EP Arthur Portnoy Goes to Artjail

The principals of New York City-based visual effects studio Artjail (http://artjail.com) proudly announce the addition of commercial production industry veteran Arthur Portnoy to their staff in the position of executive producer.  The announcement was made by Artjail creative director and owner Steve Mottershead and partner Leslie McCartney.

"Arthur has a great track-record, and a well-informed perspective on the business," Steve said. "As I have gotten to know him, I learned very quickly he really knows his stuff.  He's one of those EPs that hits the nail on the head in every situation."

Arthur is a highly experienced executive producer who has extensive knowledge of the television commercial business, specializing in design, CG, animation and VFX.  Most recently, he was the executive producer for the bicoastal creative production company Shilo, where since 2005, he has run sales and production, with duties spanning the company's operations worldwide.  Prior to that, he worked as an independent sales agent representing live-action directors and design, animation and VFX companies.  While working for Tim Case at Creative Management Partners, earlier in his career Arthur also represented Passion Pictures, ILM's commercial division, Rhythm & Hues, Dreamworks Animation, Buf and Imaginary Forces.

"I became aware of Steve Mottershead through a business colleague in Toronto," Arthur began. "When I saw the quality of the work he was doing, I was incredibly impressed. After a bit of due diligence, I became aware of how well regarded he is by leaders in the visual effects and post production community in New York, and more importantly, by the directors, agency creatives and producers he has teamed up with.  When you look at Artjail's output, what shines through is the artistry of the work.  Simply put, Steve has a great eye and the spots he finishes always come out looking awesome."

Arthur continued, "One of my tasks here is to raise the profile of the studio.  Steve and Leslie have created a robust infrastructure and production pipeline and we're all set up to grow. Steve's worked on lots of strong car spots and with the automotive companies doing well again, we see this segment of the business as a place we can definitely do an increased volume of work."

Artjail applies its talents to commercials, feature films and video art projects. They've had the opportunity to work with such brands as Cadillac, IBM, Lincoln and Morgan Stanley. Recently, the company handled VFX and animation for the documentary feature "Cutie and the Boxer" from director Zachary Heinzerling who won the Best Documentary Directing Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which is now appearing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles.  More of Artjail's VFX-intensive commercial, short- and long-form collaborations can be seen at: http://artjail.com.