New position
allows ten-year vet
to partner with
key players in the
Chicago film
community
Kamelya Alexan accepted the Business Development role at Periscope Post & Audio, located on the campus of Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, last month.
In the newly created position, she will report to General Manager Manuela Hung while spearheading the company’s new business efforts and marketing activity.
According to Hung, who spent 23 years at Filmworkers before arriving at Periscope earlier this year, Alexan’s “infectious and sincere” attitude and experience make her a natural fit for the “wonderful diversity” of the company’s workload.
“From the moment I met Kamelya I was struck by the energy and the excitement she conveyed about her job,” Hung continues. “We wanted someone who is as excited as we are about the work we do and has the energy and enthusiasm that matches what the Periscope team is all about. I am thrilled that she is now part of our business development team.”
Prior to joining Periscope, Alexan spent a year and-a-half at the Chicago location of the international equipment rental company, VER, where she credits Head of Business Development TV and Cinema, Anthony Gigante, for helping her to acquire a knack for national business development.
Gigante regards his former employee with a similar amount of respect.
“Kamelya’s got a willingness to succeed, a willingness to learn, and a lack of fear unlike anyone I’ve ever seen before,” he says. “She expands on what she’s learned and improves on it in her own way. She’s got a bright future in front of her.”
Although Alexan has devoted nearly a decade of her career to the equipment rental segment of the industry, the Business Development role at Periscope offers a new path that she is happy to take.
“What’s amazing about this position is that I am no longer competing with all my friends from the rental side,” she explains. “Instead, we’re partnering together.”
Alexan is also an independent producer and director.
Her 2016 historical fantasy short, Before the Fall, has been claiming awards at festivals throughout the US and Canada, including last week’s Niagara Falls Film Festival. Later this month, it screens at the Great Lakes International Shorts Film Festival in Erie, PA.
BEFORE THE FALL TRAILER
Besides handling audio, editing, and DCP for national television, film, and commercial work, Periscope is responsible for the dailies of several TV shows filmed next door at Cinespace — including The Chi and Proven Innocent — as well as Red Line, which is filmed at Chicago Studio City.
New assignments for the company include the musical segments of ESPN’s 90-second Monday Night Football halftime show sponsored by the luxury automotive brand Genesis. Cut by Dean Gonzalez, the series recently broadcast an installment featuring a Soldier Field performance by the band The Cheat Codes, who played for a crowd containing legendary 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears.
Send your production news to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
