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Operations Executives Darla Guenther and Diana Masuda Elevated to Vice Presidents; Maya Polimac Named Operations Executive
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DCDC Surpasses 31,000 Screens, 2,800 Theater Sites & 240 Exhibitors as Content Providers Climb to 44
Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC), the transformative North American theatrical content distribution company founded as a true industry initiative by AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Regal Entertainment Group, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment, has marked its fourth year of operations with the promotions of three executives amid rapid exhibitor and content provider growth.
Randy Blotky, CEO of DCDC, today announced the promotions of Darla Guenther to VP Operations, Exhibitors, and Diane Masuda to VP Operations, Content Providers. After stints as DCDC’s Operations Executives since 2014, which began with each of them having overlapping responsibilities, their responsibilities have now evolved to where they each lead their respective areas of endeavor.
“Darla and Diane are very deserving of these promotions, each having played such key roles in seamlessly building DCDC into the leading theatrical content distribution system in the U.S.,” Mr. Blotky said. “Their contributions are magnified given our small staff, yet in spite of that, we have achieved phenomenal growth across all key metrics. I know we will be in very good hands moving forward with Diane’s and Darla’s continuing leadership in their new positions.”
Additionally, Mr., Blotky announced that Maya Polimac has been promoted to Operations Executive, Exhibitors, reporting to Ms. Guenther. Ms. Polimac joined DCDC as an administrative assistant in 2016.
DCDC began operations in October 2013, offering transformative satellite and terrestrial distribution services. It initially launched with 7,000 screens at 1,200 venues contracted across the U.S. DCDC’s original customer base included The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, Southern Theatres and National Amusements, in addition to the founding partner companies (noted above).
Today, the specially created network capable of supporting feature, promotional, pre-show and live content distribution into theaters has seen more than a four-fold increase in the number of screens, and has over twice as many theater sites contracted. The tally, a record, now stands at 31,000-plus theater screens in the U.S., spanning over 2,800 theater sites operated by more than 240 exhibitors. Since its inception, the venture has made more than 1 million successful deliveries of features, trailers and other content to its exhibitor customers from its 44 content providers, including all the major studios and other leading providers.
DARLA GUENTHER
In the 16 years prior to joining DCDC, Ms. Guenther managed operations and planning functions to provide digitized home entertainment content from major studios and independent production companies to retail, cable and online platforms.
Ms. Guenther previously served as Executive Director of Operations for Warner Bros.’ digital production and broadcast facility, Global Digital Media Xchange, Inc. There, she achieved many industry firsts with the successful launches of digital entertainment formats including DVD, Blu-ray, MOD, VOD, EST and the Digital End-to-End (DETE) content workflow and distribution system developed by Warner Bros. Technical Operations. Her responsibilities included managing production services teams encompassing encoding, multimedia programming, scheduling, quality control and content delivery via fiber and satellite.
She received her BA degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University in the Television-Radio-Film program and an MFA from the University of Southern California, where she attended the Peter Stark Producing Program at the School of Cinematic Arts.
DIANE MASUDA
Ms. Masuda joined DCDC after having previously managed content distribution via satellite and fiber at Warner Bros. and Deluxe. With extensive experience in broadcast transmission, production and customer relations management, she was responsible for creating the broadcast customer services department for Warner Bros. Technical Operations via the Global Digital Media Xchange.
Additionally, Ms. Masuda served as broadcast project lead for the development and launch of a new distribution platform, Pitch Blue, a joint venture between Warner Bros., Deluxe and CBS that now reaches more than 1,500 television stations.
A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, with a BA degree in Liberal Arts, Ms. Masuda continues to serve the university as a volunteer for the UCLA Athletics Development Department.
MAYA POLIMAC
Prior to DCDC, Ms. Polimac served as an executive accounts manager at Warner Bros.’ Global Digital Media Xchange, where she was responsible for managing DVD, Blu-ray and other digital and physical product deliverables for 1,000-plus products, among other responsibilities.
Earlier, from 2006-14, she served as the lead scheduler for the Xchange after having begun her career in 2004 as a production supervisor for ZOO Digital Group (SCOPE SEVEN). A 2003 graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business, Ms. Polimac earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
