox will join Imageworks as visual effects art director with substantial experience as an illustrator, storyboard artist and art director on projects including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Great Gatsby, The Wolverine and Gods of Egypt for studios including Animal Logic and Weta.
Commenting on the announcement, Lake said, “Michelle and Ryan are talented executives with deep knowledge of the visual effects industry, and Sue and Daniel are experienced artists with impressive bodies of work. I am thrilled to tap their collective expertise as Imageworks continues to grow.”
Sony Pictures Imageworks is currently working on Warner Bros. live-action feature Suicide Squad, The Smurfs: Lost Village and The Emoji Movie for Sony Pictures Animation, Kingsman: The Golden Circle for 20th Century Fox, and Storks for Warner Animation Group.