Joan Bierman was the Post Production Supervisor on “Deadpool”. Joan has worked at 20th Century FOX since 2008 where she negotiates quotes and contracts, creates and oversees post schedules and budgets, hires and supervises vendors and sound, editorial and music crews. Joan oversees editorial during production including lab and telecine facility & dailies work flows, and manages all digital and traditional conforms for studio and audience screenings. She assists with studio departments such as publicity, marketing, trailers, credits and cast admin, and interacts with Producers, Directors, Agents, Actors, Crew, and Studio Executives. Joan supervises the process and completion of VFX, final conform, sound mixes, DI’s, and 3D conversions, and organizes the delivery of elements including extended, DVD, TV, Airline, and International versions. Before 20th Century FOX, Joan was at Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures, and freelanced on films for Warner Bros. and New Line Films. In addition to Deadpool, Joan has worked on such notable films as Spy, The Other Woman, The Heat, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Chronicle, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Gulliver’s Travels and many more.
Jonathan Rothbart has been a member of the Visual Effects community since 1995, when he joined Industrial Light & Magic in the art department. While at ILM, he was one of the founding members of the Rebel Mac Unit. During that time, he created many memorable shots on a number of features, including “Star Trek: First Contact”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Men in Black” and “Star Wars: Episode 1”.
Rothbart left ILM in 2000 and co-founded the San Francisco and Los Angeles based company, The Orphanage. As the leader of The Orphanage VFX team, Rothbart supervised the creation of hundreds of visual effects for features such as “Hellboy”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, “Superman Returns”, “Live Free Die Hard” and “Iron Man”. In “Iron Man” he lead a team of artists to create the look for the HUD environment in Tony Stark’s helmet. Additionally, he designed and supervised the iconic tank explosion sequence in the film. Rothbart has been nominated and won numerous awards for his work on both feature film and television VFX.
Since 2010, Rothbart has continued his career as an independent VFX Supervisor, most recently creating the effects for the critically-acclaimed, box office hit, “Deadpool”, he has been a regular contributor to Cinefex, including the upcoming issue featuring “Deadpool”.
Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri is responsible for continuing Epic’s tradition of fusing state-of-the-art technology with the pinnacle of visual artistry, and for defining the studio’s Unreal Engine as the platform of choice for all types of interactive experiences including games, movies, visualization and virtual reality.
Prior to joining Epic Games, Kim was the Chief Strategy Officer at Lucasfilm, where he was responsible for the company’s Star Wars technology strategy and innovations in interactive storytelling, including the highly-awarded 1313 prototype.
Kim’s career in digital technology and visual effects spans over 20 years, and he has credits on more than 25 films including ‘Super 8’, ‘Speed Racer’, ‘Poseidon’ and ‘The Matrix Trilogy.’
He led the development team for the award-winning ‘What Dreams May Come’ as well as for the original ‘Matrix,’ developing the now-legendary Bullet Time technology.
Kim is a respected member of many visual effects bodies, including the visual effects branch of the Academy. He has received numerous awards for his work and contributions to Motion Picture technology including an Oscar nomination in 2006 and two Academy Awards in 2000 and 2015.
Lori H. Schwartz is a leading advisor and speaker on innovation, media and technology trends worldwide. She works with top creative and strategic executives of multiple brands, agencies and content companies to ensure understanding of new and evolving technology as well as emerging business models. With a focus on the habits of the consumer and the goals of the marketer, Lori provides the latest solution recommendations for this ever changing media landscape. Lori works on her StoryTech™ initiative which facilitates communication between storytellers and technology companies. Her trends briefings and tours products have become well known globally through her work @NABSHOW, @CES and other prominent industry events. You can listen to her weekly on her live radio show and podcast, The Tech Cat Show.
Mark D. Dankberg is a co-founder of ViaSat Inc. and has served as CEO and Chairman of the company since its inception in 1986. Under his leadership, ViaSat has consistently been one of America’s fastest growing technology companies, reaching $1.4 billion in revenue and 3100 employees. As a start-up, ViaSat was selected to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies three times. After listing on the NASDAQ exchange in 1996 ViaSat has been recognized multiple times by leading business and industry publications including BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, Red Herring, Space News, and Defense News for its exceptional performance and growth.
Mr. Dankberg is an acknowledged industry expert in aerospace, defense, and satellite communications, and is the leading visionary for a new generation of high-capacity satellite systems. He has co-authored several military standards on satellite networking, and holds a number of patents in communications and satellite networking technologies. He has participated on Department of Defense advisory panels and was invited to testify before a Congressional committee on high-technology growth companies and IPOs.
Mr. Dankberg has received a number of awards for innovation and leadership: • 2000 San Diego Entrepreneur of the Year • 2003 Satellite Industry Executive of the Year • 2008 AIAA Communications Award • 2012 Satellite Research & Markets Visionary • 2013 Arthur C. Clarke Innovator • 2015 SSPI Hall of Fame
He has also been an invited speaker on communication technology, entrepreneurship, and executive management at several universities including Rice University, NYU, and University of California at San Diego. He was a founding member of the board of directors of the San Diego Telecom Council (now CommNexus), and served on the San Diego County Regional Economic Advisory Board. In addition, he has been invited to serve as a judge several times at the local and national levels for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program.
Mr. Dankberg began his career with the Collins Radio Division of Rockwell International, and at Linkabit Corp in San Diego, where he held positions in engineering and management.
He earned BSEE and MEE degrees from Rice University and is a member of the Rice University Electrical and Computer Engineering Hall of Fame.
As UFC Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Marshall Zelaznik spearheads UFC’s continued growth in the areas of global broadcast rights and content acquisition. With key broadcast partners around the world and the continued development of UFC FIGHT PASS, Zelaznik has provided the organization with a forward-thinking vision of utilizing both traditional and emerging content distribution platforms.
Overseeing the development and implementation of UFC FIGHT PASS, Zelaznik has positioned the over-the-top digital network as the premier destination for UFC fight fans. With an ever-expanding fight library, exclusive UFC events and original programming, UFC FIGHT PASS quickly surpassed initial expectations and has flourished under Zelaznik’s leadership.
With close to a decade of experience with UFC, Zelaznik has played a fundamental role in developing UFC’s emerging business and, under his direction, has positioned the organization as the global leader in mixed martial arts. He has also played a key role in the continued international expansion of UFC and, as Managing Director of International Development, was responsible for the organization’s growth outside the United States.
Norman Hollyn has been described as a “media expert,” a reference to his experience in both the old and new media worlds.
He is a long-time film, television and music editor (HEATHERS, THE COTTON CLUB, and Oliver Stone’s WILD PALMS, are among his extensive credits) who is presently a Professor and the Head of the Editing Track in the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He has also worked extensively in Internet companies specializing in entertainment and media Internet development, with projects for large entertainment companies and municipal school districts.
He is a frequently published author. He has published nearly 100 articles in many magazines and peer-reviewed journals, and has written the standard editing room textbook, THE FILM EDITING ROOM HANDBOOK (the fourth edition was recently published by Peachpit Press/Pearson). His previous book – THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT, a book about shaping stories across all filmmaking crafts – came out from Peachpit Press/Pearson in 2009 and has received strong reviews and is continually being adopted in schools and corporations across the world.
He has delivered papers at the 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011 NAB Conferences and the 2005 BEA Convention. He has participated on panels at the 2003, 2004, 2005 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 UFVA Conferences and at the 2004 international CILECT conference in Helsinki, Finland, where he delivered a paper titled “Direct Guidance, Indirect Guidance and Misguidance: Teaching Editing in a Portable Non-Linear World” and at the 2008 CILECT Conference in Beijing China, where he also screened a cut of an internationally documentary, GLOBAL RIVERS. He has been a featured panelist at many conferences, including one sponsored by the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College, New York, and ran a panel for the Women In Cinematic Arts on “Trends in Alternative Media” in June 2008, and spoke at the 2009 WEVA (the largest association of event videographers in the world) Annual Conference on crafting story.
He has led panels for the American Cinema Editors’ annual two-day conference, EditFest, in both New York City and Los Angeles, in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
He is the co-writer, co-host and co-producer of 2 REEL GUYS, a series of video podcasts about telling stories, which produced 20 episodes in 2010-2011 and has just been funded for an additional season (http://2reelguys.com).
He has sat on the executive board of the University Film and Video Association, the premiere organization for North American film professors and schools, and was recently elected its President.
He was featured on the cover of the “Editors Guild Magazine”, where he was interviewed about teaching editing at the university level. He participated in a series of interviews on the popular web series “MacBreak Studio” and is a regular on the “That Post Show” podcast. He lectures widely on editing theory and collaborative techniques and has organized and led seminars at major companies such as Pixar Animation, Dreamworks Pictures, Fortune.com and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
As a teacher, he has worked internationally. He has organized and participated in a series of workshops for the Royal Film Commission in Jordan. He has also worked several times with Vietnamese filmmakers in a program sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and was keynote speaker at the 2011 Science And Art Conference at the Beijing University of Technology, in Beijing, China. He has also been invited to serve on the Advisory Board for an organization presently being formed to do the same for the African country of Rwanda . At the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Sundance Film Festivals he developed and ran a series of short editing workshops for filmmakers focusing on storytelling techniques. He has also taught at the AFI and UCLA Extension. He recently completed a one week workshop in storytelling at the Guadalajara school for Digital Arts.
He has spoken at several annual MacWorld conferences, as well as at the flagship Apple Store in San Francisco, and at METal (the Media, Entertainment and Technology Alliance) as well as at a number of companies, including Dreamworks, Pixar Animation, Forbes Magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as running panels for the National Association of Television Program Executives and the Women in Cinematic Arts. He recently conducted an editing seminar for the Manhattan Editing Workshop.
In his position as Editing Track Head at USC, he is part of a variety of new technology initiatives and has relationships with companies as diverse as Adobe, Apple, Avid, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sony, and Vuguru.
At USC he sat on the Executive Board of the university’s Academic Senate and is on many school and university committees, including the Trustees Committee on Student Life, the Provost’s Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies and the University Committee on Curriculum. He has served on both the graduate and undergraduate admission committees, and has served on several curriculum committees for the School of Cinematic Arts. He has served as outside referees for a number of panels at other schools, including the Tisch School at New York University and Boston University.
He also has worked as an expert witness in cases involving the aesthetics or history of editing.
He is a long-time member of the Association of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, (AMPAS, the organization that awards the industry Oscars), where he sits on the Student Academy Awards committee, the prestigious American Cinema Editors organization, and the Motion Picture Editors Guild. He is a member of the Editors Advisory Group, a select group of top editors who advise major non-linear editing companies on strategy and content.
As an entrepreneur, he has developed web sites and business practices for a number of small and large companies, including Universal Music Group, Fox Video, eveo, and Bluecow. With Hollyn Rinsler, he is presently developing an online music service for film and television.
Peter Atencio is an Emmy-nominated director and producer of films, television shows and commercials. He recently served as the sole director and a co-executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning sketch show “Key and Peele,” which ran for five seasons on Comedy Central. The film “Keanu,” which reunited him with the comedy duo, marks his first major studio feature film.
Atencio has also directed episodes of a number of other series, including the FOX network hit sitcom “The Last Man on Earth,” starring Will Forte, and an upcoming Jean-Claude Van Damme series for Amazon, produced by Ridley Scott.
When he’s not writing bios in the third person, he enjoys experimenting with outdated video formats and napping with his cat.
As a filmmaker & designer, René produced the acclaimed comedy show Backpack Picnic, directed the feature documentary The King of Texas, sold a TV pilot to MTV, designed 5 products & founded 2 companies.
After a career in Television for Paramount Pictures Rob Legato joined newly formed Digital Domain, the visual effects company founded by James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross. For Rob’s first feature assignment he became the visual effects supervisor, second unit director and effects director of photography for Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire.” This first feature led to Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13″ with Legato serving as the film’s visual effects supervisor. Mr. Legato earned his first Academy Award® nomination and won the British Academy Award “BAFTA” for his effects work in “Apollo 13.”
His next feature assignment, James Cameron’s “Titanic,” spanned the next several years and proved ultimately to be one of the most successful films ever made. Besides earning Mr. Legato his first Oscar®, the film went on to win a total of 11 Oscars® (including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects) and became the highest grossing movie of all time. Mr. Legato also offered some last minute assistance to Martin Scorsese’s production of “Kundun” and Michael Bay’s film “Armageddon.”
Legato left Digital Domain to join Sony Pictures Imageworks where he served as visual effects supervisor on two Robert Zemeckis films, “What Lies Beneath” and “Cast Away.”
Legato was senior visual effects supervisor on “Bad Boys II,” which was nominated for a VES (Visual Effects Society) Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture, and on the international phenomenon “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” based on the best selling books by J.K. Rowling. Rob then worked as the second unit director and visual effects supervisor on Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” a film about the life of Howard Hughes. The Aviator garnered three VES awards and the International Press Academy’s Satellite award for best visual effects. Rob then completed Martin Scorsese’s feature “The Departed” which won four Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. During the same time frame Legato created and conceived the virtual cinematography pipeline for James Cameron’s next feature production “Avatar” which went on to become the highest grossing film ever at $2.8 billion in worldwide receipts.
Rob has also completed working on Robert DeNiro’s second directorial effort “The Good Shepherd” as the 2nd unit director/cameraman and visual effects supervisor. The very next projects included Martin Scorsese’s Clio award-winning “Freixenet: The Key to Reserva”, a 10 minute commercial project, as well as the feature documentary on the Rolling Stones entitled “Shine a Light.” Legato also worked on Errol Morris’ documentary film “Standard Operating Procedure”.
Legato’s next film was Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” upon which he served as both Visual Effects Supervisor and 2nd Unit director/cameraman. Rob is also the VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman on Martin Scorsese’s currently released 3D film “Hugo.” “Hugo” had been nominated for both 11 Oscars® and British Academy Awards “BAFTAS” including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects. “Hugo” was ultimately awarded Oscar for best Visual Effects, as well as three VES Society Awards and an International Satellite Award.
Rob’s last assignment was Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Rob served as both the film’s 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman and Visual Effects Supervisor. Legato was recently inducted into the ASC.
Rob is currently in postproduction on his first directed feature as well as serving as Disney’s Jungle Book 2nd Unit Director/Cinematographer and Visual Effects Supervisor.
Rob’s union and Guild affiliations include the DGA, A.M.P.A.S, The A.S.C., Local 600, Local 700 and the VES.
