PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Venice, CA-based Backyard signed director Luis Carone.

Toronto-based The Corner Store signed the Believe Media roster, including Bryan Barber, Vogel. Villar-Rios and Whitey among others, for Canadian representation.

Sean de Sparengo, formerly with Therapy Films, signed with Mark Denton's new start-up, Coy! Communications.

Bicoastal/international prodco Hungry Man signed Wayne McClammy (a writer/director for Jimmy Kimmel Live) for commercial rep.

Bicoastal Identity signed former copywriter Scott Corbett to its director roster.

Instant Karma Films in Santa Monica signed director Matthew Rolston for rep in Asia and India.

San Francisco/LA-based kaboom productions hired head of production Steven Sills.

Bicoastal O Positive Films signed Autumn de Wilde for US spot rep.

New York's Park Pictures signed Ray Ban "Sunglasses Catch" director Benzo Theodore.

Partizan signed New York-based photographer and director Timothy Saccenti for worldwide spot and music video rep.

Bicoastal/London-based RSA Films signed directors Henrik Hansen and Joachim Trier for US and UK spot rep and directors Duncan Jones and Gurinder Chadha for UK spot rep.

Station Film signed content creation team Southpaw (Jake Wheeler, Jeff Sikaitis and Jeff Stamp) for spot work and digital content.

Villains, Los Angeles signed TV/feature director Gil Junger (10 Things I Hate About You) for exclusive US spot rep.

POST / AUDIO / ANIMATION
89 Edit, Santa Monica hired Gail Butler, former senior producer at The Whitehouse, as EP.

Bang Music, New York hired sound designer/engineer Roland Alley.

Bicoastal Company 3 hired colorist Matt Turner (ex-Framestore CFC) to work in the LA office.

Bicoastal/London-based creative studio The Ebeling Group named Dex Deboree as senior executive producer and hired Melissa Thornley (formerly with The Whitehouse) and former Nice Shirt, London EP Nick Hussey as executive producers. The company also signed the Paris-based design/directing collective UFO for international spot rep.

Bicoastal Lost Planet added editor, director, and cinematographer Jaime Valdueza to its roster.

London-based animation studio Not To Scale signed directing duo Vincent for worldwide commercials and music video rep.

Optimus, Chicago hired John Noble (ex-Element 79) to head up its new production arm, Optimus oNe.

Chicago-based post company Outsider, Inc. hired Marc Lichenstein as executive producer.

San Francisco's Phoenix Editorial & Designs hired Julia Sonder-Patchin as senior producer, Zara Finlay as producer, Lindsay London as associate producer and Russ Miller as assistant editor/IT manager.

London animation company Strange Beast signed director/animator Andy Martin for worldwide rep.

Detroit/New York-based Yessian Music signed Electric Six frontman Zach Shipps as artist in residence.

AD AGENCIES
New York-based boutique agency Brooklyn Brothers launched a London office, headed up by partners George Bryant, Jackie Stevenson, Jay Fretwell and David Watson.

San Francisco-based BuderEngel and Friends hired Chris Crichton as director of interactive services/partner.

Fallon, Minneapolis re-hired Chris Wiggins as creative director. Wiggins left the agency in 2005, first going to Seattle as a CD at Zaaz and then to become a partner in the agency Zeus Jones.

OLSON, Minneapolis named Steve Hanson as its first general manager/chief operations officer and hired Bill Firing as managing director of the San Francisco office.

R/GA, London promoted James Temple to executive creative director.

Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles appointed Paul Mareski (formerly with Team One) as its new president.

TBWA\Paris hired Parag Tembulkar, formerly of Publicis West, as European CD on the Nissan account.

Omnicom shop Unit 7, New York promoted group creative director Steve Capp to chief creative officer.

Wieden+Kennedy, Portland promoted creative directors Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman to executive creative directors, to replace outgoing ECDs Jelly Helm and Steve Luker. Helm will return to the role of director of W+K's advertising school WK12. Luker is, according to a spokesperson, "exploring opportunities within the global network of W+K."

BBH, London ECD John O'Keeffe left the agency to join WPP as worldwide creative director. Creative director Nick Gill was promoted to replace him.

HOOKUPS> MERGERS, PARTNERSHIPS AND WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE INDUSTRY
LA-based boutique prodco A3 was formed by director Patrick Kiely, (ex-A Band Apart, Propaganda Films for music videos and LOGIC) and directors Adam Kerscher and Allan Vajda.

Beverly Hills-based entertainment giant William Morris Agency partnered with Boost Mobile and Amp'd Mobile founder Peter Adderton and several advertising execs to found digital marketing firm Agency 3.0, which will specialize in the convergence of digital technology and strategic content development. Adderton becomes chairman and CEO; Greg Johnson, from Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab, becomes partner and president, brands and agencies; Steve Stanford (Icebox, Amp'd Mobile) becomes partner and president, content and entertainment and Scott Anderson (also from Boost and Amp'd) becomes partner and chief creative officer.

Japanese agency Hakuhodo partnered with Tokyo-based Victor Entertainment Inc. to launch Chikyu Records, a record label focused on environmental and social issues.

Holiday Films, a new Toronto-based prodco headed up by executive producers Derek Sewell (ex-Blink, Toronto) and Josefina Nadurata (ex-Reginald Pike) opened. The roster of directors available for Canadian spot work through Holiday includes Neil Abramson, Sorrel Ahlfeld, Scott Corbett, Georgie Greville, Kenan Moran, Aaron Ruell, Edward Schumacher and Craig Tanimoto.

Amsterdam and NY-based MassiveMusic opened a full-service music studio in Los Angeles, under managing partner/executive producer Scott Cymbala, former Elias Arts senior VP, new business development.

StrawberryFrog B.V. Amsterdam rebranded as Amsterdam Worldwide. Brian Elliott remains as its CEO. It is now its own entity, with no connection to Strawberry Frog's other offices.

MDC companies Zig (with offices in Toronto and Chicago) and ACLC merged, under the name Zig. Zig president/co-founder Andy Macaulay will remain as president/CEO, with ACLC CEO Esmé Carroll as co-chair.

Former Taxi Canada CD Zak Mroueh announced the launching of his new agency, Zulu Alpha Kilo. The new company, ZAK for short, will be based in Toronto and will open with a staff of 18, including ex-TBWA\Paris managing director David Toto.