Josh Schechter, Head of Business Development and Sales for Burnish Creative, was elected to the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at its meeting on January 29, 2023.
“Josh Shechter brings years of experience in almost all facets of media production, spearheading projects from concept to completion. His experience in sales strategy, development, and implementation, along with his passion for progressive Judaism, will certainly be assets on the board in their work to strengthen and advocate for our mission,” stated Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., HUC-JIR President.
Schechter started in representation working with writers, producers, directors, directors of photography, second unit directors, line producers, VFX producers, game developers, comic publishers, and branded entertainment. While representing the game developer Grey Matter, he helped guide the release of Return to Wolfenstein and worked to streamline game development and tie-ins to maximize brand development and fan “buy-in” while monetizing parts of the game not generating revenue streams.
In graphic novels, Schechter was one of the first to tie-in branded entertainment, making those graphic novels immediately profitable and increasing revenue streams. Schechter spearheaded a partnership between Top Cow, Spacedog, and Peavey guitars.
Schechter has also worked with novelists to help package their novels with directors, actors, producers, and production companies to build an entire team around their IP. Schechter has a long history of creating synergy by merging seemingly unconnected disciplines and in so doing, has successfully brought together major studios, book publishers, graphic novel publishers, gaming producers, feature film producers, and televisions producers.