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Home » Rachelle Madden Named New AICE Executive Director

Rachelle Madden Named New AICE Executive Director

The International Board of Directors of the post production trade association AICE has named Rachelle Madden as its new Executive Director.  She will succeed Burke Moody, who has held the post since 2006. 

Madden assumes the full-time position on June 1, and will simultaneously step down as Co-President of AICE’s International Board, a position she assumed with Craig Duncan of Cutters in Chicago on the first of this year. She will also be departing from her current position as Managing Director of Poetica, the visual effects and design arm of the New York and L.A.-based editorial house jumP.

When Moody hands off the baton to Madden it will mark the completion of his eighth year as Executive Director and his 17th as an active participant in leading the association, either on the chapter or administrative levels.  The timing of his departure will carry the association through its signature event, the annual AICE Awards, which will be held in New York on May 15, 2014.

Both Duncan, who’s Partner and Executive Producer at Cutters, and Madden report that the association’s International Board will address the issue of electing a new co-president to succeed Madden in the near future, once the transition from Moody to Madden is complete.

“Rachelle is a perfect choice to lead AICE going forward,” says Duncan, who’s worked closely with her on a number of AICE committees and initiatives before they were elected as the association’s first co-presidents.  “She understands our industry, is a vocal advocate for the issues that face our members and has a tremendous passion for every aspect of the business and its people.”

Madden says she’s excited about the opportunity to extend an AICE-focused dialogue with members and her counterparts across the industry spectrum.  “I know firsthand many of the challenges we face and how important a role AICE plays in helping effect positive change in how our industry does business,” she comments.  “Yet this is also a time of great opportunity for many of us, and I’m optimistic about the continued role our members will play in the advertising production and post marketplace of the future.”

Taking over the Executive Director post is the latest step in a long involvement Madden has had with AICE dating back to 2006, when she joined the New York chapter’s Board while working at Company X.  A year later she also joined its International Board, and was elected Treasurer, one of its four leadership positions, in 2010. 

She brings a wealth of experience to her new post; prior to joining Poetica, Madden held Executive Producer or Producer positions at such companies as Trollback + Company and Endless Noise, in addition to spending over six years as EP of Company X.  A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, she initially worked on the production company side in Los Angeles for seven years before moving to New York in 2000 to join RhinoFX, later renamed Gravity.

Defining AICE’s broadening role

Madden takes over as the public face of the association at a time of tremendous change and turmoil for all aspects of the advertising content production and post production industries.  A confluence of trends affecting media, technology, distribution, marketing, competition, budgets and creativity are all coming together in rapid and often overlapping fashion to radically alter the landscape for AICE member companies and their counterparts on the agency, advertiser and production company sides.

As part of her mission, Madden will spearhead the association’s efforts to represent the interests of its members in an ongoing exchange about how ad content is created, produced, finished and shared.  “We see this as an opportunity to adopt a more activist role in terms of stating our concerns on key issues facing us, our clients and everyone who’s impacted by the work our members do,” says Duncan.

Among the key issues AICE will be pursuing under Madden’s tenure as Executive Director are building industry relations with affiliated groups such as AICP, the ANA’s Production Management Committee, the 4As Broadcast Production Committee and various technical, craft and standards-setting groups such as NAB, SIGGRAPH, DGA, SMPTE and others.

Madden and the International Board will also move to educate the industry on the value of having a healthy independent post production industry, and will do so by outlining issues negatively impacting members’ profitability and their ability to meet client needs, such as preferred vendor lists, downward pressure on pricing, competition from in-house agency editorial facilities and the like. Many of these issues were detailed in AICE’s Policy Statement on Business Practices, which was released last fall.  (To download AICE’s Policy Statement, click here.)

Moody’s accomplishments lauded

With news of Madden’s being named the next Executive Director of AICE, the association’s leadership singled out the accomplishments of outgoing Executive Director Burke Moody for praise and appreciation. 

“Burke has played an integral role in getting us as an association to where we are today, and he’s leaving us with an impressive foundation on which to build,” says Duncan.  “All of our member companies are grateful for his thoughtful, knowledgeable and passionate stewardship over the years.”

During his tenure Moody oversaw a number of key AICE initiatives. Among the more notable was the expansion of membership to include audio, color grading, design and visual effects companies in addition to editorial shops. The organization’s outreach to other industry groups was similarly expanded, as well as its education programs and ongoing series of seminars, roundtables and meetings at all AICE chapters.

AICE also expanded and refined its annual AICE Awards competition during this time, and branded all of its trailer-editing competitions for assistant editors, designers and audio engineers across all chapters as Camp Kuleshov, a move which has greatly increased its visibility and exposure.

AICE and its member companies have faced a myriad number of key issues while Moody served as Executive Director, many of which fundamentally altered – and will continue to impact – how post houses work.  Among these were the transition to digital broadcasting and the adoption of high definition; the transition to all digital file-based production and post workflows; the growth of in-house editorial at ad agencies; the impact of the CALM Act on audio standards; and the introduction of the Ad-ID post production tracking and registration system.

About AICE

AICE is the marketing communications post production association whose members are independent creative editorial, design, visual effects, color grading, audio, music and post production companies. It is dedicated to the advancement and promotion of these companies and the essential role their artists play in the media creation process. With chapters in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Toronto, AICE represents a significant segment of the vibrant post production industry, and continues to maintain its strong collective voice in the commercial advertising and marketing industry.  Among its signature initiatives and programs are the annual AICE Awards, which highlights creative excellence among its member companies; the regular publication of white papers and advisories on relevant trends and developments in post production; and active participation with other industry organizations on the establishment of standards and best practices for the post production process.  For more in-formation, visit www.aice.org.www.aice.org.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Community & Partner Links

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Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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