Aynsley Vogel

Vancouver-based prodco Paperny Entertainment has promoted Aynsley Vogel and Vera Lubimova into executive positions and has hired Sarah Sharkey Pearce to fill the newly created role of creative director.

Vogel, who has been with the company for over 13 years, has been promoted to SVP, creative affairs. In the position, she will continue to provide creative leadership to Paperny Entertainment development teams in Vancouver, Toronto and New York, and manage all the creative steps of program development.

In addition to heading up current development projects, she will also be responsible for developing new initiatives and models for content creation and financing. Vogel currently spends most of her time in the New York office, and the promotion is also meant to give her a broader mandate to look at changes and trends in the global market, said David Paperny, president of Paperny Entertainment.

“With the huge disruption – or opportunity, as I call it – in our business at the moment, we would like Aynsley to continue in her role and also take on new initiatives and take a look at what’s happening in our industry around the world, through different platforms, financing models, storytelling lengths and presentations,” Paperny told Playback Daily.

Vera Lubimova

Lubimova has been promoted to VP production, where she will oversee Paperny Entertainment’s Canadian series producers and handle all logistical and business aspects of domestic production, along with supporting the company’s New York operations.

“Her promotion is indicative of how busy we are, and our intentions are to keep growing,” Paperny said. In-production series currently on the prodco’s slate include Chopped Canada, Timber Kings, Cold Water Cowboys and Yukon Gold.

Finally, Paperny Entertainment freelancer Sharkey Pearce was appointed to the newly created role of creative director. She will be responsible for overseeing the shaping and creative flow of Paperny projects to keep the overall vision consistent across all phases of production, from development all the way to post.

Paperny said he wanted to solidify Sharkey Pearce’s role at the company as it aims to grow a roster of unscripted showrunners, of which he says there is a dearth of in Canada. Sharkey Pearce previously served as a showrunner on Yukon Gold.

Sarah Sharkey Pearce

“We are determined to see our shows not just be a success in Canada for our Canadian buyers, but for those shows to be sale-able internationally and for us to compete on an international marketplace. Sarah’s hire, along with the promotions for Vera and Aynsley, are a way for us to continue to do that,” Paperny said.

Paperny Entertainment was acquired by Entertainment One in July 2014 for $29.2 million.