Visual effects house MassMarket, best known for its work in high-end commercials, has diversified into features and episodic TV by bringing in talent from LOOK Effects, the recently closed company that had a hand in VFX for such theatrical features as Noah, Man of Steel, The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, as well as TV shows including Black Sails and Nashville.
Mark Driscoll and Henrik Fett, founding partners of LOOK Effects, now become co-managing directors of MassMarket’s newly formed feature/TV division. A select group of LOOK staffers has settled into MassMarket’s NY and Venice, Calif. operations. Additionally, MassMarket has taken over what had been LOOK’s office in Vancouver, B.C. According to Driscoll, a core of some 17 LOOK staffers are now part of the MassMarket team, including Dan Schrecker who served as VFX supervisor on the Darren Aronofsky-directed Noah.
While Driscoll and his LOOK compatriots are proud of their work on Noah, the overages on the VFX for that feature took a financial toll on LOOK. Driscoll said that months were added to the VFX schedule as the project became more involved technically and creatively than what was originally envisioned. He explained that it’s difficult to absorb months of salaries for continued work when “there’s no opportunity” for overage money. Still LOOK came out of Noah intact and prepared to continue business. But Broadway 4D, a major installation project which LOOK had embarked on, fell by the wayside, proving too much for the studio to bear financially. LOOK had been counting on that job to help it dig out from under and get its fiscal house in order after Noah.
For Driscoll, the LOOK plight underscores the pitfalls of operating a major VFX studio independently. “We had been in business for over 17 years,” said Driscoll. “We stayed independent that entire time, which gave us incredible freedom creatively but also became increasingly challenging financially. We had seen consolidation come into prominence throughout our industry–mergers and acquisitions all designed to try to put forth a stronger financial, tactical base. We stayed independent for as long as we could but ultimately found that doing so was just not possible for a visual effects facility operating on a global scale.”
So LOOK closed up shop on August 11. Prior to that, Driscoll and Fett began to seek out and explore various options, including one that happily emerged, the opportunity to keep some of LOOK’s talent together by bringing them into the MassMarket fold.
Still, there are other LOOK artisans who are not part of the shift to MassMarket. And a number of workers along with various vendors are owed money by LOOK. “There are obligations there that unfortunately have not been met,” acknowledged Driscoll, noting that LOOK’s closure has not entailed a bankruptcy declaration. “It’s a sad and unfortunate situation. Henrik and I sunk everything into trying to make things work…LOOK falls into the bag of a long list of global visual effects companies that have gotten caught up in the nature of the business.”
Psyop family
As part of the Psyop family of companies, MassMarket offers the stable financial backing, resources and infrastructure lacking in the indie VFX studio scenario, said Jay Lichtman, managing director of MassMarket.
Conversely, Driscoll, Fett and their LOOK colleagues bring MassMarket a special combination it has sought and coveted–compatible creative sensibilities to go along with visual effects chops in theatrical features and episodic TV. “Since our inception in 2004, MassMarket has been a commercial visual effects studio working with commercial directors, ad agencies and production companies,” said Lichtman. “For the past couple of years we’ve talked with lots of people about the prospect of opening a feature division. We entertained launching it from a standing start or partnering with existing companies but were never quite able to check off all the boxes in terms of the quality of work and the creative culture that would fit with our studio. Mark and Henrik came along and we found an ethos and culture completely in line with MassMarket.”
Projects that were underway at Look Effects will be completed by MassMarket, with several new jobs also coming into the studio.
While meaningfully diversifying into features and TV remains the priority for MassMarket relative to its newly formed connection to the former LOOK ensemble of talent, there could be a reciprocal dynamic as well, conjectured Lichtman. With directors and other talent moving back and forth between commercials and features, so too could some of the former LOOK artisans dovetail nicely with MassMarket’s ad niche, contributing to select spot and branded content assignments.
Lichtman noted that Mass Market’s feature/TV and commercial divisions operate independently but there will be a sharing of resources when appropriate–and there will be a continuous sharing of knowledge and creative culture.
