Emeryville, Calif.-based animation studio Athena Studios has named Vince De Quattro as the company’s new executive in charge of production.
In his new post, De Quattro will focus on putting together a production development package for Athena Studios, leveraging his recent experience with collaborative projects he helped steer at Academy of Art University and 32TEN Studios.
“Vince is a terrific addition to our team here at Athena Studios,” said Jon Peters, founder of Athena Studios. “He is brimming with terrific ideas of how to grow, not only the studio, but also the whole Bay Area film-making community. His previous experiences at Industrial Light and Magic and Warner Brothers add greatly to our talent pool. In addition, his past experience as a director of animation at Academy of Art is perhaps most appealing, as we now actively seek to grow local talent and expand into exciting new areas.”
“Athena’s capacity for quality independent production, their close relationship with exceptional local talent, and Jon Peters’ sustained market vision offered me the chance to join the next rising star in Bay Area filmmaking,” said De Quattro. “Our proximity to other leading boutique production facilities offers us an exciting opportunity to build a collaborative and supportive film community, much like those relationships found between academic schools on a university campus. The synchronicity of the film community will help us weather the prevailing industry off-shoring, and will hopefully attract intellectual property and talent to the region.”
Prior to joining Athena Studios, De Quattro had served 32TEN Studios as director of artist development. Earlier, he was the online director of animation and visual effects for the Academy of Art University from 2005-2011. There, he was instrumental in building a postproduction program for both undergraduate and graduate tracks.
De Quattro spent most of his visual effects career with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), joining that company as a technical director in 1997. While there, he worked on five Academy Award-nominated feature films for best achievement in visual effects. These included Mighty Joe Young, Star Wars: Episodes I and II, Pearl Harbor and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Prior to his post with ILM, De Quattro served as a technical director and animator for Warner Bros. Digital Studios, Robert Greenberg Studios (in L.A.), and the Sony High Definition Television Center in Culver City.
After leaving ILM in 2003, De Quattro worked with several other Bay Area-based visual effects houses, including Matte World, The Orphanage and Tweak Films.
De Quattro is an active member of the Visual Effects Society and has served as an academic member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and SIGGRAPH educator and lecturer. He holds a BA Degree in Fine Arts/Studio Art from USC, and participated in the USC Film School Master’s Program in Computer Animation in Film.
