Greg Sims brings a rich and diverse background to SocialVidi, spanning several decades, and virtually all areas of the entertainment and communications industries. Sims is experienced in film production, distribution, and management of internationally known talent. Previously, he managed multiple stars of Top Ten television shows, including Nancy McKeon from THE FACTS OF LIFE, Michael Gross from FAMILY TIES, Emmy winner Scott Jacoby, Golden Globe nominee Joseph Bottoms, and Lukas Haas. Sims received certified Gold and Platinum record awards for his work as the manager of the European superstar, Anouk, a Universal recording artist. In 2013, Sims signed the legendary songwriter Martha Davis, lead singer of the iconic new wave band The Motels, and was at the helm of an exciting revitalization of Davis and the Motels’ brand: working with Universal in licensing such legacy songs as “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer;” successful touring for the band including their return to Australia and produced the “Motels Live at the Whisky A GoGo’s 50th Anniversary,” cited by many reviews as “one of the best concert dads of the year.”
Sims developed and financed numerous successful indie features that have given him a reputation for providing early opportunities for the some of the most successful people in the film business. He produced the feature film RED SURF, and cast George Clooney in the lead, earning critical praise for Clooney as well future Oscar nominated cinematographer John Schwartzman; he did the same with stars Amanda Peet and Michael Vartan in TOUCH ME, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival, and later became the highest rated independent film to air on LIFETIME. In a special Cannes Film Festival issue of trade magazine MOVING PICTURES, Christopher Pickard said, “Talk to people about Greg Sims, and you start to hear the same thing: the man has an eye for talent.” Sims has consistently developed, produced and distributed films at relatively lower costs that have performed critically and commercially in the marketplace at the level of much higher budgeted films. His film BEHIND YOUR EYES, proved successful in its release in the US, ranking as the #2 best-renting “horror” title on Redbox, the nation’s largest DVD rental retailer. “Behind Your Eyes” star Tom Sandoval is now one of reality television’s biggest stars, in Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules.” Most recently, Sims, through his Arya Artist Management, has worked with client, Olympic legend Greg Louganis, in an exciting and broad range of major activities all over the world, ranging from his role as Sports Director of Red Bull Cliff Diving, to speaking engagements with a varied group of Fortune 500 companies.
Sims’ intimate involvement in media, pr and social media, gives him a unique ability to bring the right strategies to SocialVidi’s important work with its clients varied brands.
Sims has been a guest lecturer at USC and UCLA classes, on various industry panel discussions, and been the subject of interviews in a broad spectrum of media, ranging from Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Voice of America, The Huffington Post, and many others. He is the proud father of son Devin, and daughter Ruby.
Chris Staples supercharges SocialVidi with a wide range of content creation experience. He started in the 90s working at a high-end, high-volume ad agency in Los Angeles. Chris collaborated with clients to develop campaign concepts and final art of ads and branding materials. He designed covers for Hollywood Reporter and Variety magazines and produced promotional materials for clients including Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, Fox, Lifetime & Harlequin.
During the early late 90’s and into ’01, Chris was at Disney working on multiple, simultaneous productions providing various digital art services. He researched, developed and implemented production techniques using new technologies such as… the internet! Some of the productions that Chris worked on included Buzz Lightyear, The Jungle Book Series, Lilo and Stitch, Tarzan, Jungle Book II, Cinderella II, Winnie the Pooh and Return to Neverland.
For most of the 2000’s Chris was at Cartoon Network where he worked in technical and artistic capacities on many projects and shows. He provided consultation and support for projects in development as well as projects in production such as Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, My Gym Partner is a Monkey, Chowder, Class of 3000, and The Powerpuff Girls Movie. He designed, developed, launched and maintained the In-House production pipeline for Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and oversaw the crew of 20+ artists and animators. He developed strategies using new media to realize project goals and was sent to Ireland to provide support and guidance to a satellite studio
In 2009, Chris was the first employee hired to launch W!ldbrain’s LA Studio. W!ldbrain LA’s rapid growth caught the attention of DHX Media who acquired W!ldbrain in 2010. Chris stayed on as Creative Director of UMIGO, a U.S. Dept. of Education $30 million Grant Funded Project engineered to use New Media to create learning tools for children.
Chris is the proud husband of Jennifer and father of Jaxon.