Jun 1, 2023

Belinda Blacklock Named Vice President of Animation at Modern Magic

Modern Magic, run by Rodney Rothman and Adam Rosenberg, has appointed Belinda Blacklock as vice president of animation.

Blacklock's duties will be to identify, develop, and produce animation work for film and television. More directly, she will represent Modern Magic at Annecy this year.

Blacklock began her animation career at Passion Animation Studios in London before moving to the U.S. in 2009 to launch the company's New York studio, which she directed for seven years. in 2016, she headed west to Los Angeles. Electric Theatre Collective, where he founded and ran its sister company, Friends Electric.

Blacklock's credits include documentaries such as Black Sun and In the Shadow of the Moon, music videos for Paul McCartney and The Beatles, the Creative Arts Emmy-winning Game of Thrones 360" main title, among others.

Modern Magic was founded in 2021 by "Into the Spider-Verse" director Rothman and former MGM production co-president Rosenberg and quickly secured first-look deals with Fox for animation and Sony for live action projects.

The company boasts an extensive and ambitious development plan, and Rothman told Cartoon Brew that the studio already had 20 titles in development when it launched. Since then, Modern Magic has worked and continues to work with a number of Hollywood heavyweights, including Columbia Pictures, Fox, Sony Pictures Animation, Illumination, Warner Brothers, Skydance, and 20th Television.

Of Black Rock's appointment, Rothman says: "Angela Petrella introduced me to Belinda a few years ago and I immediately recognized her as an animation soulmate. Not only is she committed to animation as a medium with untapped creative and commercial potential, but she has the skills, experience, and vision to build it on a large scale without waiting for permission. She's scrappy, bold, brilliant, worked on some of my favorite recent films, and is very likeable as an added bonus. We are delighted to have her leading the way from here. If you're excited about where we're going and want to join us, this is a great time to get in touch--we need your help, too."

Modern Magic is represented by UTA.