India’s Discreet Arts hires Technicolor alum Steven Wendland to lead new US office

Steven Wendland

Indian animation firm Discreet Arts has opened a US office and hired former Technicolor exec Steven Wendland to run it.

Wendland becomes president at the LA-based arm of Discreet Arts, with a remit to expand the company’s 2D and CGI-animated work-for-hire services for children’s and family content.

He is also tasked with developing and producing original content, drawing both on current Discreet Arts-owned properties, as well as building a new IP slate. The company has been behind films such as Top Cat Begins, Monster Island and Guardians Of Oz, while series include Wissper, Marco Polo and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

Wendland was previously VP of animation & head of creative development at Technicolor’s LA office until 2020, where he was responsible for developing and overseeing new properties for the company. Prior to joining Technicolor, Wendland worked at Canada’s Mainframe Entertainment (later Rainmaker Entertainment).

Discreet Arts founder & CEO Srikanth Pottekula said: “Steven brings years of solid expertise in animation production and creative and possesses all of the tools to drive our growth in our original IP and work-for-hire businesses. We look forward to furthering our commitment to provide creative innovation as we expand to offer US clients a broad range of services.”

Wendland added: “I’m thrilled to join with Srikanth in our new U.S. operation, where we will continue to expand the work-for-hire business by establishing new direct relationships with studios, animation production companies, broadcasters and streamers, and provide a front-end office link to the India studio. And I look forward to building the company’s library of properties with even more ideas and stories of universal appeal.”