PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Davies Joins Ambience Group

One of Australia's most respected and experienced Producers, Peter Davies, former General Manager of Kotij has joined The Ambience Group as Head Producer.
"We are very pleased that Peter has chosen to work with the team here at Ambience. Peter's incredible experience and great rapport in the industry will be a valuable asset to Ambience and our clients," said Matthew Street, Managing Director, The Ambience Group.
Peter has over two decades of experience in both the Post-Production and live action areas, working both locally and internationally. Since kicking off his career at Channel Nine, Peter has worked with the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Johannesburg and Scottish TV in Glasgow where he cut his teeth behind the scenes as a camera operator for local drama and news. Upon returning to Australia in late 1977 Peter became involved in what was to be Australia's first fully dedicated, computer editing post-production facility, Enterprise Color Video.
Peter was also one of the four founding partners of Omnicon Digital, a service provider to the Australian Film, Television, Advertising and Media Industry. Over the last three years, in the capacity of General Manager, Peter's primary role was to establish and market the boutique, greenfield high definition digital media production studio "kotij".
Peter Davies's role within the Ambience Group structure will be a pivotal one. Working directly with clients and the Ambience producers overseeing all production and post-production work that comes into the building. Peter's depth of experience and knowledge of the local and international production disciplines will ensure a quantitative work flow for Ambience clients.
"Ambience have a terrific team of talented, enthusiastic people already, however I can add a fresh perspective to the business from experience gained over the last 20 years," said Peter. "Ambience's reputation is honed from impeccable levels of honesty, whilst breeding a culture of creative freedom and excellence and I look forward to the future with Ambience ensuring that the objectives of our clients are successfully met," concluded Peter.

SPAA on the Move

The NSW office of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) has moved. The new address is:
34 Fitzroy St
Surry Hills 2010.
Phone and Fax remain the same.
Tel: 02/9360 8988
Fax: 02/9360 8977

Boughen Heads Ambience Concept

Michael Boughen has departed Southern Star Endemol to form a new production venture with The Ambience Entertainment Group and Bryan Lowe's Harbourside Pictures. The new three-way venture called AMBIENCE CONCEPT will focus on light entertainment, reality and game shows and will be active in both development and production as well as format licensing internationally.
Boughen's most recent position has been Executive Producer of Seven's Deal or No Deal and he has formerly headed a joint venture Southern Star Concept dating back to 1994. Over 17 years, he has produced 29 shows, 17 of which he created and produced. He has a long list of credits covering Australian institutions such as Celebrity Big Brother, Blind Date, Perfect Match, Burgo's Catchprase and a host of others.
According to Boughen, "Australian Television is going through a period of change and rationalisation and as producers we need to recognise this and move with the times. We need to create and license projects, which are innovative, exciting, that rate and which have the potential to generate revenue through technology and new media. This is an exciting time to be developing programs.
"I am delighted to be joining The Ambience Entertainment Group and Harbourside Pictures to form this new production company as I believe the new venture is focused on the future and will embrace these exciting opportunities. My partners and myself can claim a unique range of television and business experience and we look forward to announcing our first projects in the near future".
Harbourside Pictures' Bryan Lowe has a background in UK television with Granada, Thames Television and the Virgin group but most recently has worked in the finance sector with the Nine Network creating the Macquarie Nine Film and Television Fund in 2002 (which raised Aus$23million). Prior to that he shared a joint venture with Macquarie Bank where as Chief Executive he created the "FLIC" fund, Macquarie Film Corporation which raised AUD$16 million and invested in seven films including Crackerjack , Dirty Deeds
and The Wannabes.

McArdell Moves to Future

Matthew McArdell has joined Future Reality in the role of Sales and Technological Support. McArdell has previously worked as a demonstration artist for animation software and has held a range of positions across several software development projects.
At Future Reality, McArdell will provide technical assistance along with consultation and advice for customers looking for products and system configurations.
"Future Reality is now set to grow quickly after a period of reorganisation," said McArdell. "The company will be adding new products and I am looking forward to applying my skills to new areas."
McArdell will cover Future Reality's entire range of products, offering his hands on experience from a user's perspective.

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