Paradigm Hires Voltage Pictures Film Exec Babacar Diene, Ups Four To Agent

Paradigm on Thursday said it has hired Babacar Diene, the veteran film financing, sales and production executive who had been a VP at Voltage Pictures. He will become a Content Agent at Paradigm, which also said today it has promoted four staffers to agents.

Diene, based in Los Angeles, was most recently VP Acquisitions & Development at Voltage, the international finance, production and distribution company he joined in 2012. During his tenure he co-produced titles including Ava, starring Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, John Malkovich, Common and Geena Davis; Good Kids starring Nicholas Braun, Zoey Deutch and Julia Garner; Fathers & Daughters, starring Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Aaron Paul; and Pay the Ghost starring Nicolas Cage. His executive producer credits at Voltage include Time Is Up, Archenemy, Safer at Home, Redemption Day, Follow Me and Drive Hard.

Previously, he was VP Acquisitions & Apsara Distribution at IM Global and had roles at Icon Entertainment International and GreeneStreet Films International.

Paradigm said today that it also promoted Sam Benfey to an agent in the Digital and Brand Partnerships department; coordinators Josh Cohen and Natalie Handelsman to Talent Agents; and coordinator Wilson Rubinoff to Literary Agent.

“We are proud to congratulate these four exceptional and dedicated members of our team on their promotions, and look forward to their bright future at Paradigm,” Paradigm partner Andrew Ruf said. “Furthermore, we welcome Babacar Diene to the company, a colleague we have long admired, who brings his extensive expertise as we redefine our content business, with particular focus on developing and packaging content for clients across our talent, literary, book publishing and digital departments.”