Marc Gilbar Elevated To President Of Imagine Brands; Amanda Farrand Joins As EVP, Business & Brand Development

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Entertainment on Monday announced an expansion of its Brand division with the promotion of Marc Gilbar to President and the appointment of Amanda Farrand as EVP, Business & Brand Development.

Farrand will report to Gilbar and work with executives across all Imagine disciplines to scale the business through new partnerships and increased creative capabilities, also further building out Imagine’s direct-to-consumer brand and footprint on social media.

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Gilbar most recently served as EVP, Branded Entertainment and in the five years since the formation of Imagine’s Brand division, has led the team to create award-winning features and short films in collaboration with some of the world’s biggest brands including Coca-Cola (Christmas Always Finds Its Way anthology series on Prime Video), Ford (John Bronco on Hulu), Nike (The Day Sports Stood Still on HBO), Apple (Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound), P&G (the Oscar-shortlisted short film Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker on Paramount+) and Unilever (Dads on Apple TV+), to name a few. He previously held senior posts at Farm League and Davie Brown Entertainment, and co-founded the production company Handsome Donkey.

Prior to joining Imagine, Farrand spent four years at Hello Sunshine where she built partnerships with blue chip brands like P&G, CVS, PepsiCo, UnitedHealth Group, Nike and General Mills. She also built the company’s direct-to-consumer brand, Fair Play, inspired by Eve Rodsky’s New York Times bestselling book that was turned into a #1 bestselling product on Amazon, a top 10 New Release Documentary on iTunes, an ambassador program and a highly engaged community on social and email with a “train-the-trainer” program, which franchised the IP to over 200 coaches, trainers and therapists.

“We’re witnessing an historic turning point in the industry where advertisers and streaming platforms are looking for creative and innovative storytelling solutions at scale. Marc has proven to be an all-star talent within the company, leveraging his seemingly endless wealth of creativity along with his decades of brand and agency experience, to position Imagine as a go-to partner for brands in Hollywood,” said Imagine President Justin Wilkes. “We couldn’t be more excited to have Amanda, an equally talented exec with an incredible track record, join our team and unlock our continued growth in this space.”

Remarked Gilbar, “Imagine has always believed that brands have amazing stories to tell that go well beyond traditional 30-second commercials. We’re thrilled to have Amanda onboard to help us find more of these stories and get them out into the world in innovative ways.”

“Imagine’s foundation of award-winning work by an incredible team coupled with their mission of inspiring stories of human achievement is so ripe for brand partnerships and digital-first storytelling in a media and cultural climate desperate for human stories—the now-ness of it couldn’t be better scripted,” added Farrand.

Founded in 1986 and run by executive chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment has under its umbrella Imagine Features, Imagine Television Studios, Imagine Documentaries, Imagine Kids+Family, Imagine Brands and Imagine Audio, as well as the award-winning Jax Media and Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions. Imagine’s productions have been honored over the years with 47 Academy Award nominations and 228 at the Emmys, among numerous other accolades.

Recently naming Justin Wilkes as President and Beth Bednarski as CFO, Imagine earlier this year entered into an exclusive, multi-year, first-look film deal with Amazon Studios for narrative features and documentaries. The company has also expanded strategically of late into the content IP space with targeted acquisitions and partnerships, including an exclusive first-look strategic partnership with The Washington Post, a partnership with Warner Music Group to co-produce a slate of projects across all mediums, and a multi-year deal with Major League Baseball to create scripted and non-scripted film and television properties rooted in the league’s rich 150-year history.  

Recent releases from Imagine include the critically acclaimed documentaries Judy Blume Forever (Prime Video), Personality Crisis: One Night Only (Showtime) and Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman (Disney+). Debuting this year are the anticipated features The Beanie Bubble (Apple TV+) and Candy Cane Lane (Prime Video), the documentaries Carlos (Sony Pictures Classics), Choir (Disney+), and The Supermodels (Apple TV+), and the second season of Swagger (Apple TV+).

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