Shari Hanson has been promoted to the role of Executive Vice President (EVP), Physical Production and Visual Effects at Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation.
In her new role, Hanson will continue her work on Paramount’s live-action features, while expanding into the realm of hybrid animation/live-action titles at Nickelodeon. The longtime physical production exec came to Paramount in 2015, having previously worked at companies including Industrial Light & Magic.
Prior to joining the physical production team nearly seven years ago, Hanson worked with Paramount on several of its film franchises. She began her career at Industrial Light & Magic in 1994, where she oversaw over 200 commercials, music videos and feature films. At the company, which was founded by George Lucas, Hanson was a visual effects producer for several CGI-heavy films such as
Hulk,
The Day After Tomorrow,
The Island,
Mission: Impossible 3 and
Transformers.
She later transitioned to freelance and continued to work in visual effects on films such as
Rango,
Star Trek,
The Lone Ranger and
Terminator Genysis, as well as with directors including Ang Lee, J.J. Abrams, Michael Bay and Gore Verbinski.
Hanson’s promotion comes as Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios work to streamline their strategy for production.
Announcing Hanson’s promotion today (July 5) was Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios’ President of Worldwide Physical Production, Lee Rosenthal. Read his memo circulated internally at Paramount and Nick below.
As our organization continues to move forward with the overall strategy for aligning and optimizing the production groups across Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios, I want to share an exciting update with you.
I am proud to announce that Shari Hanson, an exemplary executive, and invaluable member of our team, is being promoted to Executive Vice President of Physical Production and Visual Effects for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation. In addition to her work on Paramount’s live-action films, Shari’s portfolio will expand to include our hybrid animation/live-action titles produced at Nick Animation.
As we all know, Shari is a great physical production executive and trusted partner to our producers, as witnessed on The Lost City, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Gemini Man and Crawl. With this newly created hybrid role, we have an amazing opportunity to bridge our VFX and production work in unique, collaborative ways moving forward. Given her thirty-year track record in production and VFX and strong, trusting filmmaker relationships, I have no doubt Shari will elevate our VFX operations as we continue to ramp up our slates in ’23-’24 and beyond.
Prior to joining us as a physical production executive in 2015, Shari worked with Paramount on several of its most beloved franchise properties. After beginning her career in advertising, her passion for visual storytelling led her to Industrial Light & Magic in 1994 where she moved up the production ladder on over 200 commercials, music videos and feature films. During an era of immense visual effects innovation, Shari was a visual effects producer for several groundbreaking films such as Hulk, The Day After Tomorrow, The Island, Mission: Impossible 3 and Transformers. Building on her filmmaker and studio relationships, she transitioned to freelance and continued to VFX produce, associate produce and co-produce tentpole films such as Star Trek, the Oscar®-winning Rango, The Lone Ranger and Terminator Genysis. Shari has worked repeatedly with many of the industry’s most revered directors including Ang Lee, JJ Abrams, Michael Bay and Gore Verbinski.
It’s incredible to think how much we’ve accomplished as a studio since the start of the year, and I’m just so grateful and proud to be part of this team. I hope everyone is really feeling our momentum and understands how important our expertise is to the broader organization.
Thank you to everyone for your commitment, hard work and passion — and please join me in congratulating Shari on this new role!
