PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Director Tony Barry left Hungry Man to join London's Academy Films for worldwide rep.

Santa Monica's Big Lawn Films signed director Tim Abshire, previously of Backyard.

London's Black Dog Films signed director Price James for worldwide rep.

Toronto's Brown Entertainment signed Mike Clattenburg.

Toronto's Corner Store Films signed Basecamp director David Levin for Canadian rep.

Bicoastal Dektor Film Group hired Oliver Fuselier as EP and director Matt Helfgott.

Bicoastal Furlined added Canadian director Yael Staav to its roster for US rep.

London's Home Corp. signed Howard Greenhalgh, previously of Believe, for US spot rep.

Hungry Man, New York signed feature director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).

New York-based Identity signed Jeff Labbé.

Toronto-based Industry Films signed Axel Laubscher for Canadian rep.

Director Keir McFarlane signed with LA-based Rockhard Films for spots and videos.

London's MJZ signed Blue Source, ex Blink, for worldwide commercials and videos.

Bicoastal Moxie Pictures signed director Rob Legato for global spot rep.

LA's Paranoid US signed director Nicole McDonald.

Bicoastal prodco Sandwick Films signed directors Christoffer von Reis, Sebastian Reed and Björn Stein from Sweden's Camp David.

London-based Weilands signed directors Harald Zwart and Robert Nylund for UK commercials rep.

POST / AUDIO / ANIMATION
New York editorial house Bluerock hired feature film editor Steven Weisberg.

New York post house Bond hired editors Beth Cramer and Sebastian Wainstein.

Chicago's Comma Music opened a licensing division called Fix and hired Bonny Dolan, formerly of Leo Burnett, as artist liaison and EP.

Santa Monica's Cosmo Street hired editor Bill Chessman.

New York's Curious Pictures signed mixed-media director Osbert Parker and French animation company Mr. Hyde.

New York's Earth2Mars hired creative editor Oscar Rivas for the US Hispanic market.

Len Wilson, founder of Super-Starr Interactive, joined New York-based studio Freestyle Collective as interactive director.

Designer Julien Carlier joined Golden Square's digital content arm Disqo in London.

Santa Monica's HUM Music hired Alex Kemp as associate creative director.

Portland-based post house Joint hired editor Tommy Harden.

Radium, LA hired editor Inome Callahan, VFX artist and supervisor Marcus Stokes and CD Hatem Ben Abdallah. Dariush Derakhshani was promoted to CD. In San Fran, editor Lee Gardner and design team Tom Bonauro and Ken Woodard were added.

Toronto's Rogue Editorial hired producer Steve Horsley.

Toronto post house Spin hired Sam Benson for production development and as a producer.

Detroit-based editorial house Start hired Kristin Redman, previously Leo Burnett Detroit's head of production, as EP.

AD AGENCIES
180, LA named William Gelner - former GCD at BBH, New York - as ECD.

AKQA, Amsterdam hired Martin Cedergren, previously of Forsman & Bodenfors, as ECD.

Minneapolis' Campbell Mithun promoted Ben Fruehauf to creative director from VP/ACD.

Chicago's Element 79 named Rob Jaeger and Tom Cronin as executive producers on the Propel and Gatorade accounts, respectively.

Euro RSCG, London named Mark Hunter, previously of Wieden, Amsterdam, as ECD.

Euro RSCG Worldwide tapped ex Coca-Cola marketing exec Esther Lee as North American CEO and president of global brands.

Fallon, MN promoted Todd Riddle to CD from GCD. He succeeds Kerry Feuerman. Copywriter Mike Ward, returns from Y&R, Chicago.

JWT, New York hired Kash Sree and Andrew Clarke as executive creative directors.

Kirshenbaum Bond + Parnters, NY named Isidoro De Bellis, former CD and partner of Berlin Cameron/United, as partner/CD.

McCann-Erickson, New York promoted George Dewey to ECD and hired copywriter Stephanie Crippen, ex of 180 and W+K, Amsterdam.

Mike Lescarbeau left his creative director post at Ogilvy, New York to become president/CCO at Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch.

Nitro, NY tapped Kathy Delaney, formerly CCO at Deutsch, as head of its creative office.

TBWA Group, UK named Tim Lindsay, formerly Publicis Group, UK chairman, as CEO.

Wieden+Kennedy, Portland hired Tyler Whisnand as co-creative director for Nike.

Y&R, Chicago named Ken Erke, previously GCD of Cramer-Krasselt, as ECD.

HOOKUPS> MERGERS, PARTNERSHIPS AND WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE INDUSTRY
New York-based The Art Directors Club named Ami Brophy, formerly ECD at the Clio Awards, as executive director. She succeeds Myrna Davis, who retired from the job after 14 years.

LA-based music and sound design house Groove Addicts opened a satellite office in Palm Beach, Florida. The company's sales veteran Kari J. Lasser will head up the new operation.

Digital agency Tribal DDB opened an office in Oslo, Norway. Managing director Lars Bjorge, formerly a partner and director of digital services at Proximity BBDO, will lead the operation.

The ownership group behind youth marketing agency Youthography launched a Toronto- and LA-based agency network called Y Syndicate. The network includes sports and entertainment agency Riot Event + Sponsorship and premium brand outfit District Lifestyle Marketing.

New York-based motion graphics, animation and VFX house Manic partnered with Hollywood graphic design shop Laundry to form a new design and animation division called Laundry@Manic. The deal expands Manic's reach to the West Coast.

The annual Golden Drum Advertising Festival announced Stink director Ivan Zacharias as the president of the TV and film promo jury. The event takes place in Portorož, Slovenia from October 14 to 19.

droga5 creative chairman David Droga and Publicis Groupe chairman/CEO Maurice Levy announced plans for a branded content portal called Honeyshed. Expected to launch as a beta this summer, the portal will contain studio-produced programming and droga5-created webisodes. The Publicis Groupe, droga5 and Publicis-owned digital company Digitas have reportedly invested between $5 million and $10 million in the project.

Paul Golden, former president of advertising at Portland's Vinton Studios (now Laika), launched Portland-based prodco FFAKE. Animation directors Carl Willat, Nicholas Weigel and the Maverix Art Collective are on the roster.

New prodco Socket Films opened shop in New York, Santa Monica and Dallas. Its directorial roster includes Buddy Cone, Bobby Sheehan and Alexander von David. Directors Michael Grasso and Shaun Conrad join Socket from Snug.