"Although Josh has been a part of Cake since we opened in
2004, clients were requesting Josh independent of the editorial work we were
doing," says Derovanessian. "Because of that high demand, now seemed
like an ideal time to launch Pi with its own identity, staff and creative
vision."
Prior to joining Cake, Kirschenbaum was a visual effect
artist/technical supervisor at the now-defunct Banned From The Ranch. It was
there he worked on feature films such as Titanic, Dante's Peak and Twister. It’s this feature film experience that Derovanessian is counting
on to help make Pi a success since it’s the emergence of more feature film
opportunities that led her to give Pi its own branding, marketing and infrastructure
to handle the workload.
"Cake and Pi are high-end boutiques that specialize in
creative editorial and design, animation/visual effects, respectively,” she
says. “The launch of Pi is about better accommodating our clients and tailoring
the creative process to their specific needs with specialized talent."
One new member of Pi’s staff is visual effects artist Brian
Dickett, who comes to the new studio following a freelance career that included
a long stint at Outpost Digital, Los Angeles, where he worked on projects for
GM and the Tennis Channel. His recent credits include a longform project for GM
via @radical.media, Los Angeles and agency Digitas, Detroit. He also handled
editorial and visual effects duties for a new feature-length documentary called
Regeneration, directed Phillip Montgomery of production company Anonymous Content, Los Angeles.