VFX Legion, a remote boutique-style global company, has announced the opening of a full-scale division in British Columbia.  An early proponent of the virtualization of visual effects, industry veteran James David Hattin launched the company in 2013, introducing a groundbreaking collaborative work-from-home business model almost a decade before COVID-19 made social distancing essential. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company's new Kelowna-based division takes its road-tested remote visual effect services to the next level.

"We began testing the waters in British Columbia last April," says Hattin. "It didn't take long to see that the volume of cost-effective, photorealistic visual effects that its robust film and television industry required made it a great fit with VFX Legion's efficient, high-quality remote services. Workload steadily increased, and we outgrew our initial digs in less than a year. Spurred on by the influx of jobs and positive feedback from clients, we decided to launch a full-scale, end-to-end division. Technical upgrades and expanding our ever-growing world-wide collective of work-from-home artists, further strengthening our capabilities."

With security a top priority, and crucial to its expansion strategy, VFX Legion set up the new location with TPN certification and remote workstations housed in a lockdown space. It also significantly increases the company's storage capacity. A built-out virtual private cloud keeps all content on-premises providing artists with immediate access and clients with total control over their assets. The studio's size and layout allow for social distancing with multiple offices, rather than an oversized open workspace.

GROWING AN EVERY-EXPANDING GLOBAL TEAM OF TALENT:

“VFX Legion continues to expandits network of artists, drawing from a vast worldwide pool of top-tier visual effects talent. At the same time, the scale of the company’s roster of artists residing within the province takes maximum advantage its substantial tax incentives.”  Hattin notes," British Columbia's investment in infrastructure technology, including fiber-optic internet connectivity, is another reason that the province is a perfect hub for our remote business model."

"Our sophisticated pipeline's ability to render an artist's location irrelevant provides VFX Legion with its greatest asset - an abundance of exceptional remote-savvy talent," says Hattin. "An ever-growing collective of over 200 artistswas in place long before the pandemic, bringing a mastery of remote technology and our collaborative workflow that's optimized efficiency and creativity for dozens of films and hundreds of TV episodes over the years. While the industry scrambled to set up in-house staff to work from home in response to a crisis, we didn't need to change a thing."

“We've invested in British Columbia at a very exciting time," says Hattin. "The province's work, establishing mandates and guidelines, has put it on the fast track to recovery. Shooting has resumed in B.C., making it one of North America's first regions to restart production since COVID-19 brought it to a halt. The move presented an opportunity to expand our pioneering remote service, and position VFX Legion to provide the first wave of productions with innovative digital solutions that meet unprecedented challenges."

Signings:

The new division mirrors VFX Legion's flagship studio's structure, housing a core team of leadership and senior artists. The signing of an animation supervisor, C.G. supervisor, VFX coordinator, and two senior compositors are in the final stages. 

Dylan Yastremski, Head of Production and Partner, VFX Legion/B.C. Division

Dylan Yestremski oversees the company's B.C. arm, bringing strong managerial and creative skills to his new post.  Exiting Allegiance Studios, the remote the B.C. VFX boutique he founded in 2015, and closing its doors, he moved on to join VFX Legion as Head of Production and partner in the new venture. Hattin works closely with the B.C. native, supervising projects managed out of both British Columbia and Los Angeles.

Before the launch of VFX Legion/L.A., Yastremski worked with Hattin on several projects, including the TV series 'Arrow,' 'The Flash,' True Blood,' and 'Falling Skies,' which received an Emmy nod in the 'Outstanding Special VFX' category in 2013. More recently, he's lent his talents to numerous films, and episodic shows under VFX Legion’s banner, such as the movie, 'Hardcore Henry,' and the episodic series, including 'Madam Secretary, 'How to Get Away with Murder' and ‘Scandal.’

Every episodic series that's worked with VFX Legion has returned season after season through series finals, since the company launched - attesting to a remote approach that consistently elevates visual stories and gets the most out of every budget. 'How to Get Away with Murder,' 'Madam Secretary,' 'Scandal,' 'Suits,' 'Eye Candy,' 'Revolution,' 'The Catch,' and 'Gone' are among its television series credits.  Feature film work includes 'Hardcore Henry,' 'The Gift,' '12 Strong,' 'Ithaca,' 'The Circle,' 'Please Stand By,' 'Jem and the Holograms,' 'Superfly,' 'Sinister 2,' and 'Ma,' to name a few.

Current Projects, Right out of the Gate:

The studio already has over a dozen projects lined up and in progress, including seven films for 'Welcome to Blumhouse,' a program of dark genre movies produced by Blumhouse Television and Amazon Studios. The B.C. division is currently managing the production of all of the visual effects for 'Black Box,' scheduled to premiere along with 'The Lie,' on October 6th. VFX Legion/B.C. is also sole VFX vendor for 'Evil Eye' and 'Nocturne,' both debuting on October 12tth.  The final four films in the series will be released in 2021.  Slated to streaming on Prime Video, the thematically connected package marks Amazon's first-ever global direct to services deal.

 ‘Welcome to Blumhouse,' a program of eight thriller/horror genre films premiering globally on Amazon Prime Video 

“VFX Legion provides British Columbia's film and television productions with access to a unique local resource that's way ahead of the curve. Fully remote since inception, our leading-edge pipeline, seamless workflow, honed protocols, and scalable collective of remote-savvy artists are well-established,” adds Hattin. "Without the distraction of adapting to new workflow and software, our focus remains where it's always been - on applying our creative and technical ingenuity to producing digital imagery that meets the challenges of an ever-changing industry and brings a director's vision to life."