Hitched, Hatched, Hired

Inside the industry’s celebrations and news

2023-02-08 -

Births

Jenna Santoianni, former executive vp and head of development at Paramount TV Studios, and Eric Cartier, managing director at investment bank Houlihan Lokey, welcomed Vienna Rosemary Cartier on Dec. 5 at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

Sheena Jafari Niknam, senior manager of publicity and communications at Peacock, and Milad Niknam, operations manager, 3rd Party, at apparel platform GOAT Group, welcomed Cyrus Bryant Niknam on Dec. 10.

Congrats

Heather Olander was named head of unscripted programming at The CW on Feb. 1.

Erin Calhoun was tapped to lead communications for Paramount streaming and crosscompany publicity following the Jan. 31 merging of Showtime and Paramount+.

Religion of Sports hired Michael

Bloom as executive vp content, Eric Hoberman as head of development and Lauren Fischer as vp, executive creative director of ROS Labs on Jan. 31.

Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions hired Chloe Ifshin as vp scripted television and Eugene Han as head of unscripted development Jan. 31.

Rebecca Rormark was promoted to senior vp, head of streaming marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa, at Warner Bros. Discovery on Feb. 2.

Paul Wachter and Ceci Kurzman were added to UTA’s board of directors, with Wachter as chairman, on Feb. 2.

Barry Parasram was appointed executive vp for Extension PR on Jan. 25.

Thomas Coesfeld was named CEO of music company BMG, effective Jan. 1, 2024, after Hartwig Masuch steps down.

WME promoted Marcus Levy to partner on Jan. 1 and Ikenna Ezeh to partner in its brand partnerships division Feb. 3.

Ryan Coogler and Tracy Oliver joined the USC School of Cinematic Arts board of councilors Feb. 1.

Deaths

Cindy Williams, who appeared in a pair of Oscar best picture nominees before starring on Laverne & Shirley, died Feb. 1 in Los Angeles after a brief illness. She was 75.

Lisa Loring, who played Wednesday in the 1960s on The Addams Family, died Jan. 29 in Burbank of stroke complications. She was 64.

Gregory Allen Howard, who wrote Remember the Titans and was a producer and writer on Harriet, died Jan. 27 in Miami of heart failure. He was 70.

Melinda Dillon, who received Oscar noms for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of Malice and played the mom in A Christmas Story, died Jan. 9. She was 83.

Annie Wersching, known for her roles on Bosch, 24 and Marvel’s Runaways, died Jan. 29 of cancer in Los Angeles.

She was 45.

Arnold Schulman, who landed Oscar noms for his Goodbye, Columbus and Love With the Proper Stranger screenplays, died Feb. 4 in Santa Monica. He was 97.

Charles Kimbrough, who portrayed network anchor Jim Dial on Murphy Brown, died Jan. 11 in Culver City. He was 86.

Robert Dalva, the Oscar-nominated film editor on The Black Stallion, died Jan. 27 of lymphoma in Marin County, California. He was 80.