Ashley Ford Named EP At Eight VFX
Eight VFX has hired Ashley Ford as executive producer. In her new role, she will oversee bidding and incoming productions as well as new and existing relationships with directors and production companies. With her expertise in business development and sales, she will also be in charge of bringing in new talent and productions companies that the Santa Monica-based VFX, design and animation studio is keen to collaborate with across commercial, feature film, music video, and AR projects. Eight VFX is known for its visual effects and finishing work on campaigns for brands like Apple, Audi, and Nike, as well as entertainment properties like Netflix’s Stranger Things, Fox’s The Orville, and the Academy Award nominated film I, Tonya.

Ford comes to Eight VFX after serving as EP at Universal Music Group’s Elias. Prior to that, she headed her own rep firm, Friends of Ford, where her roster included Stept Studios, Good Company, Flavor, London Alley, and Nylon Studios.

Mindful of the impact COVID-19 has had on the production world, Ford observed, “We are in a very unique time in our industry. I find myself thinking over and over how to approach this whole situation with clients, colleagues, bosses and our families. Every single level of society and business is affected dramatically and we must be sensitive. As a vendor, we can’t truly project what’s to come workwise. How does one plan for that? I believe this is a time for brands of companies to create everlasting moments and be remembered forever. As a creative industry, we have the ability to help shape businesses moving forward through critical and forward thinking. This only pushes our industry by challenging ourselves to be more creative and fuel the passion. This quarantine could also give work life balance a whole new level of understanding once this is all over.”

Ford climbed the production ranks by beginning her career as a jr. producer at Rock Paper Scissors before transitioning to the sales side at Siobhan McCafferty & Associates, repping a roster that included Bob Industries, Untitled, Humble, Thomas Thomas Films, Luma Pictures, Lost Planet Editorial and Pacific Rim Films. She handled business development for integrated advertising at Framestore where she had a significant hand in its growth, bringing in new business from agencies and accounts like 72andSunny (Target, Activision, Call of Duty) and Deutsch (Taco Bell) before launching her own company, Friends of Ford.

Scanline Taps Into Remote Opportunities
Starting on March 23, all 650 of Scanline’s crew across its Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, London, Munich, Stuttgart and Seoul studios have been working from home, transforming the business into a completely remote visual effects studio for the time being due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Shows in the company pipeline are projected to continue as normal. At the same time Scanline is open to new projects and can ramp up its home setup capacity as needed.

The rapid transition to home setups was made possible due to Scanline’s extensive decade-long experience with Teradici’s PCoIP technology, which forms the infrastructure backbone of all Scanline studios. This technology transfers moving screen pixel data from the employee’s workstation in our data center directly to their monitors at home, with the highest security standards maintained. Employees working from home experience the same performance and playback just as they would in a physical studio setting.

Part of Scanline’s business strategy is to enable a global decentralized VFX production workflow, in part due to the ability it gives the company to hire the best talent from around the world. Scanline’s proprietary “Eyeline Next” video conferencing technology allows this vision to come alive by providing collaborative meetings, training sessions and secure reviews integrated with Shotgun, thereby uniting studio teams worldwide, regardless of their physical location. 

FuseFX Launches Atlanta Studio
FuseFX, a visual effects studio that specializes in providing services for episodic television, feature films, commercials, and VR productions, has expanded to the Southeast U.S. with the opening of a new studio in Atlanta. The Atlanta office will serve as FuseFX’s third U.S. location (the others being in L.A. and NYC) and fourth location globally (Vancouver, BC), reflecting the company’s continued growth and success.

Brad Kalinoski, who has worked as a VFX artist or supervisor on more than 100 feature films and episodic TV projects over a 20-year career, will lead the new office as FuseFX’s head of production and sr. VFX supervisor. His accolades include BAFTA and VES award nominations for Black Swan, as well as a VES award nomination for Lost: The Final Season. Kalinoski will focus on hiring top talent and overseeing productions to develop and maintain in the Atlanta region. 

EagleTree Capital acquired a majority stake in FuseFX in 2018.