Open Road Films Promotes Jason Cassidy To Chief Marketing Officer

EXCLUSIVE: Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenberg has promoted longtime marketing president Jason Cassidy to Chief Marketing Officer. At the same time, he has hired from Paramount Pictures Kaitlyn Vowels to be SVP Creative Advertising. Cassidy has overseen marketing on all Open Road films since the label was formed in 2011 by theater chains AMC and Regal. This has been a particularly strong year for the acquisitions-driven company. That includes The Nut Job, which became the biggest opening of an animated indie film ever, and Chef, the Jon Favreau-directed summer breakout indie hit about a chef who regains his kitchen mojo in a food truck. Other campaigns Cassidy spearheaded include The Grey and End Of Watch.

Vowels moves to Open Road Films from Paramount, where she spent seven years and most recently held the title of VP Worldwide Marketing & Production Development and worked on films that included the 3D Titanic re-release, Iron Man, Transformers, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. And also Paramount’s 100th anniversary. She will report to Cassidy.

Said Ortenberg: “Jason is a terrific marketing strategist and a valuable leader of the company. I am delighted to recognize his innovation, hard work and success with this promotion.”

Cassidy previously ran marketing at Miramax Films, hawking films that included No Country For Old Men, Gangs Of New York, Chicago, The Queen, Kill Bill and its sequel, and Adventureland.

“Helping to build the company with Tom and the rest of the Open Road team has been an amazing experience,” Cassidy said. “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done as a marketing team and the success we’ve achieved. It’s been a blast – and I know that the best is yet to come.”