Cream bolsters creative team

Toronto-based factual prodco Cream Productions has promoted three executives and added a pair of new hires to its digital division.

Johnny Kalangis

Johnny Kalangis has been upped to VP of digital, Andrew MacDonald to executive in charge of creative innovation and Tristan Cezair to senior creative and technical director.

The new appointments are Dan Magnus as executive in charge of creative development and Irene Vandertop as director of business development and finance.

Kalangis will continue to oversee Cream’s global digital efforts with an emphasis on expanding the company’s reach into emerging digital content and distribution. He was previously head of digital.

MacDonald will lead innovation-centric initiatives within Cream Digital products and projects. A virtual reality expert, MacDonald helped launch Cream’s VR initiative in 2015 and has been integral to Cream’s creation of original VR content for networks, studios, agencies and brands.

Cezair will work on visual designs and technical approaches across all projects. He was previously creative director, working on projects for the CBC, BMO and Sprint, among others. He also produced Cream VR project A Curious Mind with Dominic Monaghan (Hulu) and is currently creative director and exec producer on Dark Threads, another VR project with Lord of the Rings actor Monaghan.

Magnus will oversee creative development for both interactive and linear digital media. With 20 years of experience in the Toronto film industry, he has worked for clients including Disney, MTV and NBCUniversal. Magnus returns to Cream having previously been a development exec within its television development team.

Vandertop will have oversight of Cream Digital’s business development and financial activities. A digital media specialist, she is the co-founder of software Liquid Cinema, a solution for interactive, immersive video authoring and distribution.

As well as A Curious Mind and Dark Threads, Cream’s virtual and augmented reality credits include forthcoming AR mobile game Tree Tap Adventure.

Cream CEO David Brady said: “This expansion is a byproduct of our exciting rapid growth. As we continue to double down in the digital space, this incredible team of experts further cements Cream as a fully integrated content company with the ability to tell stories and create experiences on all platforms – from TV to film, mobile to interactive, and VR to AR.”