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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Standup a Profitable Center at Comedy Dynamics

Comedy Dynamics is on a roll when it comes to, well, comedy. The Burbank entertainment company, which Chief Executive Brian Volk-Weiss calls the biggest independent comedy production firm around, is doing a reboot of sitcom “Mad About You,” and is now producing the first comedy specials for Amazon.com Inc. It was the distributor of all five comedy albums nominated this year for a Grammy. “We produce and distribute more standup comedy than anybody by a wide margin,” Volk-Weiss said. Comedy Dynamics is owned by Nacelle Co., also in Burbank, a producer and distributor of feature and documentary films and scripted and unscripted television series. Volk-Weiss serves as chief executive of the parent company. The comedy division makes money through producer fees it receives for creating and selling its content to television and streaming sites. It also brings in revenue from sales of comedy CDs and albums. “Sometimes we make a special and own the special and we constantly distribute it all over the world and we make money every day from it that we share with the artists,” Volk-Weiss said. Some of the comedians the company has worked with include Jim Gaffigan, David Cross, Whitney Cummings and Tiffany Haddish. One of the challenges that Volk-Weiss faced when starting Comedy Dynamics back in 2008 – when it was part of New Wave Entertainment before being spun off two years ago – was that it had no brand recognition and it was tough to get established comedians to trust it with their material. “It took about five or six years of hard work and risky work to build up that reputation,” Volk-Weiss said. M3 Creative Promotions Content studio M3 Creative announced this month promotions of two of its employees to the position of vice president. Allison Dana has become vice president of production, while Brittaney Parbs was promoted to vice president of post-production. In her role, Dana will oversee the Burbank company’s live-action production, including budgeting, assembling crews and managing on-set operations. She had previously been a production supervisor working with such clients as Viacom Inc. nd Walt Disney Co. In her new role, Parbs will coordinate all aspects of post-production for M3’s in-house facility and client campaigns. She previously had been a post-production supervisor for about five years working with such clients as Warner Bros. Entertainment and Disney Channel. M3 Creative Partner Andy Meyers called Parbs and Dana two of the best at what they do. “As our industry and specifically M3 continue to evolve from not just marketing content like movies and television shows but to creating that scripted and un-scripted content as well, it’s fitting that these two female leaders will be instrumental in maintaining our best-in-class quality as our team takes it to the next level,” Meyers said in a statement. Pixelogic’s Japanese Investor A strategic investment has made Imagica Group Inc. a minority owner of post-production company Pixelogic. Through the partnership with Imagica, in Tokyo, Pixelogic, based in Burbank, will be able to expand its offerings to its customers – movie studios, broadcasters and digital retailers – through synergies with Imagica subsidiary, SDI Media Group. Pixelogic Co-President John Suh said the company looked forward to collaborating with Imagica in Japan and throughout Asia. “We also look forward to scaling our end-to-end services through deep engagement and integration with SDI Media and their substantial dubbing and subtitling capability, which includes the largest owned and operated dubbing studio network and localization capacity in the world,” Suh said in a statement. Cinedigm Executive Shakeup Cinedigm Corp. announced this month changes to the leadership of its content entertainment group. Group Executive Vice President Yolanda Macias and Senior Vice President Dan Coyle now head up the group, having replaced former President Bill Sondheim, who left the Sherman Oaks content distribution company to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. The changes reflect Cinedigm’s focus on digital streaming following its announcement to acquire Future Today Inc., a video platform. Chief Executive Chris McGurk said that with the content distribution business changing at lightning speed, it is important that Cinedigm maintain its leadership position. “We remain deeply committed to our robust independent premium content distribution business and I am certain our efforts in that arena will continue their success under the leadership of Yolanda and Dan,” McGurk said in a statement. Macias oversees acquiring global content rights and digital distribution across all worldwide platforms. Coyle is responsible for strategic planning and sales of physical media for the company’s huge catalog of premium independent film and television titles. Both joined Cinedigm after the company’s acquisition of Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment Inc. in Universal City. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or [email protected].

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Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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