Creative company celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2017 adds two executives to its Los Angeles studio.
LOS ANGELES -- Creative company Imaginary Forces has added two executives to its Los Angeles studio: Executive Producer Chris Hill and Director of Business Development Sami Tahari. As the company celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, the announcement signals what’s next in Imaginary Forces’ long legacy of creative innovation and design-driven storytelling for entertainment, brand and agency clients. Hill and Tahari’s diverse backgrounds will help strengthen the company’s long-standing relationships, as well as its continuous expansion into emerging markets. Recent work of note includes TV’s most talked-about main titles for Netflix’s summer blockbuster Stranger Things; the logo reveal for Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight -- Paramount’s biggest trailer debut ever; and a one-of-a-kind immersive experience for the Empire State Building.
“Both Chris and Sami possess a rare combination of business acumen, creativity and enthusiasm that perfectly aligns with the culture and vision of Imaginary Forces,” remarks Peter Frankfurt, managing director, Imaginary Forces.
Hill’s diverse production experience includes commercials, experience design, entertainment marketing and branding for such clients as HBO Sports, Google, A&E, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, among countless others. He joins Imaginary Forces after recently presiding over the broadcast division of award-winning entertainment marketing agency bpg.
Tahari brings extensive marketing, business and product development experience spanning the tech and entertainment spaces. His notable tenures include Lionsgate and Google, where he was an instrumental leader in the creative development and marketing of Google Glass.
Hill climbed the ranks at Digital Kitchen in Chicago early in his career. From business development to producing, he led the entire lifecycle of a variety of commercial, broadcast, and experiential jobs for clients, including Microsoft, Reese’s, and Coors Light. In 2011, he expanded his talents to the realm of sports marketing and branding at LA-based agency Troika, where he led accounts, such as HBO Sports, A&E, NBC Sports, and Golf Channel in major rebranding initiatives. In addition, he produced special projects for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Charlotte Hornets, and EA Sports during his four-year tenure at Troika.
“Imaginary Forces has a proven ability to use amazing design and storytelling across any medium or industry,” adds Hill. “To me, that’s really powerful and exciting, and we can expand that ability to new markets, whether it’s emerging technologies, original content, or sports franchises. When you consider, for example, the investment in massive screens and new technologies in stadiums across the country, it demands the same high level of brand strategy and visual storytelling that our film and TV clients have valued for decades.”
As Director of Business Development, Tahari will be integral to fostering these growth initiatives in writing the next chapter of Imaginary Forces, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
“From iconic main titles to groundbreaking experience design, Imaginary Forces’ creative imprint on the modern world of media and pop culture is unmatched in our industry,” says Tahari. “My goal is to maintain that gold standard, while exploring new ways to harness the absolute best of what we offer to clients -- creatively, strategically and technically -- whether it’s using new technology like AR and VR, shooting a documentary, or creating beautiful motion graphics.”
Tahari, who holds an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, previously served as Partner Manager at Google, where his team built the Google Glass at Work enterprise division from the ground up. His fruitful Google career kicked off as a program manager for the Glass Creative Collective, an experimental initiative, which partnered YouTube and top film schools to create awareness and media buzz for Google Glass. Under Tahari’s watch, the program saw the release of several popular online film and gaming projects, including Seeds, a Mother’s Day-themed short from USC that went viral (2.8M YouTube views); Pumpkin Zombie, a Halloween-themed short, which Tahari wrote and produced; and Grace Plains, an augmented reality game developed by UCLA in conjunction with YouTube. Tahari broke into the world of entertainment at Lionsgate, where he worked on the international marketing team for indie films and blockbuster titles, such as The Hunger Games.
Source: Imaginary Forces
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
