This month, we interviewed Pete Rogers, head of the newly formed Gorilla VFX.
Wales’ leading post-production company, Gorilla, is expanding its current offering with the creation of Gorilla VFX. Gorilla VFX builds upon the existing team at Bait, whose previous work includes films Apostle, Roald & Beatrix and Dream Horse, as well as eight-part TV series Heartstopper for Netflix. Gorilla VFX is headed up by former Bait Studio MD Pete Rogers.
We caught up with Pete to learn more about the new VFX division and its upcoming plans and direction.
What prompted the decision to launch Gorilla VFX?
Gorilla has seen an increasing demand for High-end TV post-production services, including VFX, as the global market continues to grow. Following the opening of the company’s Bristol office, this expansion is the natural next step in Gorilla’s evolution. We are building a bigger, better visual effects team to respond to the increased level of demand. We have firm foundations to build upon and it felt like the perfect time to set up a new VFX division whose sole focus is episodic High-end TV and film.
What are your recruitment plans?
We have already added additional artists and editorial crew to the studio, as well as new heads of department within our leadership team.
Jack Phillips (Chernobyl, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Black Mirror) has joined Gorilla VFX as 2D Supervisor. He previously worked as Roto/Prep Supervisor at DNEG TV before becoming VFX Course Leader at the University of South Wales.
Tom Tatchell also joins from the University of South Wales where he was Senior Lecturer in VFX, he takes up the role of VFX Supervisor, which he previously held at Buzzbox.
We are on the lookout for all levels of artist across all departments and offer remote, hybrid and studio-based options at our Cardiff Bay location.
How does being part of Gorilla enhance the studio?
Synergies and infrastructure are the main benefits that come from being part of Gorilla. Having the backbone of such a large post house behind us will help us take on larger, longer projects. With an established shared infrastructure, our workflow is extremely efficient.
Gorilla already delivers lots of HETV scripted productions so they will be able to complement and enhance our VFX pipeline with colour science, HDR grading and QC, a huge storage capacity and VFX pulls and distribution.
We have a client base that may not have considered Gorilla for their picture and sound post and Gorilla have full-service clients who will also need VFX. So, essentially, we both get to offer more to our clients than we did previously, with obvious economies of scale attached which will benefit productions.
There are staff shortages across the industry, what are your plans for talent development?
Hiring the former Course Leader from the University of South Wales’s VFX course was an integral part of our growth strategy, especially at a time when many graduates’ first experience of the workplace has been remote. We are already seeing the value of being in the same space as new starters, helping them feel part of a team and giving them the support they need to develop.
As a studio that is outside of London, it’s important that we help to train and nurture homegrown talent. Jack will continue his relationship with the University of South Wales and other education partners allowing us to offer more work placements and to help ensure their graduating students are industry ready.
Will this affect your relationships with Producers and Directors?
The lifeblood of our VFX team has been ongoing collaborations built on trust, which has generated lots of repeat business for us over the years. We have worked with producer Matt Wilkinson from Stigma Films on films The Call Up, Amulet and Last Train to Christmas and we will soon be starting work on T.I.M as Gorilla VFX.
We have also worked closely with director Euros Lyn on TV series Kiri, feature film Dream Horse and the first series of Heartstopper. We are currently providing on-set supervision for Heartstopper Season Two as that relationship continues.
A story driven approach, coupled with a commitment to training and development should position us to be the go-to creative partners for more productions and directors. I’m excited by the prospect of growing the team as Gorilla VFX and getting to work on more projects as a result.
What does the future hold for Gorilla VFX?
We are looking to grow our capacity to around 50 seats in the coming months, allowing us to retain a small team, boutique approach but with the added backing of a large post house. That’s the best of both worlds in my opinion, so we can continue to work closely with productions as we scale up.
We are already working on exciting projects that I can’t name just yet, with more to come in 2023. Our next three productions are all being shot outside of Wales, so we look forward to working with more of the numerous productions filming locally too. We’ve worked on several films and now following our work on Somewhere Boy and Heartstopper we aim to work on more episodic TV.
There’s a new Virtual Production studio opening a stone’s throw from where we are and following our work on Last Train to Christmas we see this as another growth opportunity outside of pure post work. And as Gorilla now has a footprint in Bristol, our VFX offering doesn’t have to be confined to Cardiff either.
You can see some of our previous work and get in touch with us via gorillavfx.co.uk or you can email me directly pete@gorillavfx.co.uk.
