LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association, the trade group for entertainment industry creative and technical support professionals, has named Joyce “JC” Cataldo as head of development and strategy, a new role.

Cataldo was hired in 2017 as the director of business development at the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers and HPA, transitioning full-time to HPA in 2020. In her new capacity, she’ll lead a team tasked with expanding membership, enhancing opportunities and driving HPA’s strategic growth.

“Joyce plays an absolutely critical role on the HPA team,” HPA Executive Director Phil Kubel said in a statement. “She consistently demonstrates dedication, strategic insight, and commitment to growing the organization and serving the community. In her new role, Joyce will continue to bring her vision and leadership to the mission of HPA to serve and strengthen the professional media and entertainment community.”

Cataldo’s responsibilities include cultivating strong relationships with senior industry leaders, refining corporate membership offerings and pursuing grants and collaborative opportunities that align with the organization’s goals, HPA said. Her reports will include Deanna Villarreal, recently promoted to membership engagement specialist; Max Ma, who will continue to manage the group’s database, website and technical operations; and Roberta Gorman, membership consultant; as well as HPA’s sales team.

“I’m committed to the success of our members,” Cataldo said. “The relationships that I have developed over the course of my career are of paramount importance to me. I'm thrilled to continue building upon the important work we’ve begun to grow and serve our community.

“The HPA team, board, and our members are simply the best in the industry and it’s an honor to work with them,” she added. “Together, we’ll continue to nurture HPA’s membership and sponsorship ecosystem and build partnerships across traditional and emerging sectors in service to our members.”

Prior to joining HPA and SMPTE, Cataldo was senior account and business development manager at Wall Street Communications. Before entering the media and entertainment sector, she spent more than 10 years coordinating undergraduate recruiting at over 70 schools for investment bank J.P. Morgan. She also managed the on-campus recruitment program and sought sponsorships from Fortune 500 companies at New York University, her alma mater.

The HPA is a nonprofit group serving businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools, and infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content. For more on the group, visit hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) held its annual awards ceremony at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre Nov. 7, honoring trailblazing talent in the post production industry, celebrating standout achievements in color grading, sound, editing, restoration, and visual effects across theatrical features, commercials, and episodics.

The HPA’s Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation honored “Taylor Swift—The Eras Tour.”

“This prestigious recognition celebrates the profound impact on both live and filmed entertainment that defined ‘The Eras Tour,’ underscoring its exceptional impact on audiences and the industry,” the association said. The jury said: “Celebrated as the cultural phenomenon of 2023, ‘Taylor Swift—The Eras Tour’ set new records in box office sales, tour revenues, and attendance. The tour showcased exceptional artistry and innovation, making a profound impact on both live and filmed entertainment.”

This year, FotoKem was awarded the prestigious Charles S. Swartz Award for its role in supporting filmmakers, studios, cinematographers and artists across diverse film and media landscapes. Also celebrated were the previously announced recipients of the esteemed Engineering Excellence awards, recognizing the cutting-edge technology that fuels creative breakthroughs in post production.

A list of all nominees is available here.

The winners of the 2024 HPA Awards Creative Categories are:

Outstanding Color Grading—Live Action Theatrical Feature
(Sponsored by Blackmagic Design)
“Dune: Part Two”
David Cole/FotoKem

Outstanding Color Grading—Animated Theatrical Feature
(Sponsored by Blackmagic Design)
“Inside Out 2”
Mark Dinicola/Pixar Animation Studios

Outstanding Color Grading—Live Action Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
(Sponsored by Blackmagic Design)
“Time Bandits—Kevin Haddock”
Damian McDonnell/The Rebel Fleet

Outstanding Color Grading—Animated Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
(Sponsored by Blackmagic Design)
“Leo”
Keiran Lee/Feature Animation at Netflix

Outstanding Color Grading—Documentary
Sponsored by Blackmagic Design
“Trilogy: New Wave”
Alastor Pan Arnold/FotoKem

Outstanding Color Grading – Commercial
Sponsored by Blackmagic Design
Air Canada – “Ticket to Dream”
Wade Odlum/Alter Ego

Outstanding Editing—Theatrical Feature
“The Holdovers”
Kevin Tent, ACE

Outstanding Editing—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under)
“Hacks—Better Late”
Rob Paglia

Outstanding Editing—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes)
“Ahsoka—Part Six: Far, Far Away”
James D. Wilcox, ACE
“House of the Dragon – The Red Dragon and the Gold”
Katie Weiland, ACE

Outstanding Editing—Documentary
“Ren Faire – Daddy's Dyin,’ Who’s Got The Will?”
Max Allman, Nicholas Nazmi

Outstanding Sound—Theatrical Feature
“Dune: Part Two”
Richard King, Dave Whitehead, Martin Kwok, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Andrew Bock/Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services

Outstanding Sound—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
“No One Will Save You”
Will Files, Chris Terhune, Ailene Roberts, James Miller, Matt "Smokey" Cloud/Pacific Standard Sound

Outstanding Sound—Documentary
“Porcelain War”
Robert Mackenzie, Sam Hayward, Jared Dwyer, Andrew Miller, Alex Francis, Karina Rezhevska/RMS

Outstanding Visual Effects—Live Action Feature
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
Erik Winquist, Danielle Immerman, Stephen Unterfranz, Phillip Leonhardt, Sean Noel Walker/Wētā FX

Outstanding Visual Effects—Animated Feature
“Ultraman: Rising”
Hayden Jones, Stefan Drury, Sean M. Murphy, Mathieu Vig, Kyle Winkelman/Industrial Light & Magic

Outstanding Visual Effects—Live Action Episode or Series Season
“House of the Dragon—The Red Dragon and the Gold”
Sven Martin, Fausto Tejeda, Mark Spindler, Matt Perrin, James Thompson // Pixomondo

Outstanding Visual Effects—Animated Episode or Series Season
“X-Men ’97—Season 1”
Chris Graf, Dan McNaughton, Husain Untoro, Quentin Cordonnier, Andrew Stadler // Marvel Animation Studios

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects—Episode or Series Season
“All The Light We Cannot See—Season 1”
Laurens Ehrmann, Harry Bardak, Elisa Perez, Julien Martins // The Yard VFX

Outstanding Achievement in Restoration
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937)
Disney

As previously announced, winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence Award include Adobe (Enhance Speech in Premiere Pro), Disguise and Cuebric (AI-Driven 2.5D Workflow), and Evercast (Evercast for Apple Vision Pro).

Sponsors for the HPA Awards include Blackmagic Design, Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services Worldwide, Deluxe, Fotokem, Kodak, Pixelogic, Avid, Colorist Society, Compton and Company, Sohonet, Tech Align Group, Veritone and Dolby.

HPA said it “extends gratitude to its industry partners, including the American Society of Cinematographers, American Cinema Editors, and Cinema Audio Society for their collaboration on craft categories, as well as its judging facility hosts FotoKem, Pixelogic and Deluxe Digital Cinema.”

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that Paul Chapman, Kari Grubin and Joachim Zell have joined the HPA Board of Directors, while Michael DeValue will join the Board as the SMPTE representative.

Chapman, Grubin and Zell’s will serve three-year terms on the board that officially began on Jan. 1, 2020. All three have worked previously with HPA. Grubin chaired Women in post and helped launch the Young Entertainment Professionals program. Chapman was previously the liaison to SMPTE. Zell is an active member of the HPA Awards committee.

DeValue, who is taking over as the SMPTE rep from Chapman, will serve a one-year term.

“There are many exciting developments that will be announced in the coming months, and it is more important than ever that a talented Board is in place,” said Seth Hallen, HPA president. “Now with the additions of Paul, Kari, JZ and Michael, we are ready to continue our  forward motion.”

All of the additions were announced at the recent HPA Tech Retreat.

For more information,visit www.hpaonline.com. 

BURBANK, Calif.—Peter Caranicas, the deputy editor at Variety covering film and television crafts, has been named by the Hollywood Professional Association as the recipient of the first ever HPA Legacy Award.

The HPA Legacy Award is given to honor inspiring leaders, mentors, influencers and those who have made consistent and valuable contributions to the industry, HPA says. The award is given out only at the discretion of the HPA Awards Committee and HPA Board of Directors.

Throughout his 40-year career, Caranicas has written about satellite broadcasting, cable, social media and immersive content, helping people understand the “whats, whys and hows of the changing technology of media and entertainment,” the HPA announcement says. At Variety, he helms the Weekly Variety’s Artisans pages, covering areas like cinematography, production and costume design, sound, editing and visual effects.

Caranicas will receive the Legacy Award at the 2019 HPA Awards, which will take place on Nov. 21 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

BURBANK, Calif.—Creatives in the feature film, episodic and commercial arenas are now able to submit entries for consideration for the 14th HPA Awards presented by the Hollywood Professional Association. The awards are recognition for the behind-the-scenes work of industry professionals who support and collaborate with the vision of filmmakers.

Awards will be handed recognizing Outstanding Color Grading for theatrical feature, episode or non-theatrical feature and commercial; Outstanding editing for theatrical feature, episode or non-theatrical feature (30 minutes and under) and episode or non-theatrical feature (over 30 minutes); Outstanding Sound (Design, Editing, Mixing) for theatrical feature, episode or non-theatrical feature and commercial; and Outstanding Visual Effects for theatrical feature, episode or non-theatrical (13 episodes and fewers) and episode or non-theatrical (over 13 episodes).

Submissions will be accepted from now until July 12. Early bird entries, which offer a reduced entry fee, are open until June 10. For work to be eligible it must have debuted domestically and/or internationally between Sept. 5, 2018, to Sept. 3, 2019. Entrants do not need to be members of the HPA or working in the U.S. The complete guidelines for submitting an entry are available at www.hpaawards.net.

The 14th HPA Awards will take place at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 21.

Los Angeles, CA - July 26, 2018 - Blackmagic Design announced today that the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) named DaVinci Resolve 15 as one the recipients of their 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards. The awards are a spotlight outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution and archive.

DaVinci Resolve 15, released at NAB this year, offers a major step forward for post-production workflow, a significant shift in technically and creatively matched toolsets as well as overall efficiency. The platform, designed to provide a full suite of post-production tools, from ingest to delivery, directly integrated in a single ecosystem, includes significant improvements in quality, functionality and time to delivery. Exchange formats, translation and conform can be eliminated, and last-minute change efficiently managed for feature film, episodic TV and short form productions.

DaVinci Resolve 15 features an entirely new Fusion page for feature film quality visual effects and motion graphics animation. Fusion was previously only available as a stand alone application and is the world’s most advanced visual effects and motion graphics software. It is now built into DaVinci Resolve 15. The new Fusion page gives customers a true 3D workspace with over 250 tools for compositing, vector paint, particles, keying, rotoscoping, text animation, tracking, stabilization and more. Adding Fusion to DaVinci Resolve has been a massive project that will be completed over the next 12-18 months. Customers can get started using Fusion today to complete nearly all of their visual effects and motion graphics work. The standalone version of Fusion will continue to be available for customers who need it.

In addition to bringing Fusion into DaVinci Resolve 15, Blackmagic Design has also added support for Apple Metal, multiple GPUs and CUDA acceleration, making Fusion in DaVinci Resolve faster than ever. To add visual effects or motion graphics, customers simply select a clip in the timeline on the Edit page and then click on the Fusion page where they can use Fusion’s dedicated node based interface, which is optimized for visual effects and motion graphics. Compositions created in the standalone version of Fusion can also be copied and pasted into DaVinci Resolve 15 projects.

DaVinci Resolve 15 also features a huge update to the Fairlight audio page. The Fairlight page now has a complete ADR toolset, static and variable audio retiming with pitch correction, audio normalization, 3D panners, audio and video scrollers, a fixed playhead with scrolling timeline, shared sound libraries, support for legacy Fairlight projects, and built in cross platform plugins such as reverb, hum removal, vocal channel and de-esser. With DaVinci Resolve 15, customers no longer have to worry about audio plugins when moving between Mac, Windows and Linux because the FairlightFX plugins run natively on all three platforms.

DaVinci Resolve is the fastest growing nonlinear video editor in the industry. It’s also Hollywood’s favorite color corrector. Blackmagic Design has listened carefully to feedback from professional colorists and editors. DaVinci Resolve 15 includes over a hundred new features and improvements that editors and colorists have asked for.

Colorists get an entirely new LUT browser for quickly previewing and applying LUTs, along with new shared nodes that are linked so when one is changed they all change, multiple playheads for quickly referencing different shots in a program, over 5x performance improvement for stabilization, improved noise reduction, and new Super Scale HD to 8K up-rezzing. DaVinci Resolve 15 also expands HDR support with GPU accelerated Dolby Vision metadata analysis and native HDR 10+ grading controls. In addition, new ResolveFX let customers quickly patch blemishes or remove unwanted elements in a shot using smart fill technology. There are also new ResolveFX for dust and scratch removal, lens and aperture diffraction effects, and more.

Professional editors will find new features in DaVinci Resolve 15 specifically designed to make cutting, trimming, organizing and working with large projects even better. DaVinci Resolve 15 has dramatically improved load times so that large projects with hundreds of timelines and thousands of clips now open instantly. New stacked timelines and timeline tabs let editors see multiple timelines at once so they can quickly cut, paste, copy and compare scenes between timelines. There are also new markers with on-screen annotations, subtitle and closed captioning tools, auto save with versioning, greatly improved keyboard customization tools, new 2D and 3D Fusion title templates, image stabilization on the Edit page, a floating timecode window, improved organization and metadata tools, Netflix render presets with IMF support and much more.

Winners will be recognized at the annual HPA Awards in November.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that its 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards will go to Blackmagic Design, Cinnafilm, Canon, IBM Aspera and Telestream, with Samsung receiving an honorable mention. The awards are peer-judged and considered highly competitive.

The HPA Awards Engineering Committee evaluated prospective candidates at a blue ribbon judging session held at IMAX on June 16. Awards will be formally presented at the 13th Annual HPA Awards Gala, set to take place Nov. 15, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

[Read: HPA Panel Examines Road To ATSC 3.0 And Repack]

With the Engineering Excellence award the HPA recognizes the following companies for outstanding technical and creative achievement in media, content production, finishing, distribution and archive:

• Blackmagic Design for DaVinci Resolve 15, a new platform integrating creative and technical tools streamlining tasks from ingest to delivery, while improving quality, functionality, and time to delivery for feature film, episodic TV and short-form productions.

• Canon for Visual and Technical Monitoring of HDR images, including engineering tools for determining exact values of HDR image pixels, comparing SDR and HDR images, utilizing camera metadata, and other key quality control capabilities.

• Cinnafilm Inc. for PixelStrings, a cloud-based video conversion service focused on media playback quality by employing framerate conversion, retiming, artifact/noise/telecine correction, transcoding and other toolsets available on a predictable, platform-as-a-service OpEx model.

• Telestream’s Vantage and Lightspeed Live integrated with Aspera’s FASPStream streaming technology, which enables high-speed capture and production of live, broadcast quality video feeds — and open file workflows — from remote locations for faster production turnaround.

• Samsung for its Samsung Onyx LED technology with DCI certification for cinema and post production, available in 2K resolution 5-meter screen and 4K-resolution 10.3-meter screen models.

“Once again, the Engineering Excellence judging sessions brought us outstanding presentations from a variety of companies at work in different parts of the media and entertainment ecosystem,” said Joachim Zell, chair of the HPA Awards Engineering Committee as well as EFILM’s vice president of technology.

“The presenters are representative of the amazing work that great companies and brilliant individuals are bringing to the marketplace. The judges had a strong field of excellent technologies to evaluate, and the results were extremely close,” Zell added.

In coming weeks, the HPA will announce the recipients of the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, among other special awards, as well as recognize excellence in 12 craft categories, including color grading, editing, sound and visual effects.

Tickets for the 13th Annual HPA Awards Gala will be available for purchase later this summer. Visit www.hpaonline.com for more information. The HPA is a partner of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

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BURBANK, CA—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has opened the Call for Entries in Creative Categories for the 13th annual HPA Awards. These awards are considered important recognition for groundbreaking work and artistic excellence, acknowledging creative artistry in color grading, editing, sound, and visual effects in feature film, television, and commercials. The 13th annual gala awards presentation will be held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Nov. 15, 2018.

The HPA Awards were conceived to draw attention to the talent and innovation that fuel the professional media content industry. This year, two additional creative categories have been announced to reflect the evolution of the industry. The category additions were based upon input on the changing nature of the industry from core creative constituents of the HPA Awards, the editing and visual effects communities.

Entries are now being accepted in the following competitive categories:

· Outstanding Color Grading - Feature Film

· Outstanding Color Grading - Television

· Outstanding Color Grading - Commercial

· Outstanding Editing - Feature Film

· Outstanding Editing - Television (30 Minutes and Under)

· Outstanding Editing - Television (Over 30 Minutes)

· Outstanding Sound - Feature Film

· Outstanding Sound - Television

· Outstanding Sound - Commercial

· Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film

· Outstanding Visual Effects – Television (13 Episodes and Fewer)

· Outstanding Visual Effects - Television (Over 13 Episodes)

The HPA Awards Committee announced modifications to entry rules in two categories: Editing for Television and Visual Effects for Television. Additionally, changes to visual effects submissions teams were also announced. Complete rules, guidelines and entry information for the Creative Categories and all of the HPA Awards are available at:www.hpaawards.net.

[Read: ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘The Crown’ Win 2017 HPA Awards]

Submissions for consideration in the Creative Categories will be accepted between May 16 and July 13, 2018. Early Bird Entries (at a reduced entry fee for the Creative Categories) will be accepted through June 11, 2018. To be considered eligible, work must have debuted domestically and/or internationally during the eligibility period, Sept. 6, 2017 through Sept. 4, 2018. Entrants do not need to be members of the Hollywood Professional Association or working in the U.S.

The Call for Entries for the HPA Engineering Excellence Award opened last month. Submissions for the Engineering Excellence Award will be accepted until May 25, 2018. Again this year, the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation is a juried award and will be announced in advance of the Gala and the HPA Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced in the coming weeks.

The HPA Awards are sponsored by Foundation Members Avid, Co3, Deluxe, Dolby, EFILM, and Encore; and Platinum Sponsor IMAX. Announcement of ticket sales will be made in June.

LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood Professional Association is now accepting entries for the Engineering Excellence Award. Now in its 13th year, the HPA Engineering Excellence Award spotlights companies and individuals who draw upon technical and creative ingenuity to develop breakthrough technologies. Submissions will close on May 25.

Joachim Zell, vice president of Technology for EFILM and chair of the HPA Engineering Excellence Award Committee, said, “Artistic vision is what drives the technical and engineering processes that bring that vision to life. Ultimately, our work is fundamentally about helping filmmakers realize their vision. The companies and individuals supporting creative storytellers face constant pressure to evolve to expand the creative palette. Their contribution to the entertainment industry cannot be overstated. The Engineering Excellence Award is a highly competitive honor, and the past winners have changed the course of entertainment technology. We encourage the submission of your significant technological achievements.”

[Read: ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘The Crown’ Win 2017 HPA Awards]

Entrants for this peer-judged award may include products or processes, and must represent a significant step forward for its industry beneficiaries. Past winners have included Aspera, Canon, Colorfront, Dolby, The Foundry/Sony Pictures Imageworks, MACOM, NVIDIA, Panasonic, Quantel, and RED Digital Cinema. Rules and procedures can be found at hpaonline.com.

Applicants present to a blue-ribbon industry panel is required of applicants. Presentations will take place on a Saturday in June in Los Angeles, California. More information about the presentation dates and location will be announced soon.

Winners will be announced in advance, and honors presented during the HPA Awards gala on the evening of November 15, 2018 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

In addition, the HPA Awards will again honor important craft categories including Outstanding Color Grading, Editing, Sound and Visual Effects for feature film, television and commercials. The call for entries in these creative categories will be announced in May.

For more information about the HPA Awards, including complete rules, guidelines and entry information, please visit www.hpaonline.com.