ANNMARIE SAIRRINO, FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

Annmarie Sairrino is an entertainment executive, producer, and strategic consultant specializing in Japanese entertainment, intellectual property, and business strategy. Since 2012, she has worked with publishers, game companies, animation studios, production companies, and global entertainment businesses to identify opportunities, build meaningful partnerships, and expand the long-term value of Japanese intellectual property in English-language markets. 

Annmarie began her entertainment career in 2003 working alongside former CAA executive, producer, and global business consultant Sandy Climan at Entertainment Media Ventures, where she spent nearly a decade supporting corporate strategy, content development, and international business development across the entertainment industry. 

In 2012, she joined ANEW (All Nippon Entertainment Works), a company established by the Japanese government to foster Japanese-Hollywood partnerships, eventually serving as Senior Vice President of Development & Production. There, she helped build the government's largest live-action adaptation initiative, evaluating hundreds of Japanese properties spanning manga, novels, games, animation, and original concepts while navigating complex rights structures and attaching projects to leading Hollywood producers. During her tenure, she collaborated with Japanese companies and creators including NTV, Toei Animation, Bandai Namco, Sunrise, Shochiku, and Gentosha Comics, while developing projects with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman, Mike Medavoy, Chris and Paul Weitz, Gale Anne Hurd, and Ed Zwick. 

In 2017, Annmarie established and led Akatsuki Entertainment USA, the U.S. entertainment division of Tokyo-based Akatsuki Inc., where she oversaw the company's development strategy and produced the English-language feature films Room 203, based on the novel published by Kobunsha, and Root Letter, based on the Kadokawa Games property. 

Today, as Founder and Principal Consultant of AMMO Entertainment, Annmarie advises Japanese and international entertainment companies while selectively developing original and adapted projects. Her past consulting engagements have included organizations such as Qubic Pictures and Cover Corporation. She is recognized for identifying opportunities within a company's broader catalog, developing thoughtful intellectual property strategies, and helping Japanese entertainment companies expand their presence in English-language markets. 

Nicholas Zabaly is a writer-producer and consultant at AMMO Entertainment, focused on U.S.-Japan cross-border development across film, television, and publishing.

A graduate of UCLA, Nicholas studied screenwriting under Academy Award nominee Iris Yamashita and began his career at the anime studio Madhouse, manga publisher TOKYOPOP, and the film production companies Color Force, The Gotham Group, and Appian Way.

He went on to work closely with producer Annmarie Sairrino at All Nippon Entertainment Works (ANEW) and Akatsuki Entertainment USA, where he supported the development of multiple Japanese IP adaptations, including the feature films Root Letter (2022) and Room 203 (2022). In this role, he contributed to the evaluation and curation of a development slate drawn from over 1,500 Japanese titles, gaining deep familiarity with the Japanese content landscape and source material selection process.

Mr. Zabaly has also collaborated with acclaimed anime studio Science SARU, where he associate produced episodes of Star Wars: Visions (2021) for Disney+, and oversaw the translation and English-language editorial process for multiple Japanese novels, further strengthening his experience in adapting and localizing Japanese content for global audiences.

Most recently, he served as associate producer on the feature-length documentary Amy & Monte: A Legacy of Love and Creativity (2026), co-wrote and produced the U.S.-Japan feature film OUT (2026), and is currently producing the animated short The Flower (2026), a project developed from work initiated at Disney.

His work focuses on supporting cross-border development, creator collaboration, and the adaptation of Japanese content for global audiences.