IRV HOLENDER
CHAIRMAN

A pioneer in worldwide entertainment licensing and distribution, Irv Holender began his career with Desilu Studios as Vice President of Licensing from 1966-1968. In 1968, Holender was named President of Holcorp, which handled worldwide licensing and merchandising for major studios, including Viacom, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros’ Looney Toons franchise. In 1971, he became CEO of Ziv International. At Ziv, Holender was the executive Producer of over 600 hours of television programming, including international hit series Little Lulu, Captain Harlock, Captain Future, and Fables of the Green Forrest, along with animated features that included Sinbad, Les Miserables and The Adventures of King Arthur, and over 20 major music concerts including Tony Bennet and Folies Bergere. Ziv also handled worldwide distribution and licensing for the hit show Dallas, the Abbot & Costello and Bruce Lee franchises, and over 1700 feature films. During his tenure at Ziv, Holender amassed over 3000 licenses with hundreds of networks, exhibitors and product licensees that included Burlington Industries, Chrysler, Mattel, American Greetings, and Hasbro. In 1982, Holender sold Ziv International to Lorimar and remained President and COO of Ziv/Lorimar, one of the largest independent distribution and licensing companies in the world at the time. Holender also took over worldwide sales and licensing for Lorimar in 1982 and remained President and COO of Ziv/Lorimar until 1986 with television programs which included Dallas, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest, some of the most succesful shows in the World during the 1980s. From 1986 to 1990 Holender was the executive Producer and Distributor of the hit series GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), along with various feature films. In 1991, Holender turned his focus on the acquisition of library content, resulting in his post of Chairman of Liberty International Entertainment, Inc., a position he held from 1997-2005. During this time, Holender was the Executive Producer of numerous specials, events and series that appeared on both domestic and foreign national television networks. After an asset buyout of Liberty’s library by Clarity Partners’-backed Liberation Entertainment, Holender stayed on as Vice Chairman. Immediately following his departure from Liberation Entertainment, Holender become a Director and Principal of the distinguished Toronto/New York-based Fremantle Corporation, with a worldwide sales team to exploit a catalog of over 20,000 hours of contemporary and classic programming, and to increase Fremantle’s long history since 1952 of format licensing. Throughout his 40-year career, Holender has successfully handled major licensing in over 80 countries with some of the biggest companies in the world. As one of the original founding members of AFMA (IFTA), and a pioneer of NATPE, AFM, MIPtv and MIPCOM, Holender continues to maintain hundreds of relationships with licensees in the global media industries.

DARRIN HOLENDER
PRESIDENT/CEO

Darrin Holender has spent the last 20 years representing artists and content. Through his legal office and IP management company i1 Media, LLC, Darrin has managed, acquired, produced, and licensed film and music products as well worked with some of the creative forces behind them. With extensive experience in multimedia entertainment transactions, as a party and on behalf of accomplished and successful clients, Darrin continues to expand his resources and reach through selective partnerships and effective management of entertainment properties in his role as President and CEO of Multicom Entertainment Group, Inc.

After graduating from UCSD and Tulane School of Law, Darrin spent 5 years in the practice of law, and in 2006, established i1 Media.  He went on to be a Producer on Sorority Row (Summit Entertainment/Karz Entertainment 2009), released in over 4000 theaters worldwide, and then as Producer and Distributor of RiseUp (2010), an award-winning documentary about Jamaican music. Between 2006-2012, i1 Media represented dozens artists, whose credits include: The Beatles LOVE album, Lay Down Sally, Flashdance…What a Feeling, Fame, Stay, and many other hit songs, and is still currently managing the legendary Brushy One String.  In 2012, Darrin began overseeing Multicom Entertainment Group’s operations and grew it from 1000 hours to 6000 hours of film/tv content, and from dozens to hundreds of licensees worldwide.

BRYAN CROCKER
COO/CFO

NILOO BADIE
HEAD OF SALES AND DISTRIBUTION

Niloo Badie is a media strategist and sales executive with extensive experience in production and distribution of digital and traditional content. Prior to joining Multicom Niloo was VP of Distribution at Studio 71, a digital entertainment company, overseeing release strategies, marketing and PR efforts for their premium content, including Video Game High School, The Cyanide & Happiness Show and the V/H/S franchise. She also served as VP of Distribution and Operations at Salient Media, focusing on securing strategic partnerships to grow the business. Niloo’s love of film took on new heights when she worked as a programmer for the prestigious Telluride Film Festival and now heads all sales and distribution efforts at Multicom Entertainment.

JESSE BARITZ
VP OF CONTENT ACQUISITION & PROGRAMMING

Long-time Florida resident, Jesse Baritz moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2012 after graduating from the University of Central Florida with a B.S. in Cinema Studies and a minor in coaching college basketball. Jesse is Multicom’s eyes and ears for all new content we might be interested in acquiring. Jesse is also the Co-Producer of all internally produced content and Creative Advisor for all mid-production acquisitions. Jesse regularly attends film festivals and trade shows, such as MIPTV & MIPCOM in Cannes, FR, the American Film Market in Los Angeles & NATPE in Miami Beach.

AARON “AJ” JOHNSON
DIRECTOR, CREATIVE & MARKETING

Aaron, better known as AJ, is responsible for the visual presence, brand image design and marketing materials for Multicom, it’s channels (The Archive & The Grapevine) and products . Everything from graphic design, title design and key art creation , to web design, UI, UX and more; AJ leaves no creative stone unturned. As Marketing Director, working with a team of designers and editors;  AJ is responsible for creating and executing AD campaigns across various platforms in print and digital media. Prior to Multicom AJ has designed for a variety of businesses, celebrities, films, musicians and artists including: Tricia Helfer & Katee Sackoff (BattleStar Galactica), Metro Networks, Acura, Mattel Batman toys, James Anderson (New Orleans Saints) and more.

 MARCUS IONIS
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Marcus Ionis is the Director of Operations at Multicom, where he manages all aspects of our digital assets, working with our content partners and overseeing an excellent team. He has over 25 years of experience in post-production, starting at Full Moon Films in their editorial department cutting trailers and EPKs. Two years later, he joined Intertainer, an early developer of VOD. Many of the patents from Intertainer are commonly used by Google and Apple. Afterwords, Marcus worked in traditional post production environment where he focused on TV, music videos, and independent films for 20 years. Many of his clients were Universal Music, Shout Factory, China Lion, Discovery, Netflix and Sony.  Marcus loves the challenge of finding ways to increase efficiency while retaining quality and creativity.

SARAH SMITH
MEDIA ARCHIVE MANAGER

After receiving a BA in Film Theory, Sarah chose to pursue film preservation as a career. After completing her MLIS as well as earning a Certificate in Film and Media Preservation from The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, she started exploring different archival career paths at a variety of film archives around the country. Now at Multicom she is the caretaker of all of physical assets in our media vault, including everything from 1” video masters to 35mm original cut negatives. Such tasks are not limited to operating our 4k film scanner to create Ultra HD content from assets in the archive. Underneath Sarah is a team of inventory assistants that catalog and track all assets received from new catalog acquisitions.