North American finance, management, production and distribution company Evoke Entertainment (formerly Cartel Entertainment) has hired former Reel One Entertainment exec Breanne Laplante as head of business affairs.

Based in Vancouver, Laplante (pictured top left) will oversee business affairs for Evoke’s Canadian and U.S. offices effective immediately. She reports to Evoke co-founders Stan Spry and Jeff Holland, an Evoke spokesperson told Playback Daily.

Laplante was most recently a consultant and executive producer with Vancouver’s Colibri Productions. Prior to that, she spent more than 14 years with Montreal-headquartered Reel One, first as its VP of business and legal affairs and then as its chief operations officer. She also previously held roles at Vancouver’s Insight Film Studios and the Canadian Media Producers Association.

Evoke has also hired Lisa Alford (pictured top right) as VP, development. Based in L.A., Alford will manage the company’s film slate and output deals. Her prior roles include executive producer at Johnson Production Group and working in development for TriStar Television and Sony Pictures Television.

Evoke has also signed an overhead, distribution and financing deal with Canadian-American producer Anthony Fankhauser (pictured bottom left) through his banner Ames Media. Fankhauser will operate out of Evoke’s Winnipeg office.

Fankhauser worked with Evoke from 2017 to 2020 as VP of production when it was known as Cartel Entertainment. He also oversaw the launch of its subsidiary Cartel Pictures Canada in August 2018.

According to a release, he has produced more than 100 films and co-financed and produced both Canadian and U.S. films.

Evoke also announced an overall exclusive deal with L.A.-based producer Lexi Lewis (pictured bottom right) and her newly launched Magic String Productions. Prior to the deal, Lewis was director of development for Cartel Pictures. She was also Reel One’s manager, development, scripted content from July 2019 to July 2021.

Image courtesy of Evoke Entertainment