SONY PICTURES FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP has appointed five key developmentexecutives. BOB HIGGINS has been promoted to Senior Vice President ofCreative Affairs; STACEY ATTANASIO has been named Senior Vice President ofProduction; JOE D'AMBROSIA has been named Executive Director of CreativeAffairs; TARA POLACIK has been promoted to Director of Creative Affairs andGRACE BENN has been named Creative Executive. Prior to his new appointment,BOB HIGGINS served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for ColumbiaTriStar Television Children's Programming (CTTCP). Higgins will continue tohave creative supervision over all television programming development andcurrent production for the division's animated television series. His rolewill also expand to include the development of features and direct-to-videoproduct, which are targeted to the family audience and aimed at creatingcharacter and kid-oriented franchises. STACEY ATTANASIO will be responsiblefor live-action, animated and CGI feature film development. She will focuson creating product for underserved market segments, including the girl and"tween" audiences. Attanasio will concentrate on developing properties withfranchise potential to be utilized across all of SPE's film and TVdivisions. Attanasio joins SPFE from The Meyers/Shyer Company, a Burbank,California-based production company she founded with filmmakers NancyMeyers and Charles Shyer. JOE D'AMBROSIA will work with Attanasio andHiggins on the development of the division's feature film slate. He comesto SPFE from Nickelodeon Movies, where he served as Director ofDevelopment, and was involved in the overall creative direction ofNickelodeon's feature film division. TARA POLACIK, who joined Sony in 1997as Manager of Creative Affairs, will continue to be involved in thecreation, development and direction of the division's animated andlive-action programming. GRACE BENN will be responsible for acquiring anddeveloping both feature film and television properties. She comes to SPFEfrom Columbia Pictures, which she joined as a Creative Assistant in 1995,moving up to Assistant Story Editor in 1996, and Story Editor a year later.She began her career as an actress, appearing in national televisioncommercials, regional theater and feature films.
