Frantic Films is pleased to announce the appointment of three new development executives to its rapidly expanding team. Anne-Marie Varner and Alberta Nokes both join the Toronto office as Vice-President, Development for the factual division. In Winnipeg, Melissa Kajpust was named Executive in Charge of Development, Scripted Programming.
“We are very excited to expand our development team with such incredibly high calibre people,” says Jamie Brown, CEO of Frantic Films. “Each has a combination of stellar broadcast and production experience that will give Frantic one of the strongest development teams in the country.”
Alberta Nokes has developed, financed, executive produced and commissioned more than 500 hours of television from long-running factual series to award-winning feature documentaries on subjects ranging from archaeology to outlaw bikers. Her previous positions include Director of Independent Production for Vision TV, Production Executive for History Canada and Executive Producer and Head of Development for Associated Producers Ltd. She has worked with Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA, Peabody, Juno and Gemini award winning directors and producers. At Frantic, she will concentrate on developing programmes for the factual division from the Toronto office.
Broadcast veteran Anne-Marie Varner recently acted as Executive Producer of In-House Programs at Discovery Channel. Under her helm, in 2008 alone, Discovery won a record 16 awards for content excellence. She previously worked as Head of Original Productions for Canwest Mediaworks, where among her many successes she launched their Global Currents doc strand. Most recently, Anne-Marie ran her own production and consulting firm Varner Productions Limited. In her new role at Frantic Films, Anne-Marie, who will be based in the Toronto office, will develop programmes for the factual division.
Award-winning author, screenwriter and playwright Melissa Kaipust joins Frantic Films from Super Channel where she developed numerous projects and served as story editor on over 100 feature film and television projects. Previously she worked on and developed series for CTV, W, SLICE, APTN, Treehouse, Citytv, YTV and Movie Central. At Frantic Films, Melissa will concentrate on sourcing and developing scripted properties. She will be based in Winnipeg.
In addition, award winning producer Rachel Low, former President of Red Apple Productions, transitions to her new role at Frantic Films as Executive Producer and Development Consultant. Martha Kehoe also maintains her role as Director of Development.
All appointments are effective immediately.
